CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A husband who wanted to claim his wife's life insurance has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for persuading her to kill herself in what a judge described as an Australian-first conviction.
Graham Morant was convicted by a Queensland state Jury in October on charges of counselling and aiding his wife to suicide in 2014.
The judge sentenced the 69-year-old on Friday to 10 years in prison and ordered him to serve at least five years before he is eligible for parole.
While people have been convicted before in Australia of helping someone to suicide, the judge says no one has been convicted in Australia before of persuading someone who would not otherwise have taken his or her own life to suicide.
Each conviction carries a potential life sentence.
