Man murders his chronically ill wife
After taking care of a wife suffering from Parkinson’s disease for 30 years, a 72-year-old husband killed her and tried to commit suicide, Daegu police said.
According to the Suseong Police Precinct in Daegu, a son of the couple telephoned the police after finding his parents on the floor of their house. The father was unconscious with a head wound that was bleeding, while the mother was dead.
The report was made around noon on Sept. 10, the last day of the Chuseok holidays, the police said.
The police at first assumed that the couple tried to commit suicide together.
But the husband confessed in the hospital that he struck his 70-year-old wife with a blunt object several times as she slept around 11 p.m. the previous night and covered her mouth with his hands to asphyxiate her.
Afterward, he attempted to kill himself by bludgeoning his own head with the blunt object.
“I am sorry. I wanted to die with your mom,” the son quoted his father as saying.
According to the police, the husband said he was in despair after taking care of his sick wife for three decades.
“He appeared to have decided to commit the crime as his wife’s condition deteriorated recently,” a police official said. “He might have been exhausted and did not want to be a burden to their children.”
The police said they will seek a warrant to detain the suspect after his recovery.
Parkinson’s disease is a neurodegenerative brain disorder that progresses slowly in most people. There is no cure for the disease, according to National Parkinson Foundation in the United States.
BY SONG YEE-HO [ypc3c@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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