Euthanasia campaigner jailed for attempted murder of mother

A New Zealand euthanasia campaigner convicted of attempting to murder her terminally ill mother was jailed for 15 months today.

Lesley Martin’s lawyers had asked the court to discharge her without conviction because of several mitigating circumstances in a case that reignited a debate over so called mercy killing in this South Pacific nation.

Justice John Wild told Wanganui High Court that Martin’s love and compassion for her terminally ill mother put her ”squarely at the mercy killing end of the spectrum” for her crime.

But he chided Martin for showing a lack of remorse and even arrogance, and said she appeared to believe she was above the law.

The judge said Martin could apply to serve her sentence at home, but the 40-year-old earlier told reporters that “if they deem this crime to be so heinous as to warrant a jail term, then I’ll do it in jail”.

Her lawyer, Donald Stevens, said she would appeal the sentence.

Martin, a trained intensive care nurse, was found guilty last month of attempting to murder her 69-year-old mother, Joy, with a morphine overdose. She had faced up to 10 years in prison.

The nurse was charged only after she published a frank book, To Die Like a Dog, in which she wrote that she twice tried to end the life of her mother, who suffered from terminal bowel cancer.

A post-mortem report said the mother died of respiratory arrest, possibly due to morphine poisoning or pneumonia.

Prosecutor Andrew Cameron said today that he felt compassion for Martin but had to balance that against the value of human life.

“Sanctity of life underpins our law in the most fundamental way,” he said.

The court was packed for the sentencing with some people forced to sit on the floor of the public gallery.

Martin, who sat passively throughout the hearing, helped found Exit New Zealand, a voluntary euthanasia lobby group.

Last year, New Zealand’s parliament narrowly rejected legislation that would have legalised mercy killing under tight regulations. Fresh legislation is expected to be introduced later this year.