Elderly man shoots wife in butt over sex

LEHIGH ACRES, FL (KTRK) -- Six months ago, 76-year-old Donald Royce married his 62-year-old bride, but they haven't consummated the marriage.

After arguing about "sleeping arrangements", Royce said wanted to scare his wife by shooting the mattress.

He missed and ended up shooting her in the butt and hip.

The Brandenton Herald reports that Royce told Lee County sheriff's deputies, "I shot her and the gun is in my room," adding that he never meant to shoot her.

Royce was arrested Saturday and faces a second-degree felony charge of aggravated battery using a deadly weapon. He remains in jail on a $100,000 bond.

Royce's wife said that they had been together for six years and didn't think he was capable of doing something like this, saying the situation was a "nightmare."

As she recovered in Lee Memorial Hospital, she wanted to share that violence against women is not okay, and that a woman has a right to her own body, regardless of age or marriage status.