Murder charges may be dropped against senior with dementia accused of killing 'soulmate' wife

On the first anniversary of Audrey van Zuiden's death in Calgaryat the hands of her husband, who was in the depths of dementia at the time, his lawyer is calling for the murder charge to be dropped.

Elderly holocaust survivorFred van Zuiden, 86,has been cleared by the Alberta Review Board to leave the psychiatric hospital where he's lived for the past year and is on a wait list for a bed in a secure residence.

• Elderly Calgary man with dementia, Fred van Zuiden, deemed unfit for trial in wife's death

Defence lawyer Alain Hepner says it's the first step towardgetting the charge against his client stayed.

"It's important for the family," said Hepner. "He's not going to get better, the dementia will continue to advance."

Prosecutor Ken McCaffrey says he will work with Hepner and hasn't ruled out a stay of proceedings, but says his first duty is to ensure the safety of the public.

"It certainly wouldn't be in the cards if there's any chance of the public safety being in danger, but if that can be satisfied, then it's something I'm prepared to look at," said McCaffrey.

One year ago today, van Zuiden was charged with second-degree murder after his wife,Audrey van Zuiden, 80, was found dead inside their home.

The couple had been married for 56 years. Family friends said the pair were "soulmates" who loved each other "incredibly."Audrey wanted to care for her ailing husband herself and did not want to place him in a facility.

After hearing evidence of van Zuiden's severeAlzheimer'sfrom forensic psychiatrist Dr. KenHashman, a Calgary judge found van Zuiden medically unfit to stand trial in January.

• Elderly Calgary man with dementia, Fred van Zuiden, deemed unfit for trial in wife's death

Van Zuiden has been living at the Southern Alberta Forensic Psychiatry Centre, where he's also being treated. He's faced two hearings before the Alberta Review Board, where members of van Zuiden's treatment team testified before a panel of members of the public, a judge andlawyers, who then decide what, if any, freedoms he should be allowed.

The panel has just recommended van Zuiden be allowed to move to a residential facility where he would receive around-the-clock care. It's the same type of facility where van Zuiden would have gone for care had he not been charged.

The board also found van Zuiden continues to be unfit to stand trial, and because of the nature of his illness will almost certainly continue to remain unable to understand what's goingon around him.

Van Zuiden wrote a memoir

In 2009, vanZuidenwrote a bestselling memoir about hiding from the Nazis for two years as a boy in occupied Holland during the Second World War.

Hashman told the court that at times during his assessment, van Zuiden believed he and the doctor were on the run from German soldiers in the 1940s.

"I've never seen anything like this in my entire career," said McCaffrey. "It's very sad, especially considering his background and escaping the Nazis and making a great life for himself here and becoming an author. To have this as your epitaph is very sad."

For Hepner, his client's background hits close to home.

"I have family members that went through what he went through; I heard those stories firsthand," said Hepner. "His background, what he saw, it's a sad story."