Briton guilty of manslaughter of terminally ill wife: Cyprus Court

A court in Cyprus on Friday dismissed premeditated murder charges against a British pensioner for killing his terminally ill wife but found him guilty on a lesser count of manslaughter.

The court ruled that the prosecution failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt premeditation by David Hunter, 76, who killed his wife Janice in 2021. The 74-year-old woman had suffered from a rare form of blood cancer.

Janice died from suffocation after Hunter placed his hands over her nose and mouth at their Paphos home in December 2021. He then attempted to take his own life with pills and alcohol.

"The way the accused acted at the material time does not show premeditation for his illegal act, but on the contrary, an impulsive act without a clear mind," said judge Michalis Droussiotis, presiding at the three-bench Criminal Court in the western town of Paphos.

Under Cypriot law, premeditated murder carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison. Manslaughter carries up to that sentence, but the imposition of such terms is exceptionally rare.

Hunter, in custody since Dec. 2021, had earlier testified that Janice had repeatedly beseeched him to help end her life after her illness deteriorated markedly in the years before her death.

In the trial, seen as unprecedented in Cyprus for involving the concept of mercy killing, prosecutors attempted to ascribe motive and intent to Hunter, and defence lawyers countered that it was an act of impulse by a man pained to see his wife virtually bedridden and ravaged by illness.

An earlier attempt at a plea bargain on manslaughter charges was vetoed by the island's attorney-general last year.

The court set July 27 for a mitigation hearing.

"We are ecstatic with the result today. This is exactly what we were hoping for," said Michael Polak, a barrister heading advocacy group Justice Abroad, which assisted a team of Cypriot lawyers in Hunter's defence.

"This gives the Court the option of a suspended sentence which we say is appropriate given the time David has already spent in custody, his age, and the tragic facts of this case."

The couple had lived in Cyprus for the past two decades and had, the court said, a loving relationship.