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An 83-year-old Edmonton man who suffocated his severely alcoholic wife and then telephoned 911 to report the killing has been sentenced to two years of house arrest, sparing him prison. Noel Lavery was ordered confined to his home Wednesday in the death of his 50-year-old wife, Sherry, whom he smothered with a pillow as she lay drunk on their bed on Sept. 27, 2006.

The case turned in large part on the composed 911 call Lavery placed moments after the killing. 'Hi, I've just smothered my wife,' he told the operator, according to a recording played at his trial. Transferred to a dispatcher, he repeated the statement and gave his name. Asked whether his wife was still breathing, he answered, 'No. I put a pillow on her face and held it there until she stopped.'

Lavery, who was 78 at the time, made the call from the bedside while his son-in-law attempted CPR, court heard. He told the operator the couple had discussed her death and that he had reached his limit as her caregiver. 'I'm her sole and only caregiver and I told her that I just couldn't do this anymore,' he said. He described holding the pillow in place, saying his wife felt no pain because she was heavily intoxicated.

Sherry Lavery was in the final stages of severe alcoholism and could no longer care for herself, the court was told. Defence lawyer Peter Royal argued the death was a mercy killing and raised the possibility that she had already died from a mix of alcohol and antidepressants before she was smothered. Assistant chief medical examiner Bernard Bannach testified that she had been suffocated, but agreed under cross-examination that the drugs and alcohol in her system could have been fatal.

Lavery was charged with second-degree murder. In January 2012, Court of Queen's Bench Justice Donna Shelley found him guilty of the lesser offence of manslaughter, saying she had a reasonable doubt that he intended to kill his wife. Lavery was physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted from caring for her, the judge said, and situational depression may have clouded his judgment.

In imposing the house-arrest term, Shelley said Lavery had already suffered the worst possible punishment in losing his wife after watching her deteriorate for years. She ordered him to complete 240 hours of community service during his confinement and a further 120 hours over two years of probation. The Crown had sought an eight-year prison term; Royal countered that imprisoning a man of Lavery's age would be cruel.

Sherry Lavery's daughter, Leigh Makarewicz, delivered a victim impact statement recalling her mother before the illness and criticizing the failure to reach a plea deal that would have avoided a public trial. Members of the victim's family walked alongside Lavery as he left the courthouse after sentencing.