Assault on Tipton pensioner led to death
A “LOWLIFE” who assaulted an 87-year-old and left her for dead after ignoring her pleas for an ambulance was probably responsible for her death, a coroner ruled.
The burglar barged past frail Emma Martin and into her Tipton home in December last year, knocking the widow to the ground and breaking her hip, yesterday’s inquest heard.
The man, who has not been caught, ransacked her home, in Burns Avenue, stealing thousands of pounds before dragging Mrs Martin and propping her up against a wall.
The intruder fled despite Mrs Martin begging for an ambulance and saying she had broken her hip.
She was found by a neighbour and taken to Sandwell General Hospital, where she also suffered a heart attack before recovering.
However, she was readmitted suffering C difficile on January 14, before dying three days later having also developed colitis.
Black Country coroner Robin Balmain, sitting in Smethwick Council House, said: “Mrs Martin was the subject of a despicable attack. Having inflicted injury on Mrs Martin, this lowlife simply propped her up against the wall and left her where she probably would have died had it not been for her neighbour.”
Mr Balmain went on to deliver a narrative verdict. “Mrs Martin was assaulted at home by an unknown person,” he said.
“In the course of the assault she fractured her hip and was treated in hospital, where she developed a C difficile infection and colitis which led to her death.
“It’s highly likely that she would not have died at that time had she not been assaulted.”
Mrs Martin’s daughter, Tina Evans, of Bridgewater Drive in Coseley, told the court her mother was “sharp as a tack, mentally”.
