Euthanasia author on trial

2004-03-15 11:14

Wellington - Lesley Martin, who has campaigned widely throughout New Zealand for voluntary euthanasia, went on trial on Monday charged with the attempted murder of her terminally-ill mother.

Martin, 40, was charged after writing in a book called "To Die Like a Dog" that she had given her cancer-stricken mother a morphine overdose and later tried to smother her with a pillow.

A former intensive care nurse, she faced two charges of attempted murder when she appeared in the Wanganui high court for a trial expected to take two weeks.

The court was told Martin was arrested and charged four years after her mother, Joy Martin, died aged 69 in 1999, when police reopened an investigation into the death following publication of her book.

Australian euthanasia advocate Dr Phillip Nitschke has arrived in New Zealand to support Martin, who has established a lobby group called Exit New Zealand. The pair have recently held a series of end-of-life meetings around the country.

Martin faces a 14-year prison sentence if found guilty.

She was quoted in the Daily News, New Plymouth, on Monday as saying she had expected to be charged when she wrote the book to bring the issue of voluntary euthanasia (VE) to public attention.

The paper said she had written on a website that her trial would be the trial of everyone who had ever made a promise to someone they love that they would not let them suffer, "and of every doctor who has assisted someone and not come forward in support of VE legislation".

The New Zealand parliament last year rejected for a second time a proposal to allow voluntary euthanasia.

- SAPA