His advice to sick wife: Kill yourself
A BORN-again Christian builder from Mount Tamborine, who stood to inherit $1.4 million from his wife’s life insurance, has been convicted of counselling someone to commit suicide.
A jury yesterday found Graham Robert Morant, 69, guilty of counselling Jennifer Morant, his wife of 14 years, to kill herself and of aiding her to commit suicide in 2014.
Jenny Morant, 56, who suffered from chronic back pain but did not have a terminal illness, was found dead in her car at Wongawallan on November 30, 2014.
Mrs Morant’s sister, Lynette Lucas, told the Supreme Court that Jenny told her that Graham wanted her to kill herself so he could get $1.4 million from her life insurance. She said Jenny told her she feared for her life.
“With today’s verdict, finally there has been justice for Jenny,’’ Mrs Lucas said yesterday. “Many families have been affected, it’s been very traumatic. We’ve had four years of unanswered questions.’’
Justice Peter Davis, who remanded Morant in custody for sentencing on October 19, said the jury concluded that but for Morant’s counselling, Mrs Morant would not have ended her life.
He said they were serious offences and a custodial sentence was inevitable.
Crown prosecutor Michael Lehane said he knew of no precedent, in Australia or internationally, for a conviction for counselling someone to commit suicide.
After coming home from church on November 30, 2014, to find a note from his wife, Morant called triple-0, telling the operator it looked like she had gone off to “do herself harm’’.
The day before, Morant had driven his wife to a hardware store and helped her load a petrol generator that she used the next day to kill herself.
Morant at first denied knowing about the generator his wife used, but later admitted to police Jenny told him she was going to use a generator to kill herself, before she bought it.
He said when he went to church the next day, leaving his wife at home, with the generator in her car, there was an “off chance’’ of her killing herself.
Morant said his wife had “a zest and zeal to die’’.
Mrs Lucas said Jenny told her Graham wanted to buy a property with the insurance money, as a safe commune “for when the raptures and Armageddon came”.
Jenny Morant’s best friend, Johanna “Judy” Dent, told the court Mrs Morant told her Graham knew a way she could kill herself without feeling any pain.
She said Mrs Morant told her: “I have to kill myself and Graham will be helping”.