A self-styled pastor will spend years in jail for convincing his wife to kill herself so he could spend her life insurance on a religious compound, complete with bunkers to ride out a religious rapture.
Graham Robert Morant, 69, will spend at least five years behind bars after being painted as a money-hungry man so desperate for his own religious compound that he talked his wife into committing suicide.
Once Jennifer Morant had made that decision, he then helped her do it at the couple's Gold Coast hinterlands home.
Mrs Morant had been suffering from depression and chronic back pain.
But in sentencing Morant on Friday, Supreme Court Justice Peter Davis said his actions had nothing to do with compassion for his wife.
Morant's true objective was to get his hands on her life insurance payouts, worth $1.4 million.
"Mrs Morant was a vulnerable person with difficulties with her physical health. She was suffering depression," Justice Davis told Morant.
"You took advantage of those vulnerabilities in order to persuade her to kill herself and then assisted her to do so once she had made that decision."
Graham Robert Morant, 69, will spend at least five years behind bars. Source: AAP
The court heard Morant wanted to use the money to buy a property where he could build a religious commune, complete with bunkers to ride out a rapture.
Justice Davis said Morant had shown no remorse for his actions, and his wife had died in a lonely place in November 2014.
"You had an acute awareness that upon Mrs Morant's death you would benefit from a payout from the insurance policies," he said.
“You counselled and aided your wife to suicide because you wanted to get your hands on the $1.4 million."
Morant was sentenced to 10 years' jail for counselling wife to take her life, and six years for helping her to do it.
He can apply for parole after October, 2023.
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