Instead of notifying authorities of her husband’s death resulting from an untreated illness, a devoutly religious Canadian Christian woman, Kaling Wald, kept her husband’s decomposing remains in their bedroom for six months because she believed God would resurrect him.
According to reports by CTV News, Wald was originally facing criminal charges of neglect of duty regarding a dead body and offering an indignity to a body, which could have carried a sentence of up to five years in jail. Those charges were withdrawn and replaced by a charge under the Coroner’s Act.
Accordingly, she was given a a suspended sentence and 18 months probation with counselling.
A summary read in court for the plea on Monday, December 1, 2014, disclosed that Wald’s husband, Peter, suffered from Diabetes and did not seek treatment when his foot became infected, due to his strong belief in divine healing powers of God.
His health conditioned got worse which made him go into coma in March,2014, and died before the the month ended.
With fervent prayers daily for the husband’s miraculous resurrection, Wald together with her 7 housemates and 5 children, aged between 11 and 22 “thought Peter would be resurrected and therefore kept the door locked and waited for him to come to life.”
Authorities found out about the situation in September, when they arrived at Wald’s home to her family, as they had defaulted on their mortgage.
That was when the sheriff “discovered a body present on the bed in a state of decomposition and mummification,” it says.
“The body was covered with two blankets, had a toque on its head and the feet were observed sticking out from the blankets.”
Peter’s left foot was also wrapped in gauze.
Wald has pleaded guilty to “failing to notify authorities of his death from an illness he was not getting treatment for,” under the Coroner’s Act.
Police interviewed two out of the couple’s children and a few housemates and they all disclosed that they believed Peter Wald would miraculously rise from the dead.
