Gilles Brassard speaks to reporters as he arrives for sentencing at the courthouse in Laval, Que., on Nov. 22.Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press
An 81-year-old Quebec man who says he ended his ailing wife’s life out of love and compassion was sentenced today to serve at least 10½ years in prison for murder.
Gilles Brassard told reporters on the way into the courtroom that he couldn’t stand watching his wife of 50 years deteriorate from Alzheimer’s disease.
Brassard pleaded guilty last week to second-degree murder in the September 2023 strangling death of Thérèse Brassard-Lévesque at a care home in Terrebonne, north of Montreal.
The court heard that it took Brassard several attempts to strangle his wife with a rope in an assault that was caught on camera, before he swallowed medication in a suicide attempt.
Testimony from members of the couple’s family read in court painted Brassard as a loving husband and father, who tried to care for his wife as long as he could before she became too ill and aggressive to live at home.
Second-degree murder carries an automatic sentence of life in prison, with a mandatory minimum of 10 years before an offender can apply for parole.