Family leaves corpse to rot expecting resurrection

A Canadian wife "truly" believed that she could bring her husband back to life by praying for him while his corpse lay rotting for six months.

Kaling Wald left her husband Peter to decompose in an upstairs bedroom of the couple's Hamilton home in the belief that God would help him rise from the dead, the Hamilton Spectator reports.

Mr Wald died about March 20 after he contracted a foot infection as a result of his diabetes. He did not seek medical help as he believed God would cure him.

His wife today pleaded guilty to failing to notify police that her husband had died due to a sickness that was not being treated – the first known case of its kind in Canada.

The original charges of neglect of duty regarding a dead body and offering an indignity to a body were withdrawn and replaced with that single charge under the Coroner's Act.

Superiour Court Justice Marjoh Agro ruled that Wald had no ill intent, but her faith had “tainted and warped her better judgement.”

When neighbours asked about her husband, the 52-year-old would respond by saying he was in “God’s hands now".

When Mr Wald died, after he fell into a coma, Mrs Wald covered the body with blankets, locked the bedroom door and sealed in the vents.

It wasn't until six months later on September 17, 2013 that the body was found by a sheriff who arrived to evict the family when they failed to pay their mortgage.

When the bedroom door was unlocked Mr Wald's body had decomposed so much that it was impossible to identify him.

Everyone living in the home, Kaling, five of her six children ages 11 to 22, and seven other adult friends, were interviewed by police.

“It’s an extremely sad case … she truly believed her husband was going to be resurrected from the dead, even after six months,” assistant Crown attorney Janet Booy said.

Wald received a suspended sentence, was put on 18 months’ probation and ordered to seek counselling.