Daughter charged with repeatedly beating mother, 92

Until recently, Helen Girdish was living independently in her rural farmhouse in West Bethlehem, doing the best she could for herself at age 92.

Then her daughter moved in to lend a hand, according to Washington County authorities.

Police say Mrs. Girdish suffered through repeated beatings at the hands of her daughter and now is hospitalized in Pittsburgh with serious injuries.

The daughter, Barbara Girdish, 64, is charged with felony assault and other offenses and is in the Washington County Jail, unable to post $25,000 bond. She faces a preliminary hearing June 6 before District Judge Curtis Thompson of Bentleyville.

“It's awful, just awful,” state police Cpl. Kiprian Yarosh, crime unit supervisor at the Washington barracks, said Friday.

“The victim was covered with bruises and cuts and scrapes, all over her body, from head to toe.”

The case began to unfold Monday, when the Washington County Area Agency on Aging received an anonymous tip that an elderly woman on Grable Road was being abused. The next day, a caseworker from the agency visited the

home.

“Barbara Girdish answered the door but wouldn’t allow entry into the home. She told the caseworker to get off the property,” the corporal said. The caseworker notified state police.

“Our patrol troopers went down right away and, when they got there, the daughter was more than polite. ‘Oh, everything is fine,’ she told them,” Cpl. Yarosh said. “Our guys told her they needed to see [her mother] and speak to her. What they saw when they got inside ... They found her lying on a mattress on the floor and, from what we understand, she didn’t even have the convenience of a mattress until recently. Before that, for a long time, she was lying on the hard floor.”

Court documents filed by Trooper Jared C. Johnson indicated that Helen Girdish was found partially clothed in a first-floor bedroom.

“The victim related that her daughter, Barbara, had been holding her against her will and had physically assaulted her,” the police affidavit says. “The victim stated that she was beaten almost daily and feared for her life.” The trooper specified that the assaults happened over a six-month period.

Helen Girdish was taken to Washington Hospital, then transferred to UPMC Presbyterian. Barbara Girdish was charged Tuesday with aggravated assault, simple assault, harassment and unlawful restraint.