Residents rally to demand answers after caretaker is accused of taking elderly woman’s house and benefits

Protesters gathered outside of the home of a resident living facility in Grand Bahama, desperate to get answers after a caretaker was accused of taking an elderly woman’s home, becoming her power of attorney and allegedly taking her NIB pension and survivor’s benefit.

Scores of protestors shouted, “Mervie gat to go, Mervie gat to go” demanding that Mervie Knowles, owner, and operator of Home Away from Home Shelter return the home to Ingrid Carey, her elderly resident.

Demonstrators said they were touched by the story that was originally aired on ZNS Northern Service, and accused Knowles of greed.

“We have a problem in Freeport. Ms Mervie has three locations,” a woman told ZNS Northern Service. “She takes out a special burial insurance on all of her residents.”

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Philippa Carey, Mrs Carey’s granddaughter, discovered Knowles living in their home when she returned to Grand Bahama from another island where she is employed and has nowhere to live when she visits the island.

“It’s not fair to me because that’s the only place I lived my whole life,” Phillipa said in an earlier newscast.

But Knowles is claiming that Mrs Carey, who suffers from dementia, “pressured her to take the home” or she would “give it to someone else.”

A grandson of Mrs Carey believes Knowles’ business license should be taken away and she should be held accountable. They are now questioning who could be a part of a scheme to assist Knowles in acquiring the home, NIB pension, and survivor’s benefit.

One demonstrator said his grandfather also lived in the home before he died; He claimed his family was denied access to him and Knowles was collecting the NIB cheques. ” We tried fighting the situation, but were getting the runaround.”

They are calling for an investigation into the matter.