It was on Christmas Eve that the woman was locked in the toilet in her apartment, which Home & Rent was the first to report on. When she tried to open the door after visiting the toilet, the lock knob was loose and the door could not be opened.
The woman was trapped in the toilet for four days. Photo: Jessica Gow /TT
Thief broke into 87-year-old’s house – was chased out
No food or medicine for four days
The toilet is only a few square meters in size, and during the time in the room she had no access to food, cigarettes or blood pressure medicine. But when she was locked up, the woman didn’t think about being hungry or about smoking.
– I can’t explain it. I was so scared, panicked. And I, who otherwise smoke quite a lot. It was like I wasn’t really thinking rationally. I thought my last moment had come. It felt so stupid, is this how I’m going to die now, the woman tells Hem och Hyra.
At first she tried to get out of the bathroom by various means. Using a nail file and a pair of scissors, she screwed on the lock, but it wouldn’t budge and she remained locked in. She also tried to shout and kick the door.
– Sometimes I was upset but I didn’t have much choice but to wait, I just wanted to survive I guess, so I tried to calm myself. At first I tried to sleep in the bathtub but it was so uncomfortable, it felt like lying in a coffin. So I made the bed with some towels on the floor, she tells Hem & Hyra.
As the days passed she thought about how idiotic it was that she locked the door. It was not the first time the woman had had problems with the lock.
She had previously asked to have it fixed by the landlord MKB, but when the caretaker came by to look at the door, he said there was nothing wrong with the lock.
In the bathroom cabinet, the woman found scissors and a nail file that she used on the lock. Photo: Martina Holmberg / TT
Pensioner lay on the floor for 12 hours without food or care
Saved by his children
After four days of waiting, rescue finally came. When the woman did not show up at a planned brunch with her children, they chose to go to her house.
To Hem & Hyra, one daughter tells about the horror when the siblings entered the mother’s apartment after several days of radio silence. Above all, they were afraid that they would find their mother dead on the floor.
The woman says that she was shocked, but also relieved, when the children arrived. When she heard noises outside the bathroom door, she did not understand who was in her apartment.
Here are the scammers’ favorite victims: “The most vulnerable”
EIA denies the application for compensation
When Home & Rent visits the woman, it has been three months since she was locked out, and in the time that has passed she has contacted the landlord to get compensation for the terrible experience.
– I would like compensation for the suffering, both physical and psychological. Some kind of redress I think I deserve. Now it has passed as an ordinary everyday event, but for me it is life-changing, she says.
Despite the visit from the caretaker, the landlord has not agreed to provide compensation for the experience. EIA regrets what happened, but since the lock is said to have worked during the check, they do not believe that the woman should be compensated further.
Read more news from Nyheter24 here:
8-year-old gambled away SEK 45,000 – won’t get the money back
ICA customer forced to buy sweets for SEK 1,700: “Shameful”
Common fire alarms recalled: ‘Devastating’