Sentenced for failed ‘suicide pact’ bid
A man in his 80s who took his wife from a care home and tried to enact what he says was a failed suicide pact has been sentenced to home detention.
After decades of marriage, Roy Ernest Morton, 82, became increasingly concerned about how his wife was being looked after in a Waikato care home in the months following a severe stroke.
His desperation came to a head on October 12, 2020, when he took her out under the pretext of a walk, and made an attempt on both of their lives.
He was sentenced to four-anda-half months of home detention by Justice Paul Davison QC, in the High Court at Hamilton yesterday.
Morton’s life started to fall to pieces after his wife had a severe stroke in mid-August 2020, which left her unable to move without help, and made communication very difficult.
He couldn’t bear to watch his wife of almost 60 years suffer, Justice Davison said, and wanted to end her diminished quality of life. He also planned to take his own life, which speaks to the depth of his love for his wife, the judge said.
‘‘Without her, you had no desire to keep going on your own.’’
Speaking after the sentencing, Morton described his wife as ‘‘a beautiful mind trapped in a body that’s no use to her’’.
‘‘I hope, one day, that she’ll be able to come home to me because I need her far more than she needs me,’’ he said.
On the day the charges relate to, Morton asked care home staffers for a wheelchair, ostensibly to take his wife for a walk in the garden. Instead, he took her home and emailed close friends and his wife’s family about his frustrations, saying they were going to take their own lives, court documents say.
His wife’s sister in the UK was deeply shocked and couldn’t believe her sister would agree to a suicide pact, a victim impact statement said.
She valued her life, ‘‘regardless of any deficiencies’’, the court heard.
Morton and his wife were interrupted by other motorists, and police caught up with him near Lake Karapiro.
His wife suffered no physical harm, court documents say.
Morton pleaded guilty to attempted murder in March.
In early police interviews, Morton said the pair had a joint suicide pact, and later that his wife had indicated she wanted to end her life. However, a Waikato DHB assessment found she didn’t show signs of reasoning and had significant difficulty understanding information.
‘‘The court doesn’t accept and can’t accept your explanation, that there was meaningful communication from [your wife] that provided a reasonable or justifiable basis that there was a joint suicide pact,’’ Justice Davison said.
He also said the offending was planned, and the woman was especially vulnerable as she depended on others for her care.
But it’s a conundrum that Morton had pleaded guilty to trying to murder a woman he loved deeply, defence counsel Roger Laybourn said.
‘‘[He was] confronted with an unexpected tragedy of a severe stroke and losing his companion in the golden years they had been looking forward to.’’
Police also found an iPad recording showing Morton had made an attempt on his and his wife’s lives on October 11.
Speaking after the sentencing, Laybourn said the judge balanced the sanctity of life and his client’s difficult situation well in a case which is extremely difficult for the courts.
Morton was arrested the day the euthanasia referendum came out, and Laybourn felt the vote to legalise euthanasia showed society may have moved faster than the law.
‘‘I’ve done other [cases] like this, and I’m always left with the feeling that the law is a bad fit . . . When we have somebody who acts out of love and then is charged with attempted murder, it doesn’t seem to compute.’’
It had been a dreadful ordeal for his client, who is 82 years old, has medical issues of his own and had shown courage, he said.
‘‘He’s seen the impact on his wife. She’s been his partner for 57 years of marriage. No children. Their life revolves around each other.’’
Justice Davison ordered that Morton would be able to visit his wife only with prior permission and in the presence of a supervisor.