An elderly man attacked his wife after staff told him she needed surgery, according to the DA. View Full Caption DNAinfo/Katie Honan

ELMHURST — A man beat his 83-year-old wife in the head with a hammer as she lay in a hospital bed because he "didn't want to see her suffer" through surgery, according to police and prosecutors.

Manuel Besteiro, 87, was visiting his wife, Remedious Besteiro, inside of Elmhurst Hospital at 4:40 p.m on March 7, when a nurse heard a "bang" from inside of the victim's room and rushed in to discover him hitting her in the head with a hammer, according to the criminal complaint.



The nurse grabbed the hammer from the man's hand and called police, the complaint says.

It wasn't immediately clear why the 83-year-old victim was initially hospitalized, but Besteiro became upset when he was told that she needed surgery, the criminal complaint says.

"I didn't want to see her suffer so I hit her in the head with a hammer," he told officers after the attack, according to the complaint.

The wife, who has dementia and lives in a nearby elder-care facility, received 15 to 20 staples on the right side of her head because of the attack, police said.

Besteiro was charged with assault and criminal possession of weapon. A temporary order of protection was issued during his arraigment and he was released. Information about his lawyer was not immediately available.