An 88-year-old man from the French island of Reunion was on Monday sentenced to 20 years in prison for killing his ill wife and her in-house carer, a judicial source said Tuesday.

The accused, a retired teacher, said that he had acted out of compassion because his 78-year-old spouse suffered from Alzheimer's disease.

The double murder took place in Saint-Joseph, in the south of the Indian Ocean French overseas territory, in March 2021.

Ahead of Monday's verdict, the public prosecutor had called for 25 years' imprisonment.

The accused has been described as a "violent" and "authoritarian" man.

The man struck his wife several times with a sledgehammer and then killed the couple's domestic helper, who arrived at the scene soon after.

He claimed he had "a blackout" and did not remember attacking the second victim.

Between 2006 and 2024, 52 women were victims of femicide on the island.

According to the judicial authorities, Reunion ranks fourth in France in terms of the numbers of incidents of domestic violence.

Reunion, known as La Reunion in French, is located east of Madagascar and has a population of nearly 900,000 people.