Neighbors recorded a man abusing his 90-year-old father for weeks and eventually reported him because they could no longer bear hearing him cry: “Am I your employee or what? Nobody in your family loves you!”

Nobody dared say anything, but everyone heard him.

In the Jerusalem area of Puente Piedra (Lima), neighbors heard the screams of an elderly man, around 90 years old, every early morning. According to their accounts, the episodes had been happening at least three times a week since the beginning of the year. One neighbor said they could hear him being beaten with a stick and his head being slammed against the wall, while he cried and called for help.

The alleged abuser was his own son. In videos recorded by the neighbors, he can be heard insulting the elderly man, apparently while changing his diaper: “Nobody in your family wants to see you!” and “Am I your employee or what?!”. The elderly man could barely walk: at first he used a walker, then he moved to a wheelchair. He had no way to defend himself or ask anyone for help.

The neighbor who decided to report it did so, she said, out of a sense of guilt. With the recordings as evidence, the case reached the National Police of Peru, who arrested the son on suspicion of domestic violence and took him to the Zapallal Police Station. The case is ongoing, but there is one question no one can answer yet: how many more early mornings would the elderly man have suffered through if no one had recorded it?