Not one person has been convicted under a law passed three years ago to protect Bermuda's seniors from abuse, The Royal Gazette can reveal. And the only case to make it to court under the Senior Abuse Register Act 2008 was thrown out by a magistrate due to insufficient evidence.The legislation allowed for the creation of a register of offenders for inflicting physical, emotional, financial or sexual abuse on the Island's elderly and brought in fines and jail sentences for those convicted. But so far there are no names on the list.Age Concern executive director Claudette Fleming says the charity receives constant calls from people concerned about the suspected mistreatment of seniors, which it refers to the National Office for Seniors and the Physically Challenged (NOSPC).Recent cases include two elderly people living without electricity at separate properties.But Ms Fleming said the NOSPC didn't have the resources or power to properly deal with the allegations and suggested Government should pump more money into helping seniors.“We knew from the beginning that the Senior Abuse Register Act needed a lot more teeth,” she said. “It has to be done with more frequent monitoring. The National Office has to be given the resources to do this job well.”The charity boss claimed Bermuda lacked the infrastructure necessary to prevent abuse and needed the equivalent of child protection officers for older people. John Payne, acting manager of the NOSPC, told The Royal Gazette only one person had been prosecuted so far under the 2008 law. “They were not convicted,” he said. “The magistrate threw the case out because the burden of proof that was being used, the magistrate wasn't satisfied.“The issue, as I understand it, was the prosecution was using the standard normally in a civil case which is less than would be required in a criminal case.”He added: “No one has been prosecuted in the past year-and-a-half. So no one is on the register. There have been several investigations [including] one that required that a domestic protection order be obtained. This was a family member and not a care worker. Many of the complaints that are investigated relate to family members or care workers, where there is an unhappy situation.“Often, once investigated, there is no need to follow through with prosecution. We resolve matters by clarification of roles or assist the family or care giver to put a proper care plan in place.”Mr Payne, who is the Senior Abuse Registrar, said statistics on the number of abuse allegations received by the NOSPC were not “available at the moment”. And he added that the goal of the legislation was “not really to have a lot of people locked up or on the register”.“We work closely with the Attorney General's Chambers and the Vulnerable Persons Unit of the police service,” he said. “The legislation is relatively new and we are clarifying the role of the Registrar and the legislation as we proceed. One area that we are focusing on is awareness.”He said it was more beneficial to the community to increase the understanding by professionals of their responsibility regarding reporting; to clarify what abuse is; and to reduce the frustration by family members and care givers by NOSPC acting as a resource for services and information.Shadow Health and Senior Minister Louise Jackson said the law had not been a success.“Today we still have a Registrar and an Act that the average person in Bermuda doesn't know anything about. Senior abuse on many levels is still happening.”