Man kills wife, court rules he's insane, then gives him her life insurance money

Jan. 17--A schizophrenic man charged with the first-degree murder of his wife, then found not responsible because of his mental health issues, will receive 100% of the dead woman's life insurance money.

A Canadian court ruled Thursday that Richard Maidment, who was charged in the April 18, 2017 shotgun shooting of Sarabeth Forbes before being found mentally incompetent eight months later, is the sole beneficiary of the insurance policy his dead wife took out in 2015, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

The dollar amount of that policy has not been reported.

Canadian Justice Frank Edwards ruled Thursday that a law forbidding criminals from cashing in on their crimes doesn't apply to this case, where there was a killing, but no crime.

"That public policy rule has no application to this case," the judge ruled. "Richard has been found to be not criminally responsible. He is not a criminal."

Forbes' 10-year-old son, who now lives with the victim's mother, was listed as the secondary beneficiary of that will. His grandmother applied to collect the money on the boy's behalf, but was refused.

Instead, the court gave the inheritance to Maidment's mother as her 42-year-old son continues receiving treatment for his mental illness.

According to the CBC, Forbes and her boy had moved out of their family home in Gardiner Mines, Nova Scotia, for safety reasons a day before she was killed. Maidment's deteriorating condition was said to be the reason for their relocation. When Forbes stopped by the house a day later, Maidement shot her from behind.

Maidment was sent to a psychiatric facility for evaluation. Prosecutors did not refute a pair of medical experts' determination that the killer's schizophrenia rendered him unfit to comprehend what was happening. Symptoms of Maidment's paranoid, delusional state reportedly include hallucinations.

Friends of Forbes told the CBC Thursday's ruling marked the second time the deceased 33-year-old mom had been victimized by Maidment, who was diagnosed with a mental illness in 2012. Maidment had been Forbes' common-law husband for a decade before she was killed.

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