An 83-year-old man charged with strangling his 86-year-old wife has been released from custody pending his murder trial this summer.

The public prosecution department had opposed the release.

The man has been held in jail since his arrest on October 19. He is said to have killed his wife of 58 years because he could no longer cope with seeing her suffering.

The woman had Parkinson’s disease and early signs of dementia but there is no evidence she no longer wanted to live, the public prosecutor said at a pre-trial hearing.