Australia. 94 year Old Man Sentenced to 9 Years In Prison For The Murder of His Wife.

[TootsieFootsie]

'Murder remains murder': Terminally ill Canberra man jailed for nine years for murdering his 92yo wife

Donald Morley, who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness, has been sentenced to nine years in jail after suffocating his 92-year-old wife, Jean Morley, in their Fisher home last year.

www.abc.net.au

• In short: Donald Morley has been sentenced to nine years in jail after suffocating his 92-year-old wife Jean in their Fisher home last year.
• 
  
• Justice Mossop said Morley was not motivated by malice, and noted a doctor's assessment that with both declining in health and Morley struggling to care for his wife he had "been unable to see a way through.

Donald Morley, 93, pleaded guilty after suffocating Jean Morley, 92, in her bed in July last year.

It was the last act in a marriage which had lasted 69 years.

The crime was discovered later by a health worker.

"That's my angel," Morley told the woman about Mrs Morley, before police and ambulance officers arrived.

The court had earlier heard Morley has between three and six months to live.

He watched today's sentencing via video link in a hospice where he is being treated for terminal cancer.

 

[Sarahlou]

This doesn't seem right to me. He should be left in the hospice.

 

[investikater]

Why did his suicide attempts fail?

 

[lolz]

I saw this on the news and I was like what!!!. She had dementia and he didn't have long to live. They pretty much summed it up as he killed her because there would be no one to look after her after hes gone. He probably thought he was doing to right thing but at the end of the day murder is murder.

 

[translator]

While it doesn’t seem that Jean mentioned wanting to access VAD (voluntary assisted dying), this does make me think of a relatively recent case in the UK, where assisted dying is illegal; at her request, a man promised to and indeed did kill his terminally ill wife. He survived his own suicide attempt and was sentenced to manslaughter. Under Australian law and given Jean’s diagnosis, she probably wouldn’t have been eligible for VAD even if she had wanted it.

If there is no history of domestic abuse or similar, I lean towards thinking Donald should be given a suspended sentence. The couple was together for seven decades so, going only off of what has been made public, it does seem this truly was what he thought was best even though it still wasn’t necessarily right.

The judge saying that the sentence is for “general deterrence” rather than punishment… I feel this case is quite unique. BOTH parties were terminally ill, the perpetrator was a/the primary carer for the victim and they had been together for such a long time. If any of these factors were different, I would consider the nature of the crime to be different, too, so if it’s being meted out for deterrence’s sake alone, I’m not sure such a sentence is warranted.

I also wonder if carer’s stress is being considered? Being 94, terminally ill with only several months to live, caring for your spouse of ~70 years who is also terminally ill… It seems like there may not have been much family to support (given the couple moved from England and had no children)… What a difficult and sad situation.

In any case, RIP Jean.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

While it doesn’t seem that Jean mentioned wanting to access VAD (voluntary assisted dying), this does make me think of a relatively recent case in the UK, where assisted dying is illegal; at her request, a man promised to and indeed did kill his terminally ill wife. He survived his own suicide attempt and was sentenced to manslaughter. Under Australian law and given Jean’s diagnosis, she probably wouldn’t have been eligible for VAD even if she had wanted it.

If there is no history of domestic abuse or similar, I lean towards thinking Donald should be given a suspended sentence. The couple was together for seven decades so, going only off of what has been made public, it does seem this truly was what he thought was best even though it still wasn’t necessarily right.

The judge saying that the sentence is for “general deterrence” rather than punishment… I feel this case is quite unique. BOTH parties were terminally ill, the perpetrator was a/the primary carer for the victim and they had been together for such a long time. If any of these factors were different, I would consider the nature of the crime to be different, too, so if it’s being meted out for deterrence’s sake alone, I’m not sure such a sentence is warranted.

I also wonder if carer’s stress is being considered? Being 94, terminally ill with only several months to live, caring for your spouse of ~70 years who is also terminally ill… It seems like there may not have been much family to support (given the couple moved from England and had no children)… What a difficult and sad situation.

In any case, RIP Jean.

Lovely reading...
I just do wonder if there is any type of hospice center within the prison system that could legally still be considered serving his prison sentence.

 

[lolz]

Lovely reading...
I just do wonder if there is any type of hospice center within the prison system that could legally still be considered serving his prison sentence.

I'm pretty sure he's spending the rest of his life either in a hospital or a care facility.

 

[investikater]

This is just so wrong in so many ways

How do we stop this happening?

 

[translator]

Lovely reading...
I just do wonder if there is any type of hospice center within the prison system that could legally still be considered serving his prison sentence.

Our prison hospice care is quite lacking compared to some other countries. I do know community palliative nurses make prison visits but as for what in-prison hospice would look like here… We do not currently have a set model.

I do believe we are, however, at the tail end of the Department of Health and Aged Care developing the National Framework for Provision of Palliative Care in Australian Prisons, so we’re looking good in that sense!

He survived his own suicide attempt and was sentenced to manslaughter.

Just to correct my own mistake—the man I speak of absolutely was not sentenced to manslaughter; he was found guilty of manslaughter