Man, 70, deemed murderer by court after killing sick wife in euthanasia case

When an elderly Wuhan man in a wheelchair pushed his sick wife into the Yangtze River and killed her on her request, he never thought he would be a murderer.

The 70-year-old man, who was arrested and charged with murder, told the court that he only wanted to free his wife from pain.

“I only wish I could die for her ... How could I have wanted to murder her?” the man had said. His neighbours also made appeals in vain, many of them said he did not know he might be breaking the law.

Still, the Hannan district court sentenced the 70-year-old to four years of jail for euthanasia in August. The judge, however, said the defendant would be allowed to serve the time outside prison. The man, who cannot walk and is half-blind, was deemed to be unharmful to society and unfit to live under custody, the Wuhan Morning Post reported on Monday.

The case began in June after the man, who was not identified by his real name by the newspaper, pushed his wife, 67, into the Yangtze River, according to several fishermen nearby. She had long suffered from colon cancer, and it had been increasingly difficult to care for her. Their three sons had left home as migrant workers.

“[I] wish for a quick ending to my life … Send me off in the river. You must follow what I say on this,” the wife had repeatedly asked, according to the man.