By Anna Burns-Francis
Euthanasia campaigners were at court in Dunedin today to show their support for a man being sentenced for helping his suffering mother to die.
Scientist Sean Davison must serve five months home detention before returning to South Africa, where he has a wife and two young children waiting for him.
“I am not a criminal, I feel I did not commit a crime, and I don’t deserve five months home detention.”
Davison was sentenced after earlier pleading guilty to a reduced charge of counselling and procuring the suicide of his terminally ill mother Patricia.
Justice Ruth French says it was nevertheless serious, involving as it did a breach of the sanctity of life and an element of premeditation.
Outside court euthanasia campaigners and Davison’s supporters expressed their distress that Davison even had to face the legal system.
Susanna Quinger says Davison helped his mother to die slightly more peacefully, “I mean, she wanted to die”.
Patricia Davison died in 2006, after a lengthy battle with cancer that ended with her swallowing crushed morphine tablets mixed in a glass of water.
During her illness, her son kept a diary but it was only revealed years later that he had fed her the overdose.
“I would never do it again, but I do not regret what I did.”
Davison will serve his five months home detention at a friend's house in Dunedin, before returning to his job at South Africa’s University of the Western Cape.
3 News