Accused in slaying of wife at long-term care centre told nurse he was responsible

By The Canadian Press

MONTREAL — A Montreal man on trial for the killing of his ailing wife told a senior nurse at the long-term care facility where she lived that he had suffocated her, a jury has heard.

Linda Desgagne testified at the second-degree murder trial of Michel Cadotte that the accused asked to speak to her alone after informing other staff on Feb. 20, 2017 that his wife was dead.

Desgagne says that is when a tearful Cadotte told her he had smothered Jocelyne Lizotte with a pillow and that he couldn’t deal with his wife’s advanced Alzheimer’s anymore.

The nurse, who has more than 30 years experience, says she had attended a meeting requested by Cadotte a year earlier at which he asked whether Lizotte qualified for medically assisted death.

Desgagne says that Cadotte was told his wife did not meet the criteria for the life-ending procedure. He did not react strongly but said he would seek a legal opinion.

Lizotte, 60, was in the late stages of the neurodegenerative disease and was entirely unable to care for herself.

The Canadian Press

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