A court in Ontario, Canada sentenced a doctor for manslaughter following the death of his wife by poisoning.
Dr. Joseph Roncaioli,72 a gynecologist was found guilty of poisoning his wife, Ibi Roncaioli with painkillers after he discovered that she spent some of the money she won from the lottery on her secret son with another man.
Ibi Roncaioli from Ontario and her friend won $ 7.4 million in a 1991 Lotto/649 draw which they split evenly between themselves.
Ibi was said to have given $ 1.4 million away to the secret child without her husband's knowledge.
Witnesses told the court that Ibi gave away $590,000 to her son with Dr. Roncaioli and almost the same amount to another son by a different man who lived with his mother and step-father, and then $1.4million to her secret son with a third man who was unknown to her other children.
They also told the court that Ibi was a secret alcoholic and spent most of her time at the slot machines, and she and Dr Roncaioli lived their lives separated from each other in their mansion which had an indoor swimming pool and sauna.
Prosecutors said Dr. Roncaioli was overwhelmed with jealousy and anger that his wife failed to keep a part of her lottery money for their retirement.
He had injected his wife with painkillers twice on the day she died, investigators revealed.
An autopsy showed that Ibi had needle marks on her legs and feet and six ounces of alcohol in her body when she died and concluded that a cocktail of drugs, including painkillers and alcohol caused her death.
However, according to The TorontoStar, Dr. Roncaioli's defense argued that Ibi's drug and alcohol issues were an "intervening cause" in her death.
Ibi's husband claimed that he injected his wife with the painkillers not to poison her but to investigate her health.
He also told the court that he wanted to numb her arms to enable him to take some blood samples from her for a test after her health began to deteriorate rapidly.
But the prosecutor, Martin Dionne noted that Roncaioli acted strangely and was drinking on the day he injected his wife, adding that he failed to call police or attempt to revive his wife, but instead called his bookkeeper and a real estate agent, CTV reported.
Dionne disclosed that it was the bookkeeper who eventually called an ambulance.
Delivering judgment, the trial judge, Justice Ferguson said that Doctor Roncaioli's crime "more resembles murder than an accidental killing.
"It was intentional, not spontaneous," Justice Ferguson told the court.
Following Ibi's death, Dr. Roncaioli reportedly discovered a note in their safety deposit box informing him that
he and his wife had been swindled out of $180,000.
He also found that his wife forged his name on bank documents and changed the property into her name.
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