Pair Admits Elder Abuse

Easton,PA BELVIDERE by Tom Quigley tquigley@express-times.com

The judge told Nina Bohuslawsky on Wednesday that as a registered nurse she should have known better.

Bohuslawsky, 36, and her 62-year-old mother, Nadia Bohuslawsky, admitted to their roles in what one Adult Protective Services official described as the worst case of elder abuse he's ever seen.

The former Lopatcong Township residents owned up to the neglect that led to their elderly matriarch's death in exchange for having murder charges in the case dismissed.

Eighty-year-old Dunia Kuczynsky arrived at Warren Hospital in Phillipsburg on May 30, 2006, weighing about 80 pounds, dehydrated, with a broken leg bone protruding through her skin and gangrene, authorities said.

Nina Bohuslawsky, the victim's granddaughter, pleaded guilty to second-degree reckless manslaughter and theft under a plea bargain reached with Warren County Assistant Prosecutor Craig Barto. She faces a prison sentence of up to 15 years.

Nadia Bohuslawsky, the victim's daughter, pleaded guilty to third-degree endangering the welfare of an elderly person and theft. She faces up to five years in state prison.

Both originally faced murder charges and had earlier rejected a plea offer from the Warren County Prosecutor's Office calling for 30-year state prison sentences.

"She was not properly cared for at all," Nina Bohuslawsky admitted to the judge during her plea.
"She sustained a fall and I didn't seek medical attention," she said of her grandmother. Nina Bohuslawsky also admitted her grandmother suffered other injuries.

"The condition (Kuczynsky) was in when she arrived at the hospital was horrific," he said.
Her injuries also included bruises on her left cheek, a broken nose and skin abrasions on her legs and hip.

Abridged and edited for E.A. red all here >>