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 10 and a half 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 Therese Brassard-Levesque at a care home in Terrebonne, north of Montreal.