Last update - 00:00 21/01/2008
Court orders release of elderly suspect in botched suicide pact with his wife
By Jack Khoury, Haaretz Correspondent
The Acre Magistrates Court on Monday ordered the release of Miklos Gal, an 84-year-old Holocaust survivor, who was arrested last week for allegedly murdering his wife Kathleen, 84, before attempting to kill himself.
The judge ruled that Gal did not pose a threat to society and that upon his release from hospital, he would be transferred to an elderly citizens' home under the supervision of family members.
Police requested Monday that implementation of the judge's ruling be suspended and say they are considering appealing the decision.
Last Wednesday, the couple was found unconscious in their Nahariya home. The wife was declared dead at the scene by paramedics, while the husband was taken to hospital in serious condition.
Police detectives who arrived on the scene found that Kathleen had been shot in the mouth, and submitted her body for autopsy. The postmortem revealed that she had been shot after swallowing pills. Her husband was placed under guard at the hospital.
On Sunday he admitted that he had shot his wife after they both swallowed a large amount of pills.
Gal's attorney, Moshe Gilad, explained that his client wanted to spare his wife needless suffering and that he had planned to shoot himself as well but passed out before he could do so. Gilad said the couple had been together for over 60 years.
"They met while they were still children and they went through the Holocaust together. They were in three different concentration camps and afterward they decided to marry. They had two children," Gilad said.
Letters were found in their home, in which the couple explained that they had decided to put an end to their lives due to their poor health and a desire not to become a burden on their family.
"The gas, electricity, telephone and water must be disconnected, the refrigerator must be emptied and coffins must be ordered," the two wrote in a joined suicide letter.
"We decided not to continue living.... At our age we cannot expect to have better times and fighting the inevitable will only lead to unnecessary suffering and humiliation," they wrote.
Kathleen Gal was buried on Sunday. "We need a few days to digest what happened," a family member said after the funeral.