A 100-year-old British man was recently sentenced to just 12 months “community rehabilitation” after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of his 87-year-old wife.
Bernard Heginbotham, 100, confessed to slitting the throat of his wife Ida, 87, on April 1 of this year. Ida was living in a nursing home due to her poor health and was scheduled to be moved to a different nursing home.
Bernard apparently believed that his wife would not receive proper care at the new nursing home and killed her in what he believed was an act of mercy. The BBC quoted prosecutor Hilary Banks telling the court that,
He [Bernard] admitted that he went to the home with a weapon and injured his wife which resulted in her death. He didn’t want his wife to be moved again and didn’t think she was going to receive the care he wanted her to have.
In sentencing Bernard to only 12 months community rehabilitation, the judge in the case said,
Bernard Heginbotham, the killing of your wife, to whom you had been married joyously for some 67 years, followed by your attempt to take your own life, was an act of desperation. It was carried out in an effort to end her suffering while you were under intolerable pressure. It was in truth an act of love and I have no doubt you suffered a medical disorder at the time and the responsibility which you bear is substantially reduced.
Sources:
Cutting Wife’s Throat Was ‘An Act Of Love’. Patrick Mulchrone, Daily Mirror, July 9, 2004.
Wife killer, 100, spared prison. BBC, July 8, 2004.