Son goes to prison for causing mother's suicide
A 47-year-old man from Evron in the western Loire region was sentenced to two years in prison on Thursday for causing the suicide of his own mother.
Daily newspaper Libération reported that the court of appeal in Angers increased the original one-year sentence on the man after hearing he had told his mother he was going to kill himself.
On March 17th 2008, the man's 82-year-old mother, who lived in a care home in Evron in the western Loire region, drank half a litre of a cleaning product.
The woman told a nurse that she "wanted to do it because her son was dead." She died herself shortly afterwards.
Her son had in fact called the day before to say he was going to kill himself and had then not responded to a series of calls she made to him.
Before her death, the man had arranged her funeral, even taking out a loan to pay for the ceremony.
Explaining himself, the man said "it was her or me." He had a difficult relationship with his mother, having returned to live with her at the age of 41 after divorcing and announcing he was gay.
"Given the personality of this worrying, manipulative and dangerous man and given the seriousness of the offence which led an old lady to kill herself, it's necessary to increase the sentence," said the court in its judgment.
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