N.J.S.A. 2C:24-8(a) imposes criminal liability on those who have "assumed continuing responsibility for the care of a person 60 years of age or older" and who "abandon[] the elderly person . . . or unreasonably neglect[] to do or fail[] to permit to be done any act necessary for the physical or mental health of the elderly person." In reversing, the court held that a conviction under this statute cannot be sustained when the defendant's conduct was alleged to be a physical assault. The Legislature intended instead to criminalize neglect, abandonment, and failures to act, not an assault, which is criminalized elsewhere in the criminal code.