NJ Daughter Who Used Broomstick To Fatally Beat Mom Was Acting In Self-Defense: Report

An 80-year-old woman told police her 65-year-old daughter from South Jersey beat her with a broomstick three days before she died of her injuries in the attack, NJ Advance Media reports.

Loretta Barr
Photo Credit: *Salem County Correctional Facility*

Cecilia Levine

08/24/2022 11:30 a.m.

The alleged assailant's defense attorney, though, says she was acting in self-defense.

Florence Dicriscio told officers arriving at the Woodmont Circle in Washington Township on Aug. 6 that Loretta A. Barr struck her in the head with a broom and beat her up, then locked her out of the apartment, NJ.com says.

Barr's attorney, Mark Bernstein, said Dicriscio suffered Alzheimer's and dementia, and often had violent outbursts toward her daughter, her sole caregiver. Bernstein said Barr's mom scratched her face in an attack and then fell, banging her head on the floor. There was no mention of a broomstick.

The Philadelphia Medical Examiner ruled Dicriscio's death a homicide due to blunt force trauma to her head and body. Barr was initially charged with assault but that was upgraded to manslaughter, when her mom died on Aug. 9.

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