Woman Sentenced for Aiding Suicide

In one of the few cases of its kind ever heard in Canada, a woman was sentenced to six months in jail for helping her boyfriend commit suicide.

Lois Wilson, 29, pleaded guilty before the Wednesday sentencing for aiding and abetting Vincent James Hayes when he killed himself.

Hayes, an alcoholic who mistakenly convinced himself he had stomach cancer, talked Wilson into helping him commit suicide by pushing him into Lake Ontario, district court was told.

While Hayes thought he was suffering from cancer, medical reports never verified this, and an autopsy showed he was suffering from gastritis. He also had hepatitis and was in pain because of a stabbing incident in 1981.

Judge Bruce Hawkins noted that Wilson apparently believed that her boyfriend’s assessment of his medical condition was correct. Hayes, 45, was frequently sick during the three years he lived periodically with Wilson.

Hawkins noted it is no longer a crime to attempt to commit suicide but that helping someone to do so is.