A Canadian woman left her husband’s body rotting in the couple’s home for six months - because she believed he would be resurrected from the dead.

Devout Christian Kaling Wald told neighbours that her husband Peter was “in God’s hands now” when they inquired where he was following his apparent disappearance in March 2013, the Hamilton Spectator reported.

Meanwhile, the 52-year-old was lying dead in a locked upstairs bedroom in his family’s home in Hamilton, Ontario. For six months his body lay decomposing and surrounded by rats, as Mrs Wald and her family prayed for his soul.

The corpse was eventually discovered on 17 September 2013, after the Sheriff arrived to evict the family for defaulting on the mortgage.

In the first known case of its kind in Canada, Mrs Wald, 50, pleaded guilty to failing to tell either the police or the coroner that her husband had died from an illness that had not been treated by a doctor.

All criminal charges were withdrawn and it was agreed that Mrs Wald had no ill intent. Assistant crown attorney Janet Booy said Mrs Wald’s faith had “tainted and warped her better judgment.“

Booy added: “It's an extremely sad case… she truly believed her husband was going to be resurrected from the dead, even after six months.”

Mrs Wald, who has no previous convictions, received a suspended sentence and was put on 18 months of probation. She was also ordered to seek counselling around the “public health concerns” of the incident.