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Gilda Diaz, daughter
"You know what is the condition from Sunday to now. Today with everybody's prayers he actually - I was pinching him and twisting his skin so he would respond. I know that hurts, but I had to do something for him to feel and open his eyes. I open his eyes with my fingers. I did him all sorts of stuff and then he started to groan and starting saying a couple little things and I told him and I said lets pray and he started to pray. But instead of praying for himself, he was praying for me and I told him we were praying for him. But anyway he said his prayers, which made me feel good because he likes to pray."

Reporter
"Have the doctors indicated any need for a surgery or something like that?"

Gilda Diaz, daughter
"That is what they are looking at. Does he need a surgery at this time? I hope not. I hope he is strong enough to heal himself. But I hope not, because people his age don't do very well I think with surgeries. Because there would be too many complications. But at least he wasn't talking very clearly, but he was mumbling and what eased my pain today was him saying his prayers. And that made a lot of difference to me."

And while everyone hopes for the best for this senior citizen, the very ugly underside to this story is the possibility that the 93 year old may have also been sexually assaulted by his attacker. A spent condom was found at the scene - and while neither doctors nor police have reached any conclusive position on this, today his daughter told us just the thought of this makes her blood crawl:..

Gilda Diaz, daughter
"Well I asked the doctor to check him and his reply at first was to say that is not important. Because it's not a life threatening disease. What he has on the side of his head was more threatening his life that the sexual encounter. When the police came I complained to them, because I did not want to quarrel with the doctor, he is the man who has to heal him. So I spoke to the police and they went and spoke to the doctor and I think they did a check. He is saying that he doesn't see abrasions marks and things. So he do not think he was molested. But there is evidence there which gives me cold seed - very disturbing."

Today both HELPAGE and the National Council on Ageing issued statements condemning the attack. HELPAGE notes what it calls "a growing trend of violence against the elderly in Belize. The National Council of Ageing also issued a statement saying quote, "Belize's population of older persons continues to grow every year and with it challenges of care, security and safety remains an issue for many and their family." End quote.

Both organizations called on law enforcement to bring about a swift conclusion to the case. And police have done that. They today charged Grant's neighbor for the crime. 35 year old Chester Norales lives right across the street from Grant - and that's where police say they recovered the 21 inch TV that was stolen from Grant's house. Norales was taken to court today where he was charged with dangerous harm and burglary. Noralez admitted that he had the television at his house but he claimed that he bought it from a young man and he wanted to plead guilty to handling stolen goods. Senior Magistrate Fraser told Norales that he was not charged with handling stolen goods and that the charge of dangerous harm was an indictable offence. The prosecutor objected to bail on the grounds that the investigation is still ongoing and the victim, Patrick Grant, is still in the hospital. Senior Magistrate Fraser upheld the objection and she remanded Noralez into custody until February 2nd.

Dating back to the mid 90's when he was just a teenager, Norales has had many run in's with police and has a long record.