Chinese gets five years for drowning wife

A farmer who drowned his paralyzed wife in China has been sentenced to five years in prison by a court, a media report said Thursday.

The incident took place in Lanzhou in China’s Gansu province. Jia Zhengwu, 38, pushed his wheelchair-bound wife Zhang Xiaojun into the Yellow river in April 2011.

Zhang had tried to kill herself after years of suffering, the China Daily quoted the Lanzhou Intermediate People’s Court as saying.

Jia had taken good care of his bedridden wife for years and did not kill her for an evil purpose, and thus got a lesser penalty, the court said Tuesday.

It, however, rejected his lawyer’s argument that it should be classified as a mercy killing.

Jia’s wife was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis in 2003. She had been paralyzed since 2007. Her treatment also nearly bankrupted her family.

Jia’s trial began in October.