The daughter of a frail British retiree suspected of killing his terminally sick wife in Cyprus has spoken out for the first time, fearing that dad may die before the case is tried.
David Hunter, 75, is accused of smothering his 56-year-old wife Janice, but he and his family claim he did so only after she asked him to terminate her life after being diagnosed with blood cancer.
‘I simply want to return home,’ Hunter said after he was remanded in detention for another three months this morning.
‘I’m doing OK, but I’d like to be at home with the family,’ David said, looking emaciated and clothed in a black shirt and black pants.
Last December, paramedics discovered Janice dead in an armchair at their Mediterranean island house, where they had retired 20 years before, and he was brought to hospital barely alive after a near-fatal overdose.
Despite his legal team’s efforts to get the allegation altered to ‘aided suicide,’ prosecutors in Paphos have charged him with murder.
His case was adjourned until September after he appeared in the resort’s district court today. David might spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted.
David, who is from Ashington in Northumberland, has been held in Nicosia jail since the incident at the Tremithousa property he lived with Janice.
Despite David’s claims that his conditions were “fine,” his attorneys believed he would be released on bond due to his age, but judge Michael Droushiotis remanded him in detention until September, citing past cases as precedent.
‘Sometimes at night I simply lie in bed going through my thoughts about what occurred, and portions of it are still blank areas,’ he said following the brief hearing. I’m still not sure what occurred, but I’m holding up okay.’
Before the five-minute hearing, David expressed his gratitude for “all of the support I’ve had from the United Kingdom,” adding, “I have some friends over who are coming to meet me in jail.” They delivered dominoes and my reading glasses to me.
‘I’m optimistic about the outcome, and my legal team is doing everything they can.’ I simply want to get home, and the finest moment of day is when I can talk to my kid for 10 minutes.’
Lesley Cawthorne, his daughter, was taken aback when she learned that he would be remanded in detention for another three months. ‘I’m devastated. At this rate, he’ll die before we go to trial,’ she predicted.
‘I know I’m an adult, but I adore my father and all I want is for him to come home.’ If he is proven guilty, he might face a sentence of 15 years or more in jail, which means he will die in prison.’
Lesley, who cannot attend the trial for health reasons, said: ‘This latest news makes me really worried now. I mean, September? Seriously? I won’t lie, I’m really disappointed and frustrated with how it went.
‘By the time the court date arrives he will have been in prison for nine months. This will be torture for him and very hard to take for me and my dad.
‘He had built himself up for the case and was hoping to get things started but now we have all been left really frustrated. I’m really worried about how my dad will take all this.
‘There’s a real chance he could die without his trial taking place and no attempt at justice being achieved.’
Lesley, from Norwich, added: ‘What really frightens me now, is a knock on the door from the police to tell me that dad hasn’t made it and he has died in prison. Why can’t they just let him out on bail ?
‘He’s a frail, sick old man. What on earth do they think he is going to do ? He loved my mum and he wanted to be with her. We haven’t even been able to grieve properly together for my poor lovely mum’s death yet.
‘We will keep on fighting until he is home and I will let him know about all the messages of support he has from everyone.’
Following the adjournment, he was embraced by buddy Kevin Barnfather, 58, who had travelled out to Cyprus for the hearing, as well as Barry Kent, 66, as he was brought away plainly in tears.
‘It’s awful to see him like this,’ Barry, from Lynemouth, told MailOnline. He appears frail and feeble. He’s not a murderer, and while he claimed the jail circumstances were adequate, he shouldn’t be there.
‘He’s not someone who has been on a killing spree, why can’t they bail him? He looks a shell, words really do fail me, it’s sad, it’s desperate, it’s pathetic.’
Barry added:’ We will be supporting him as much as we can, we will go and see him in prison and let him know that he has the backing of a lot of people. He shouldn’t be in prison.
Barry, revealed how ahead of the hearing he had placed flowers on Janice’s grave and said: ‘It was the least I could so. When I spoke to David on Monday before I flew out, he asked me to do it.
‘He also asked me for some reading glasses and some dominoes which I will give to him. I understand they must follow the law but I’m hoping that they will accept maybe manslaughter.
‘Then that way it maybe a lower sentence and he can go back to the UK and serve his time there and be near his daughter Lesley.
‘We just have to hope for the best. It was David and Janice’s dream to retire out here and they loved the life but then she got ill and it turned into a nightmare for them.
‘Janice was the love of his life, everything he did was for Janice, he was always talking about her, he adored her.’
Barrister Michael Polak, from campaign group Justice Abroad, who is representing David, said: ‘Obviously we are very disappointed it didn’t go ahead but we will fight on.
‘Bail was always going to be difficult given the charge and that he is a foreign national. Although he is not being treated badly, he shouldn’t be in prison.
‘At least his friends will be going to visit him, but he has problems with his eyes and what was worrying was how thin he looked, I told him he needs to eat more.
‘He has changed considerably in the two months since I last saw him. He looks devastated and he looks like a lonely old man.
The lawyer continued: ‘You have to remember that David was without a translator and a lawyer present when he first spoke to police.
‘At the time he was 74 and you have to question whether it was appropriate for this to be interviewed at the time so quickly, especially as he was later sectioned for ten days. Were his rights protected ? This will be part of our argument when the case gets underway.’
According to local police, David confessed to killing his wife by blocking her nose and mouth with her hands, saying he ‘could not bear to see he suffer anymore’.
Fifi Georg, the owner of the house where the couple were found, was also in court and earlier told Mail Online: ‘David and Janice were a lovely couple.
‘They were still so in love like teenagers, they were like a young couple and he was heartbroken when she was diagnosed with the cancer.
‘Every day he would take her to hospital for treatment and they moved in next door to me about four years ago.
‘They had another property in town which they moved to first when they retire but they sold that to the pay for her treatment.
‘We couldn’t believe it when we heard what had happened. I came home and the police were at the house and I looked through the window and saw Janice sitting in a chair.
‘He had taken the trouble to cover her with a blanket. He had taken some pills and written to his brother and said what he was going to do and he had called the British police who alerted Interpol.
‘David should not be imprisoned.’ He wasn’t a cold-blooded killer; he loved his wife and was doing everything she asked of him, and then he tried to commit suicide.
‘They had been together for almost 50 years and wished to die together; there was no malice in their hearts.’ I only hope the court notices and allows him to return home to his family.’
‘We met them around two years ago after we came to Cyprus,’ said another neighbor, German Helmut Pesting, who was in court with his wife.
‘They were a wonderful couple,’ says the narrator. They were often together, and he admired her much.
‘David was continually complimenting Janice. He was proud of how long their marriage had lasted, and he had several photos of Janice that he would proudly display.
‘We never heard them argue or say a nasty word to one other.’ This was the first time I’d seen him since everything happened, and he appeared to be in horrible shape.’
‘Although this case is about legislation in Cyprus, where David and Janice spent their retirement, it highlights the cruelty and lack of safety in a blanket prohibition on assisted dying, which is just as true in the UK,’ said Sarah Wootton, Chief Executive of Dignity in Dying.
Compassion should not be a crime, but it will stay such until assisted dying becomes a legal, controlled option for individuals nearing the end of their lives in this nation.
‘Under our existing rules, terminally sick people are compelled to suffer against their wills or take matters into their own hands — either alone or with unlawful help from family members.
Although the Crown Prosecution Service has acknowledged that prosecuting these instances is not in the public interest, assisted dying remains illegal.
‘Choosing how and when we die should be a right afforded to terminally sick, mentally competent persons through protected, compassionate treatment. However, only Parliament has the power to make this a reality.
‘Thanks to the British public, who have signed an official government petition on assisted dying, MPs will discuss the matter for the first time in two and a half years on July 4th.
Parliament must be given the opportunity to analyze the harm and unfairness caused by the current system, as well as the time and resources to begin a long-overdue reform process.’
The Cypriot parliament is also debating euthanasia, with a recent survey showing that 60% of Cypriots support its legalization.
However, it is doubtful that a vote will take place before early next year, and the extremely important Greek Orthodox church will be staunchly opposed.