An eldery woman was given a suspended sentence and three years probation after pleading guilty to trying to poison her husband.

The sentence was handed down Wednesday in a London courtroom.

The court heard that Erna Kern’s murder-suicide attempt last November happened in her apartment after she gave her husband an overdose of prescription medication.

Her husband Devy Kern suffered from dementia as a result of Alzheimer’s disease.

Devy resided at the Kensington Village Retirement and Nursing Home and his wife lived nearby.

A family member found the couple in medical distress at the apartment and called 911.

Defence lawyer Gord Cudmore told court that the government had “forgotten them to death.”

He said the murder/suicide attempt was an act of love.

Erna, 85, left a suicide note stating that she couldn’t leave her husband alone and that he would be bereft without her.

Erna had even attempted to poison two cats, not wanting to leave them behind. They were unharmed by the attempt.

The recommendations agreed upon by the Crown and defence include certain provisions.

Erna will be allowed to visit her husband, but only in the presence of her children or a close family friend.

The couple’s adult children, Stewart and Laurie, were in court and were thanked by Cudmore and the Crown for their help in resolving the matter.