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Man gets 4 years for wife's euthanasia
Shanghai Daily, August 13, 2013
A 70-year-old man who helped his bed-ridden wife end her life was sentenced to four years for intentional homicide by a court in Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province.[Wuhan Morning Post]
Wang Weiguo's 67-year-old wife Ye Aizhen was diagnosed with colon cancer in March but was unable to have surgery because of a weak heart. After she returned home, her condition quickly worsened, Changjiang Daily reported yesterday.
Overwhelmed by pain, she found it hard to sleep or eat. The couple has three sons, but they work in other cities, so only Wang, himself suffering from a serious case of joint necrosis and having lost sight in one eye, was available to care for her, the report said.
An ailing Ye didn't want to be a burden on the family and so begged Wang to drown her. "Take me to the river. You have to listen to me this time," Wang recalled Ye as saying.
On April 14, Wang took Ye, along with some quilts and her clothes, to a local river. "Though I was reluctant to move her, she urged me to be quick," claimed Wang, who went along with Ye for nearly 100 meters as she floated downstream.
Fishermen on the river saw what was happening and called police. Ye was ruled to have drowned.
Wang stood trial on June 3. He insisted he was just helping Ye to resolve her plight by committing suicide. "I would have willingly died for her. How would I kill her," he asked.
Wang Ming, Wang's second son, defended his father. He had tears in his eyes during the court hearing. "What a shame! My brothers and I feel so abashed," Wang Ming said. "She asked to go home every day when she was hospitalized. She didn't want us to spend money on her, and she asked father to help her die as soon as possible."
Judge Ding Xinhong said Chinese law bans mercy killing or helping others to die. But considering Wang killed Ye at her request and given her disability, he was given a lighter sentence and allowed to serve his term out of prison.
