After receiving a two-year prison term from a Cypriot judge for the manslaughter of his critically ill wife, retired British miner David Hunter was released from custody as a result of time already served.
Janice, his wife of 52 years, “begged him” to terminate her life while she battled blood cancer, and Hunter, 76, admitted to suffocating her at their island home.
Hunter, who has already served 19 months in imprisonment, was given a two-year prison sentence by judges at Paphos District Court on Monday. When Cypriot prison authorities formally computed his release date after the sentencing, his legal team claimed he was released soon after.
When asked by reporters outside how he was doing, a very upset Hunter responded as follows: “I can’t describe it. I’m sorry. I wish I could, I wish I could find words to describe it but I can’t.
“When you’re under pressure for two years, not knowing which way it’s going to go.”
His daughter Lesley Cawthorne, who launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise money for his defense, spoke to him on the phone shortly after the sentencing.
She said: “Speaking to my daddy was the most amazing thing. I feel like my heart has been put back together.”
The more serious charge of premeditated murder was one that judges previously judged Hunter not guilty of.
In a judicial precedent-setting case for the nation, his defense team had claimed that he should receive a suspended sentence.
Ritsa Pekri, the defendant’s defense attorney, stated in mitigation last week that the husband’s motivation was to “liberate his wife from all that she was going through due to her health conditions.”
The court was informed that Mrs. Hunter’s husband “had only feelings of love for her” and that it was her “wish” to pass away.
Hunter, a Northumbrian from Ashington, claimed in his lengthy trial that his wife “cried and begged” him to end her life.
He sobbed as he declared that he “never in a million years” would have killed Mrs. Hunter unless she had specifically requested him to.
He demonstrated to the court how he covered his wife’s mouth and nose, and he claimed that after she went “hysterical,” he ultimately chose to grant her wish.
He then allegedly tried to kill himself by overdosing, but doctors were able to save him.
