British husband to face murder charges after all ( UPDATED )

[memory man]

In an unexpected turn of events, the charges faced by the 74-year-old Briton accused of the murder of his terminally ill wife in Tremithousa last December remained unchanged despite hopes it would be mitigated to manslaughter, as his trial continued on Tuesday.

After the Paphos court adjourned last week, it appeared that the two sides had been in agreement over the facts of the case, which would allow the accused to change his answer from non-admission to murder, on the condition that he be charged with manslaughter.

However, in a last-minute decision, the attorney-general decided to reject the change.

In the latest proceedings, the prosecution raised an issue with David Hunter’s later claim that his wife herself had asked him to relieve her of her pain.

According to the case history, in December 2021, Hunter caused the death of his wife Janice, who was in the final stages of cancer, because he could not bear to watch her suffer.

In his statement to the police and to his brother after the crime, Hunter had claimed that what he did was also his wife’s will, but this was not accepted by the prosecution.

Prosecution attorney Andreas Hadjikyrou cast doubt on whether the killing had been agreed upon, saying that while Hunter may have killed his wife out of pity, that does not mean she had consented to it.

The justification was that there was no physical or verbal proof of the agreement, either by way of a note or through conversations with her daughter.

As pointed out in court, accepting this could set a precedent for future crimes on trial.

“It is unclear whether this agreement really took place,” he said, accusing Hunter’s lawyers of unethical behaviour by “agreeing to one thing one day, and saying another thing before the court”.

Hunter’s defence attorneys Nicoletta Charalambidou and Ritsa Pekri expressed disappointment at this development, saying the prosecution’s stance was affecting the confidence of the defence by accepting part of the accused’s admission and rejecting the rest.

Charalambidou told the Cyprus Mail that the defence had hoped the charge would be mitigated but the trial now has to go on as a murder trial.

During Tuesday’s proceedings, the court heard from a number of witnesses including Tremithousa mayor Christofis Petrou, who was in regular contact with the couple and was their landlord.

He said that the couple were well known and trusted in the community, and that Janice’s pain worsened along with her condition. He also pointed out that Hunter had never complained about his wife.

The matter has now been adjourned for a legal ruling on December 22, where the court will set dates for the rest of the proceedings.

Michael Polak of Justice Abroad said the defence was disappointed by the latest development.

“It is clear that the prosecution in this case is attempting to ensure that Mr Hunter receives the highest possible sentence and to prevent mitigating factors, which arise from the evidence in the case, from being put before the court,” he said in a written statement.

“We entered into dialogue with the prosecution in good faith and unfortunately it appears that the case against Mr Hunter is being treated like a game by the Cypriot authorities.” “Getting justice in Cyprus is always difficult as we have experienced in the past in cases of foreign nationals who have appeared here, however we will continue to fight for David, who continues to suffer, to ensure he gets the best possible result in this very sad case”.

https://cyprus-mail.com/2022/12/20/brit ... after-all/

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[Devil]

How awful! How inexcusable! At least, let the man free!

[Dominic]

What, even if he killed her without her permission?

[Jimgym]

A terrible situation. I cannot begin to imagine what he is going through.

[Devil]

What, even if he killed her without her permission?

Yes! He has been punished enough!

[WHL]

Apart from the sad circumstances to this case, the court has to be careful not to set a president, for future cases, this man might be genuine, the next man might not be, ie he murders his wife, then claims she begged him to do so, too many people speculating without knowing all the facts ,isn't a wise thing to do.

[ast]

Very true WHL not all the facts are know. it is my opinion given the age of the man the fact he appears to be no threat to others then perhaps he should be allowed out of prison until a trial, the judicial system is looking a laughing stock just now.

[Devil]

the court has to be careful not to set a president

The people do that in a couple of months, not the court!

[Kili01]

Just terrible! Just awful for the poor man. Justice in this country is just frightening. Think of the torment that poor English teenager went through after she was gang raped by Israeli boys in Agia Napa? It took about 2 years before thousands of pounds/ euros had been spent, before she was finally set free by a high court judgement.
Now this poor man is subjected to another protracted and frequently delayed/ adjourned trial.
Are they hoping he will be deceased before this?
Dee

[Dominic]

If justice means upholding the law then how is this not justice? The law is the law. This is nothing like the Ayia Napa case. From what I read, they only have the man's word that his wife wanted him to kill her. It would be quite a dangerous precedent to set if you were to allow that as a reasonable justification.

[Devil]

If justice means upholding the law then how is this not justice? The law is the law.

"If the law supposes that," said Mr. Bumble, squeezing his hat emphatically in both hands, "the law is a ass - a idiot".

[Firefly]

If your spouse asked you to end their life, you would believe that your spouse has made a decision regarding their life.

One would think that the spouse making that request, would know, that should such action come to light, then the perpetrator would almost certainly be charged with murder.

If you make a decision to have your life ended, why not ask for the means to do it, and leave written evidence to that effect, thereby lessening the likely punishment for your spouse.

The law has to be followed no matter what any of us think, until the case is heard in court, non of us know what actually happened.

[Kili01]

Having had to see the agonies and loss of dignity my poor husband went through in the terminal stages of his cancer, even though the hospice did their best with pain relief, J could understand how the couple presunably at home alone must have felt. If his wife had asked him as he says she did, how do you find absolute proof? My husband was unable to hold his tablet computer, let alone a pen.

Witnessing what I did and powerless to do anything to help him, I cab!t help but take a compassionate view of this very sad business. The poor old man, aged 74 is held in Nicosia Jail.

Dee

[Dominic]

You film her. Or you record audio of her making a declaration using your phone.

The thing is, this is an extremely difficult subject to talk about compassionately. Saying "the law is an ass" is just silly. I can't begin to imagine what it must be like to be in this sort of situation, but if you are in this situation it should be imperative that you provide evidence that your partner did in fact want to end their life. Can you not see a problem if this wasn't the case?

[Kili01]

Yes but hindsight helps! Not everyone has a smart phone, and even if there was one its conjecture to know if he even thought of the aftermath in the context of what has happened to him since.
I wouldn’t have thought of trying to record my husbands speech as he struggled for breath.
At a time like this, I found it hard to think straight. I was tired and emotional, but trying to be brave for his sake.

Until or unless one is in that kind of situation it may be hard to visualise.

[Dominic]

WHich is precisely why the details should be discussed at a trial, rather than assume innocence or guilt.

[Devil]

Yes but hindsight helps! Not everyone has a smart phone, and even if there was one its conjecture to know if he even thought of the aftermath in the context of what has happened to him since.
I wouldn’t have thought of trying to record my husbands speech as he struggled for breath.
At a time like this, I found it hard to think straight. I was tired and emotional, but trying to be brave for his sake.

Until or unless one is in that kind of situation it may be hard to visualise.

I agree. We can all be armchair advocates one way or another but it is very difficult to step out of the armchair. In a comparatively minor way, I'm in a similar situation in that my wife of 64 years is in an advanced state of Alzheimer's. We are managing, with the aid of a helper, but it must be realised that she is still more or less physically in good state. We are therefore in a different boat to that of the Hunters. I have no idea how our situation is going to pan out. Whatever, no matter how bad her condition becomes, I cannot imagine that I could summon the courage to end her life.

I think that those people who state that Mr Hunter should have somehow provided evidence that it was the will of Mrs Hunter to end her life have no idea of the real situation. In fact, he did provide indirect evidence by his will to take his own life. That his attempt to join his wife in death failed is the saddest part of the saga.

[Steve - SJD]

Whilst completely understanding the need to ensure that the law is followed and that we need to be
mindful that the circumstance fit the charge.

It would seem to me to be unusually cruel to offer a charge of manslaughter only to withdraw that
after several weeks/months of discussion.

Surely there must have been grounds for a manslaughter charge or else why was an alternative to
a murder charge offered at all?

It's certainly an emotive topic and that doesn't bode well for Mr Hunter.

Cheers

Steve

[josef k]

Whilst I am a supporter of mercy killing, I do realise that Cyprus, along with most countries including the UK, do not Recognise this in law. If Mr Hunter's story is true then I have great sympathy with him. However, he planned to kill his wife and then carried out his plan. That in law is murder, as it is in the UK. It appears there is no evidence, either written or verbal, that this was her wish. If there was then it could be used in mitigation, but there isn't. So he has to face the charge of murder and the penalty that applies for such acts. In the meantime is is not usual practice to release alleged murders on bail.
If Mr Hunters story is true, then the whole thing is a dreadful situation whereby someone loved his partner so much took the most difficult decision he has probably ever made. If it isn't true, then we have all been sadly misled. Hopefully the truth will come out in the trial.

[Firefly]

Dee

You are not alone in watching the man you love die, I too had to go through this in 2019.

At one particularly bad stage, my husband asked me for a bottle of whisky and some paracetamol. There is no way on this earth, that I could, or would, have complied with his request. I comforted and nursed him at home, to the best of my ability, and we soldiered on until the end.