Orient Point woman Marjorie Erickson looked like she had done a number of rounds in the boxing ring.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The 81-year-old was left with a badly bruised and swollen face after tripping on footpath in the Nowra CBD in late July.
The photos of her bruised and battered face were horrific.
But worse than the injuries is the fact the section of footpath where Mrs Erickson suffered her fall, outside Petbarn Nowra near Haigh Avenue, hasn’t been fixed.
Mrs Erickson’s husband Barry reported the incident to Shoalhaven City Council just days after the fall, yet he says almost four months on nothing has been done to try and rectify the problem and he has heard nothing from council.
A statement from Shoalhaven City Council said investigations revealed the footpath was not on council land.
“A council officer inspected the location on August 1. It was determined that the footpath was not on council land,” the spokesperson said.
Marjorie was left in one hell of a mess. She was lucky she didn't break anything.
- Barry Erickson after his wife fell over on a Nowra CBD footpath.
“Unfortunately, given the number of requests and reports from members of the public it is not possible to contact every member of the public to advise of the outcome.”
However the statement said “council would be writing on behalf of the resident to the property owner in this case.”
Mr Erickson said his wife was left “in one hell of a mess.”
“Marjorie was walking near Petbarn when she caught her foot on an area of footpath - there is a section where the concrete meets the pavers and there is this little lip,” he said.
“It was enough to make her trip and fall over.”
Despite putting her hands out to try and stop her fall, Mrs Erickson took most of the force of her fall on her face.
Four months on nothing has done nothing to fix the area.
- Barry Erickson
Mr Erickson, 82, who walks with the aid of a walking stick, had been at an optometrist appointment while his wife went to Petbarn.
“We agreed to meet back up at the Nowra Mall. When she didn't arrive after half an hour I started to get worried.
“Then she turned up with bloody tape over her nose.
“The staff from Petbarn offered her some paper towel and she stopped at the wholesale chemist in Nowra Lane who thankfully patched her up.
“Marjorie said she didn’t she broke anything but I was particularly concerned about a skin graft she had on her nose after having a melanoma removed.
“I was worried she had damaged that graft.”
Battered and bruised Mrs Erickson was subsequently admitted to hospital a couple of days later on a different matter.
“I was pretty battered and bruised,” she said “I didn’t want to go anywhere looking like I did.
“The area where I fell is shaded by a tree and there is a difference in the levels between the pavers and the concrete path which is easy to miss and obviously to trip over.”
“She’s probably not the first and probably won’t be the last if it’s not fixed,” Mr Erickson said.
“We don’t want compensation, we aren't after money, we just want it fixed so no one else has to go through what Marjorie had too.
“She was lucky she didn't break her nose or other parts of her face.
“You can see there has been attempts at some stage to fix it the area - one side has a concrete slope over it, the other doesn't.”
Thankfully Mrs Erickson has made a full recovery.