A retired British miner found guilty of the manslaughter of his terminally-ill wife will have to wait until next week to find out his fate, as his sentencing has been adjourned.
David Hunter killed his spouse of 52 years, Janice, to “liberate” her from her suffering, a court in Cyprus has heard.
Janice, 74, died of asphyxiation at the couple’s home near the coastal resort town of Paphos in December 2021.
Hunter, 76, from Ashington, Northumberland, was cleared of the more serious charge of premeditated murder last week, but found guilty of manslaughter.
As he arrived at a sentencing hearing on Thursday, it was hoped by his legal team he may have been able to leave prison this week.
His defence team argued that he should be given a suspended sentence, which would allow him to leave prison having already spent 19 months in custody.
But after hearing submissions from both the prosecution and defence, the judge at Paphos District Court said Hunter will not be sentenced until Monday.
In mitigation, his defence lawyer, Ritsa Pekri, said his motive was to “liberate his wife from all that she was going through due to her health conditions”.
The court heard it was Mrs Hunter‘s “wish” to die and that her husband “had only feelings of love for her”.
“There was no personal benefit for him,” Ms Pekri added.
She described Hunter as “a quiet, family man that has never troubled the authorities” and said witnesses spoke of him “looking after his wife during a difficult time of her life”.
The defence team said there have been no similar cases in Cyprus and so they had instead drawn from similar cases in New Zealand, Australia and Canada.
“We believe the suitable decision drawn from these cases is a suspended sentence,” Ms Pekri said.
State prosecutor Andreas Hadjikyrou argued that the Hunters’ case “was not one of euthanasia”.
Michael Polak, director of Justice Abroad, which is representing Hunter, said: “We gave lengthy written submissions which include case law from across common law countries such as Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom, and Australia.
“This is important as Cyprus has never sentenced a case such as this before.
“Cases from those jurisdictions show that a suspended sentence can be given in these circumstances.
“We will be asking the court to give David a suspended sentence. He has spent the equivalent of almost two-and-a-half years in custody and no proper purpose would be served by him spending more time in prison.”
Hunter told his trial, which lasted for more than a year, that his wife “cried and begged” him to end her life as she suffered from blood cancer.
He broke down in tears as he said he would “never in a million years” have taken Mrs Hunter‘s life unless she had asked him to.
He showed the court how he held his hands over his wife’s mouth and nose and said he eventually decided to grant her wish after she became “hysterical”.
