"Very violated": Great-grandmother opens up about losing family home
Val Ciufici, 84, has shared how she found herself homeless after trusting her granddaughter to care for her after she became ill.
She's claimed that her granddaughter Sam took everything she owned.
"I became very sick. I live alone. I have no family here. I have no friends," Ms Ciufici told A Current Affair in a video filmed from the hospital, where she was recovering from a heart attack.
"I have lost my home which I lived in for many years. I have lost my furniture," Ms Ciufici said.
In new security footage, Sam and her partner Brett Stevens were seen repeatedly loading up a trailer with Val's possessions.
Facebook advertisements have also shown some of the grandmother's jewellery and possessions being offered for sale online.
Val claims she had no idea what was happening.
"I feel very violated, very hurt and very disappointed," Ms Ciufici said.
Her daughter Wendy Shields said "it's horrific what's happened" to her mum.
Sam has claimed that her grandmother agreed to transfer her home to her two years ago before she was sick.
"There was no pestering, like I said I have a letter from 2019 from her lawyer saying she had started the process," Sam said.
Instead of taking Val home, she took her to an isolated farmhouse outside of town.
"I didn't know where the property was, nothing, and the only thing we could do was ring the police and do a welfare check and that's how we found her," Ms Shields said.
According to Val's family, the great grandmother only managed to escape from her new accommodation after seeing her doctor and asking them to call her daughter.
It was after Val's other heart attack that she was taken to hospital and was determined to get her story out.
"Please be very careful because I know there are a lot of people out there in the same situation," she said.