Elderly man charged after taking wife from aged care home

An elderly man is facing charges after he allegedly removed his 84-year-old wife from her Perth aged care home and drove 1500km across the state.

Carol Lisle, 84, and Ralph “Terry” Gibbs, 80, were located with the help of truck drivers and local police on Tuesday, near the settlement of Warakurna, a little over an hour from the Northern Territory border.

This came after Lisle, who has dementia and Parkinson's disease, disappeared from her care facility two days prior.

Police allege that Gibbs had planned to take his wife without permission and had not planned for the high level of medical care she required.

After being found, the pair were taken for medical assessment and Lisle was transported to hospital by the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

“Mandurah Detectives thank the truck drivers and police officers in regional WA who provided relevant information regarding the movements of Ms Lisle and Mr Gibbs during the course of this search,” a police spokesman said.

Gibbs has now been charged with deprivation of liberty and endanger life, health or safety of a person.

In an interview with Mandurah Coastal Times, Gibbs said that he was "desperate" to take his wife home to Cairns, where the pair had previously lived together for 15 years.

He told the local newspaper that he had been engaged in a battle with his wife's goddaughter after a third party trustee was appointed guardianship over Lisle in 2020.

Gibbs is due to face court on February 9.

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