Late last year, two intruders broke into the home of a 63-year-old man in Somerset and demanded money from him.

After he had handed over what he had, the two men beat him, putting him into hospital. He is still there, reportedly unable to speak since the attack and still suffering from serious facial injuries including a broken jaw.

That brutal attack is part of a growing trend of crimes against the elderly, say advocates.

And they fear the frequency of the attacks is probably higher than public records show, because senior citizens are either too afraid or too embarrassed to report them to Police.

They also say that crimes against seniors are not only physical but intellectual - and in some cases, naive pensioners have been cheated out of thousands of dollars.

As the population ages, advocates for senior citizens fear that the frequency and severity of the attacks will grow as well.

According to a Police spokesman, daily crime reports indicate that crime is beginning to “affect senior members of our community at a growing rate”.

But Police say they are unable to provide exact statistics on the number of crimes committed against those over 65 years old - and advocates interviewed by The Royal Gazette said the true number may be significantly higher, because many of the crimes go unreported.

In the last five weeks alone, there have been several attacks aimed at seniors.

In one, thieves conned a woman out of thousands of dollars claiming they would paint her house.

They asked for the money up front to purchase the materials, but never provided the service.

Last October, 68-year-old American visitor Ronald Storms had his head beaten into a sidewalk outside Hamilton Princess during a mugging.

Mr. Storms was jumped on while he was using a payphone, the thug making off with his wallet.

Mr. Storms, who returned to the Island last week to testify against his alleged attacker, spent several days in King Edward VII Memorial Hospital recovering from brutal injuries to his face as a result of the attack.

And the most recent incident, involving the 63-year-old man in Sandys, has caused outrage among senior citizens. Two men have since been charged in connection with the attack and are due to be arraigned in Supreme Court today.

Because that case is still before the courts, The Royal Gazette is barred from going into details on the attack.

But these incidents, and close to a dozen similar ones last year, have alarmed Claudette Fleming, Age Concern charity spokesperson.

“Seniors, particularly those who are home and not as physically mobile and mentally alert are more vulnerable,” she said.

Ms Fleming linked the rise in such crimes to drug abuse, and said addicts are not concerned with respecting seniors.

“Heroin users tend to steal for their habit and the elderly are seen as easy targets,” she said.

They are also easy targets for con men, she added.

“There are emerging signs of a faster ageing population,” she said. “The con artists are getting better, the technology is improving and if people like you and I can be conned, seniors don't really stand a chance. We can probably expect more crimes towards seniors - not just the violent types, but intellectual crimes as well.”

Fred Hassell, director of the Senior Islanders Club at Admiralty House, echoed the concern.

“Recently there have been three or four major events that have caused us to be alarmed. When we hear about these attacks, we try to move into action, because things are changing rapidly because of crime.

“We don't want the public to perceive that these things are happening and we are just sitting back. We are making sure that seniors and the public have a working knowledge so that they can deal with things.”

Tomorrow: An elderly victim describes her ordeal and her resolve to make her peers more aware, while another senior says she refuses to live in fear.