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Man murders wife in mercy killing
This old couple was happily married for decades
but their marriage ended in tragedy
when the husband decided
to put his wife out of her misery.
Yesterday, an 83-year-old Taipei resident surnamed ***,
turned himself in to the police
after ending his 79-year-old wife's life
because he couldn't bear seeing her
continue to suffer from Parkinson's disease
He had previously
worked as an engineer and she as a Mandrin teacher.
After retiring,
they moved into this apartment.
After breakfast yesterday,
the old man gave his wife a sleeping pill,
telling her it was medicine for her stomach.
After ingesting the pill, she fell unconcious.
He positioned his wife so that she was
facing the window and the scenery outside.
He then took a hammer and
rammed a skrewdriver
into her skull.
After killing his wife
he gazed at her for a while.
When he returned to his senses, he contacted the police.
According to police reports
The old woman was a Christian
who had suffered terribly from Parkinson's.
Earlier this year during Mid-Autumn Festival she was injured in a fall at home.
Deputy police chief: "He couldn't bear standing by watching his wife suffer."
He felt miserable,
so he wanted to help relieve her of her misery."
*** announced in May
on his blog
that he and his wife wished to die happily.
He also said it would be a blessing for her to die before him,
and that when the time came, he would help her end her life.
Nothing would stop him. If a gun won't do
an electric-drill would work, too.
"What good would it do for me to move to the US and become an American?"
"I know that the kids went to America
and they're not really good to us elderly,"
he wrote in reference to their two sons.
People at the church in Xindian were surprised by the news.
Friend: "He really took good care of his wife."
"He must have loved her too much"
and couldn't bear having her suffer."
Neighbor: "They came to eat here before."
"Mr. *** was talkative and had a great sense of humour."
"Mrs. *** was very gentle"
"One seemed to be an introvert and the other an extrovert."
"Maybe it was because of the illness."
Social worker: "The couple must have faced a lot of pressure
coping with daily life.
They most probably didn't think about seeking
help from the social welfare system.
The old woman would have been eligiable
to have been sent to a place to be cared for.
I believe that they
were deeply in love
and that he wanted her
to live a more dignified life.
But what he did was extreme.
It's not legal in Taiwan."
Although the tragedy rings in our hearts
police officials had to arrest Mr. *** yesterday
and charge him with ***.
After the autopsy, prosecutors decided to preserve the remains on ice
and entrusted the Xindian congregation with asking the couple's sons to return to Taiwan.
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