David Hunter speaks for first time since prison saying wife ‘begged’ for death
A British expat who killed his terminally ill wife has spoken out after being released from prison in Cyprus.
David Hunter was sentenced to two years in jail for the manslaughter of Janice, his cancer-riddled spouse of 52 years, who ‘begged’ him to take her life.
He was freed last month, having already spent 19 months in custody, and has now spoken to Good Morning Britain about the ‘mercy killing’.
The retired miner said: ‘When you take someone’s life, especially your wife’s, who you love so much – it hurts, it really hurts.
‘I had quite a few nightmares, I don’t want anyone to go through what I went through.
‘I would like to see the Cypriot government and the British government come together and try and work something out because I’m sure I’m not the only one that’s gone through this.’
Mr Hunter also spoke of the events leading up to Janice’s death.
He said: ‘She had a fantastic smile and she was always busy, always meeting friends.
‘But I think the best years of her life were spent here – sixteen years before she took ill.
‘She was suffering with diarrhoea a lot and she had quite a few nose bleeds. We went to the hospital to see what we could do about it and it took about three or four visits and the doctors said: “I’m sorry we can’t do anything.”
‘She gradually got worse and she was uncomfortable that she had to wear diapers and she refused to go out.
‘She stayed in, she didn’t want to meet anybody and she was getting so bad, she didn’t want the family or friends or anybody on Facebook to see the way she was.’
Mr Hunter added Janice’s sister had also died from blood cancer years earlier.
He added: ‘She’d seen her sister die years ago with the same disease and she said, “I don’t ever wanna go through what my sister did, so I want you to help me.” But 30 years later you don’t think you’re actually going to do it.
‘We got to a point where she said: “I can’t enjoy myself.”‘
Mr Hunter then described the days and moments leading up to when he took his wife’s life.
He said: ‘She asked us six to eight weeks before it happened and I said “No, just keep fighting” – I thought, I couldn’t take my wife’s life.
‘I said “I can’t hurt you” and she said “You can’t hurt me anymore than I’m feeling now.”
‘The last two weeks she was really pressuring me and begging me. At one point she got quite hysterical, so I told her “Look I’ll help you, but I’m not telling you when and I’m not telling you how.”
‘My mind was going through so much turmoil. I thought to myself if my wife’s asking me to help her die, I can’t imagine what she’s going through mentally as well as physically.’
Talking about what happened when the police came, Mr Hunter said he was ‘disappointed’ he hadn’t taken his own life, but he ‘wasn’t suicidal’ and decided to ‘accept prison’.
He said he had expected at least five years in prison and was ‘prepared for the worst’, adding he was very thankful to the jury, his lawyer and his daughter that he only got 19 months.
Mr Hunter said he got used to the prison system in Cyprus, which he described as ‘strange’.
He said: ‘After the first two months, you get used to the system and it’s a strange system in Cyprus.
‘When I first went in, it was really intimidating because I was the oldest one in there but I’ve got to say the inmates gave me nothing but respect, they used to call me Mr David.’
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