Canberra's oldest killer, 93 year old Donald Morley, is set to die in custody. Morley who suffocated his wife in July last year, has only months to live, but today was sentenced to nine years jail, in the ACT Supreme Court.
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00:00 They were teenage sweethearts, married for 67 years, when the unthinkable happened.
00:07 This afternoon homicide squad detectives charged a 92 year old male with murder in relation
00:14 to the death of a 92 year old female. It looks like she's been suffocated.
00:21 Donald Morley ended up in hospital after failing to kill himself, but he freely admitted killing
00:27 the 92 year old love of his life, Jean Morley, who'd been suffering from dementia.
00:33 He'd been struggling to cope, telling a welfare worker, "We've lived too long."
00:38 The court heard it was after a lunch with friends, which they had always loved, that
00:43 the pair discussed their loss of enjoyment in life.
00:47 Morley went to bed first and that's when he decided to end both their lives.
00:52 The crime was discovered by a health worker. He showed her his wife's body.
00:57 "That's my angel," he said. Today the judge said, while it was not motivated
01:02 by malice, murder remains murder, notwithstanding the age or infirmity of the victim or the
01:09 perpetrator. The forceful murder of one's spouse must be
01:13 denounced. Morley watched on via video link from the
01:17 hospice where he's being treated for cancer. Justice Mossop said punishment was not a primary
01:23 concern, but there was a need for general deterrence, even if the penalty was effectively
01:29 a life sentence. Morley has been sentenced to nine years, with
01:33 a non-parole period of four and a half years, but he's not expected to live beyond six months.
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