Man who tried to asphyxiate wife gets probation

By DEBORAH GYAPONG
Canadian Catholic News
Sherbrooke, Quebec

A man who tried to asphyxiate his disabled wife, who died shortly afterward, has been sentenced to three years probation.

When handing down the sentence, Quebec Court Judge Danielle Cote said Andre Bergeron, 46, acted "out of love."

She took into consideration the care Bergeron had given his wife Marielle Houle, who suffered from Friedreich's Ataxia, a degenerative disorder.

Devaluates life

"This decision devalues the lives of every Canadian with a disability," Euthanasia Prevention Coalition Executive Director Alex Schadenberg said.

"If attempting to murder someone with a disability is seen as an act of compassion then all lives of vulnerable Canadians are at risk."

In July 2005, Bergeron tried to asphyxiate his 44-year-old wife with a plastic bag, but called 911 before killing her. She died in hospital three days later. He pleaded guilty to aggravated assault causing death.

Bergeron's lawyer told journalists the judgment should send a message to politicians concerning assisted suicide and euthanasia. "(The judge) said it's a crime, and we do have to be very careful with a change in the law," Jean Couture said, according to an Oct. 20 Montreal Gazette story. "But we have to change the law. And I think, with that judgment, she gives a line to the government."

Another probation

Last January, another Quebec judge handed a similarly lenient sentence to another woman also named Marielle Houle, 60, who pleaded guilty to assisting her son's 2004 suicide. She, too, received three years probation.

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