Yesterday, as an 80-year-old woman slept in her favourite chair watching television, a heartless thief broke into her home and stole all her money and the only valuables she possessed.

Sylvia Ann Lightbourne told yesterday that feels like she can?t take it anymore. ?I have no family anymore, everyone is dead,? she said. ?I need help.?

A proud woman who has lived in her Angle Street home for more than two decades, Mrs. Lightbourne said she no longer knows where to turn for help after being robbed of her meagre funds and as she struggles to deal with a difficult neighbour.

And according to Opposition Health Minister Louise Jackson, she is far from alone. Many of Bermuda?s seniors and struggling ? often silently and alone.

Too often these vulnerable individuals find themselves the targets of criminals and of emotional and physical abuse, she added.

Mrs. Jackson said Mrs. Lightbourne is just one of hundreds of seniors in Bermuda who are victimised everyday in one way or another.

?We are gravely concerned about the safety and welfare of many of our seniors,? she said in Parliament yesterday.

Some seniors are living in fear from tenants in their homes who, in some cases, refuse to pay their rents, have robbed the seniors and make life miserable for them with loud noise and lack of consideration, she added.

Some seniors are afraid to leave their homes, while others ?are in danger of losing their homes because the rents they depend on are not being paid?.

?Taking these tenants to court takes a certain amount of money and energy that many don?t have,? Mrs. Jackson said.

Mrs. Lightbourne, for one, does not know where to turn.

After being robbed of all her money ? just $400 ? and of her only valuables, a few gold chains, she feels defeated.

She called the Police and said they were very helpful and nice, but she knows that she?ll never get her money or her jewellery back.

?They only took the good stuff and left the junk behind,? she said.

?I had no idea that someone had been there, or taken my things until I picked my purse up and went to the shop,? she added.

She said she opened her purse to pay for the few items she?d bought, only to find it empty.

?Luckily one of my girlfriends was with me and wrote a cheque, but when I got home I realised all my purses, and I have three, were empty. And my jewellery was gone.?

She said she broke down and cried. ?I have no idea who would do this,? she said, adding that she has never bothered anyone.

Mrs. Lightbourne is a bit of character around Angle Street and can be seen everyday sweeping the street in front of the house.

Things had been going well for her ? she felt happy and healthy ? until nine months ago, she said, when her cousin, who owns the lower part of the house she lives in, rented it out to a young man.

Mrs. Lightbourne said the new tenant started ?terrorising? her to the point where he even threw a bucket of water over her one afternoon when she came back from the hospital.

?He has been giving me a whole lot of trouble,? she said.

She claimed he damaged her gate so that she could no longer lock it to keep her apartment safe. ?He also has people coming around at all times of the day and night,? she said.

She said at first she didn?t mind and even tolerated the loud music, but when he started damaging the property and shouting at her, she realised she was in trouble.

?But who do I ask for help??

She has applied for legal aid so that she can take her downstairs tenant to court, she added, but she does not expect this to happen any time soon.

?Who do I go to? I don?t have any family left,? she said.

But Permanent Secretary for Health Kevin Monkman said there is no reason for seniors like Mrs. Lightbourne to feel they have nowhere to turn for help.

He suggested she participate in community-type activities with her church or other seniors and encouraged the community to keep an eye on its seniors.

Mr. Monkman said she should also contact the National Office for Seniors and the Physically Challenged at 292-7802. He said the organisation could help steer her in the right direction as far as her pesky neighbour is concerned.

Meanwhile, Claudette Fleming of Age Concern said it would be ideal if volunteers could be found on the Island to assist seniors in their everyday shopping trips and to check in on them every other day or so. ?Just someone to keep an eye on them and make them feel they?re not alone,? she suggested.

Age Concern can be contacted at 238-7525.