A man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for encouraging and helping his wife to kill herself, so he could access her $1.4 million life insurance.<\/p>\n
Graham Robert Morant was found guilty last month of persuading his wife Jennifer Morant to kill herself in her car and helping her buy the necessary equipment from a hardware store.<\/p>\n
The court heard Morant was the sole beneficiary of Ms Morant\u2019s three life insurance policies, which Justice Peter Davis concluded was the motivation for his actions.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou took advantage of her vulnerability as a sick and depressed woman,\u201d Justice Davis said during sentencing.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou counselled your wife to kill herself because you wanted to get your hands on the $1.4 million.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the money, Morant planned to build a religious commune with bunkers in the Gold Coast hinterland as a haven from the biblical rapture.<\/p>\n
Justice Davis said it was obvious that as of 2014 Morant was not a wealthy person, had a small amount of money, no superannuation, and credit card debts.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour general financial position was such that $1.4 million was a very significant sum as it would be to most people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have not shown any remorse for the offences you have committed.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou did not plead guilty and you did not cooperate with the administration of justice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Justice Davis said there had been no conviction in Queensland for the counselling suicide charge and research had also failed to find a conviction for a similar offence in another jurisdiction.<\/p>\n
Jennifer Morant, 56, took her own life in 2014.<\/p>\n
Ms Morant\u2019s family cried as the court sentenced Morant to 10 years in jail for the counselling charge, and six years for the charge of aiding suicide.<\/p>\n
Ms Morant, who suffered from chronic back pain, depression and anxiety, was found dead in her car by police in 2014, with the doors closed and a note saying \u201cplease don\u2019t resuscitate me\u201d.<\/p>\n
Morant will be eligible to apply for parole on October 23, 2023.<\/p>\n
Karyn Walsh from the support group Micah Projects, which helps victims of domestic violence, said psychological abuse and control was a big problem.<\/p>\n
While unable to talk about the specific case, Ms Walsh said the issue went hand in hand with other forms of abuse.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is the control of someone\u2019s freedom and liberty of choices and it is integral to most circumstances of domestic violence,\u201d Ms Walsh said.<\/p>\n
* Far from being a situation of spousal abuse, Exit can say that Jenny Morant was a dedicated member of Exit and a subscriber to the Peaceful Pill eHandbook<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n In 2014, Jenny wrote to Exit:<\/strong><\/p>\n “I desperately need your help, to assist me to end my life in a peaceful manner. I am in chronic pain for the past 3 years now, with Spinal Surgery not giving me any relief, in August 2011,\u00a0I fractured my spine from Osteo Perosis, and I had 3 rods, 2 plates and cement injected into my spine, but the operation was not a success\u00a0and now I am having to take large amounts\u00a0on a daily basis of Oxycontin, Endone, Tramadal, Stemetil, Maxolon, Panadol Osteo, but most days I do not get out of bed because the pain and the nausea is so bad, if I can manage to get up, I am back in bed by 4PM, propped up with Pillows, so i can eat a little amount of food, but the past 4 months I have had such severe nausea i could not eat at all, & also with the large amounts of Oxycontin I have to take the side effects are terrible.”<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for encouraging and helping his wife to kill herself, so he could access her $1.4 million life insurance. Graham Robert Morant was found guilty last month of persuading his wife Jennifer Morant to kill herself in her car and helping her buy the necessary equipment […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[101],"tags":[13,25,113,114],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n