A prosecution appeal case has commenced against the verdict and sentence of a British man who was released from prison in Cyprus over the mercy killing of his seriously ill wife, according to the BBC.
David Hunter, 76, faced accusations of murdering his wife, Janice, in their Paphos home in 2021. However, he was ultimately convicted of manslaughter and subsequently released from prison. It is now understood that Hunter may potentially face new charges related to premeditated murder.
The date scheduled for the appeal hearing is anticipated to be in April or May.
During his trial, Hunter, originally from Ashington, Northumberland, stated that he had suffocated his 74-year-old wife after she “pleaded” with him to do so, as she was suffering from a rare form of blood cancer. A three-judge panel accepted the defence’s argument that he had acted “out of love” for his wife on the spur of the moment.
He then spent 19 months in prison before being found guilty of manslaughter, though he was acquitted of the more severe charge of premeditated murder.
On Tuesday, the prosecution’s appeal against Hunter’s acquittal for murder and his manslaughter sentence was presented before the Court of Appeal in Nicosia.
Michael Polak, the director of Justice Abroad, representing the retired miner, stated that the court ordered the prosecution to present its arguments within two months, with the defence to respond within two months following that. At that juncture, a date will be determined for the appeal hearing, which is expected to take place in April or May.
Polak conveyed, “After spending more than 19 months on trial and in custody in Nicosia prison, when the Assize Court of Paphos ultimately found David Hunter not guilty of murder in July and sentenced him for manslaughter, resulting in his immediate release, we believed that the legal proceedings had concluded for him. For anyone, especially someone of David’s age, it is undeniably stressful to have the spectre of a life imprisonment sentence looming over them.”
He added that while he was “disheartened by the decision to continue pursuing David,” his team would persist in their efforts on his behalf.
Read more:
