\n * Annemarie Treadwell’s plea<\/a><\/strong>
\n * J<\/a>ury told to put aside views on assisted dying<\/a><\/strong>
\n * No intention to aid suicide, defence says<\/a><\/strong>
\n * Police bugs record exit meetings<\/a><\/strong>
\n * <\/strong>Warning letters sent to importers of suicide drug<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n
Austen was found guilty of two charges of specific importations of pentobarbitone. One was brought back personally in a box with her fascinator headpiece from Hong Kong in September 2016,\u00a0and the other courier importation in March 2016,\u00a0organised by Austen\u00a0allegedly for\u00a0Treadwell.<\/p>\n
Susan Austen was the co-ordinator of the Wellington branch of Exit International<\/strong>.<\/p>\n A not guilty verdict was delivered on a\u00a0charge alleging repeated importations\u00a0spanning about four years.<\/p>\n Austen’s lawyer asked for no convictions to be entered on the two guilty verdicts. Donald Stevens, QC, said in Australia importers of\u00a0pentobarbitone were not convicted.<\/p>\n Austen was remanded on bail to be sentenced on May 11.<\/p>\n Austen’s lawyer, Donald Stevens, QC, said that if she had obtained pentobarbitone for Treadwell it was to give her comfort that she had the means to end her suffering if she chose to at some time in the future.<\/p>\n Suzy Austen speaking outside court after ‘not guilty’ verdict<\/p><\/div>\n During her trial Stevens said the diary entries were unreliable, using the example of\u00a0a discrepancy between the diary account of a doctor’s appointment and the doctor’s own recollection of it.<\/p>\n The judge told the jury\u00a0that to find\u00a0Austen guilty of aiding the suicide she not only had to have helped Treadwell obtain the drug she used to kill herself, but also known that Treadwell was contemplating suicide, and intended to help Treadwell\u00a0kill herself.<\/p>\n Stevens said that\u00a0if the pentobarbitone was sourced through Austen, she had wanted\u00a0to give Treadwell the comfort of knowing that she could control the end of her life if she wanted, at some time\u00a0in the future. There was evidence that even if people have the means, they do not always use it.<\/p>\n Prosecutor Kate Feltham said before her death Annemarie Treadwell had no reason to write anything other than the truth in her diary when she described getting help from Austen.<\/p>\n After the verdicts Detective Sergeant Richard Gibson said the police had put forward all the evidence they had. It was a sensitive case and the verdicts reflected that, he said.<\/p>\n The day had begun with dozens of supporters applauding\u00a0as Austen entered the\u00a0court on Friday.<\/p>\n Many\u00a0had\u00a0attended\u00a0the two-week hearing. As the trial progressed, donations continued to roll in to fund her legal defence<\/a>, and by\u00a0the day of the verdicts $68,300 had been raised.<\/p>\n Justice Susan Thomas told the jury that law reform on assisted dying was irrelevant to the decisions they had to make.<\/p>\n Austen, 67, was a former primary school teacher. She has\u00a0two adult sons and is\u00a0married. She was co-ordinator of the Wellington branch of Exit International, and chaired Wellington End-of-Life Choice, which is where she recalled first meeting Treadwell.<\/p>\n They had both been adopted and Treadwell had seen that as a bond between them.<\/p>\n Treadwell had been an advocate for law change and made a submission to a select committee in support of that.<\/p>\n She was described during the trial as being lively, a church goer\u00a0but spiritual rather than religious, a dedicated walker whose ability was deserting her,\u00a0and keen on music performances. Austen described her as always being “beautifully made up”, and looking stunning.<\/p>\n But there was another side to Treadwell. Arthritis was crippling her hands and starting to affect her feet. She had sore hips and jaw, and from at least 1991 she had been receiving treatment for depression. Winters were especially hard.<\/p>\n The judge had told jurors in her\u00a0summing up that even though a bill was currently before Parliament to allow terminally ill, or\u00a0people suffering\u00a0grievous\u00a0or incurable illness, to ask for assisted dying, it\u00a0was irrelevant to the decisions they had to make in Austen’s case.<\/p>\n The jury heard that when police started investigating Treadwell’s\u00a0death, it found references in her\u00a0diary to a person they believed was Austen. Austen’s house and phone calls were bugged and her emails were collected.<\/p>\n Austen’s supporters had\u00a0reacted to evidence about police setting up a drink-driving checkpoint near in Maungaraki, Lower Hutt, where Austen lived. It was a ruse<\/a> to get the names of people who attended an Exit International meeting at Austen’s home on October 2, 2016.<\/p>\n Police said it was to follow-up with people who went to the meeting to make sure they were okay. Austen’s supporters laughed when the evidence was given.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At the High Court in Wellington yesterday,\u00a0Austen’s supporters gave a collective gasp of relief as she was found not guilty of aiding Treadwell’s suicide. Austen herself later said she had been in awe when she heard the verdict. READ MORE: * Annemarie Treadwell’s plea * Jury told to put aside views on assisted dying * […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n![\"Susan](\"https:\/\/exitinternational.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Susan-Austen-after-verdict.jpg\")
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