From the [UK] Independent, CNN, International Herald Tribune, [UK] Times:

A 77-year-old man was in custody after walking into a hospital and shooting dead his 82-year-old wife, who had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease for 12 years.

Vitangeolo Bini, a retired policeman from Florence, raised no suspicions when he came into the ward. His wife, Mara Bini, had been admitted a few days before; Mr Bini had, for years, borne most of the burden of looking after her.

She had been in and out of hospital and was in the last phase of the disease. The Italian press reported that she was no longer able to recognise her husband or anyone else, and had lost the power of speech.

He sat beside her bed, as usual, stroked her face and murmured some words.

There were five other patients in the ward, all old ladies, two of them seriously ill. Then Mr Bini spread towels over his wife’s face and chest, took the revolver – for which he had a license – from his pocket, and shot her at close range in the head.

… Mr Bini’s dramatic act of mercy elicited an immediate wave of sympathy. More than 13 per cent of European women in Mara Bini’s age group suffer from dementia, a figure that rises to more than 32 per cent for women in their 90s.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 2nd, 2007 at 8:15 pm and is filed under alzheimer's, criminal justice, cultural attitudes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post