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The defendant couldn’t bear to see his wife suffer after a severe stroke left her unable to move without help and made communication very difficult (file photo).
A man in his 80s who took his wife from a care home and tried to enact what he says was a failed suicide pact has been sentenced to home detention. After decades of marriage, Roy Ernest Morton, 82, became increasingly concerned about how his wife was being looked after in a Waikato care home in the months following a severe stroke. His desperation came to a head on October 12, 2020, when he took her out under the pretext of a walk, and made an attempt on both of their lives.
An elderly man took his frail wife out for a walk from her nursing home and attempted to kill both of them to end her suffering .
Roy Ernest Morton, 82, grew increasingly exasperated over how his wife was being cared for in the New Zealand facility after she suffered a stroke.
On Friday, he was sentenced to four-and-a-half months of home detention for the failed attempt, which he claimed was a suicide pact.
The court acknowledged his motivation was to release his wife from what he felt was suffering as she was unable to move or talk.
Justice Davison said that while the man clearly cared for his wife she could not have agreed to a suicide pact (stock image)