Husband who stood to gain $1.4 million in life insurance convicted of aiding wife's suicide

Jennifer Morant at high tea with her familyAn Australian court has convicted a man of encouraging his wife to commit suicide after discovering he was the only beneficiary of a life insurance contract.
Jennifer Morant was found dead in 2014 and died at the age of 56, suffering from chronic pain but had no fatal disease.
According to the BBC's Web site, the jury found her husband Graham Murant, 69, had helped her commit suicide, which the defendant denied.
Prosecutors told the court that the husband was the only beneficiary of a $ 1.4 million ($ 1 million) insurance contract for his wife.
Morant was acquitted, saying he was unaware of the insurance policy.
Judge Peter Davis said the wife would not have ended her life without her husband's advice.
The wife was found dead in her car along with a generator on 30 November 2014, with a message saying "I hope not to be refreshed."
Her husband had taken her to a shop to buy the generator, the prosecution said.
The court learned that Ghorat, who was suffering from back pain and bouts of depression, told a friend that she would end her life and that her husband would help her.
Witnesses told the court that the husband had told his wife that he would use insurance money to establish a religious association.
The defendant is due to be sentenced on October 19.
"The Crown does not have to prove a motive for the accused's actions, but in this instance there were 1.4 million reasons why the accused intentionally assisted his wife," Prosecutor Lehane said.
Graham Morant leaves the Supreme Court followed by reporters"The Crown also says he clearly looked to conceal his involvement to police and to Jennifer's sister and her close friends."
'He wants me to kill myself'
The court heard Mr Morant later admitted to police he was aware his wife wanted to go to Peru to end her life, and they had signed an irrevocable nomination banning her from changing him as sole beneficiary.
The document claimed Mrs Morant had been diagnosed with a terminal illness, but Mr Lehane said her general practitioner would testify during the trial that she was not fatally sick.
The court heard Mr Morant told his wife it would not be a sin in God's eyes for her to kill herself and warned that she would not be strong enough to survive the "rapture".
Her sister Lynette Lucas told the court she wanted to leave her husband but did not have the money to do so, and mentioned she had taken out the three life insurance policies.
Ms Lucas testified that Mrs Morant said: "It's all about money with Graham, and I just had to take them out".
She said Mrs Morant expressed serious concerns for her safety, that her life was in danger and her husband openly spoke about what he would do with the money when she died.
"She said Graham had encouraged her to take them [insurance policies] out," Ms Lucas told the court.
"Jenny said, 'he was trying to encourage me to kill myself'."
She told the jury Mr Morant wanted to buy a property in the Gold Coast hinterland with the life insurance money to start a religious commune.
"He already described to her a property… he had explained to her he would have a communal environment, with bunkers and extended out-building so that when the raptures came, they would have a place of safety," she testified.
'Truth is stranger than fiction'
Defence barrister Dean Wells told the jury they would find the trial extremely confronting and would hear of a number of things Mrs Morant was supposed to have said.
In a short opening statement to the court he asked the jury to keep an open mind because "truth is stranger than fiction".