Austen acquitted of aiding suicide
Susan Austen has been found not guilty of aiding the suicide of Annemarie Treadwell in Wellington on June 6, 2016.
The verdict was delivered at the High Court in Wellington late yesterday afternoon.
Supporters stayed quiet until the not guilty of aiding suicide verdict was delivered, when there was a collective gasp of relief.
Austen was found guilty of two charges of specific importations of pentobarbitone, one brought back personally from Hong Kong in September 2016, and the other importation in March 2016, organised by Austen allegedly for Treadwell.
A not guilty verdict was delivered on a charge alleging repeated importations spanning about four years.
Austen’s lawyer asked for no convictions to be entered on the two charges where there were guilty verdicts.
Austen was remanded on bail to be sentenced on May 11.
After the verdicts Detective Sergeant Richard Gibson said the police had put forward all the evidence they had. It was a sensitive case and the verdicts reflected that, he said.
The day had begun with dozens of supporters applauding as Austen entered the court yesterday. Many had attended the twoweek hearing. As the trial progressed, donations continued to roll in to fund her legal defence, and $68,300 had been raised.
Austen, 67, was a former primary school teacher. She has two adult sons and is married. She was co-ordinator of the Wellington branch of Exit International, and chaired Wellington End-of-Life Choice, which is where she thought she first met Treadwell.
They had both been adopted and Treadwell had seen that as a bond between them.
Treadwell,
77, had been an advocate for law change and made a submission to a select committee in support of that.
She died at a Kilbirnie, Wellington retirement village apartment, where she had lived for about seven years.
She was described during the trial as being lively, a churchgoer, supporter of Exit International and the Voluntary Euthanasia Society, and keen on music performances. Austen described her as always being ‘‘beautifully made up’’, and looking stunning.
But there was another side to Treadwell. Arthritis was crippling her hands and moving to her feet. She had sore hips and jaw, and from at least 1991 she had been receiving treatment for depression. Winter was harder for her.
Her diary recorded that she had shared with Austen her ‘‘date’’, May 31, the last day of autumn. She actually killed herself on June
6, 2016.
The judge had told jurors in her summing up yesterday that even though a bill was before Parliament to allow terminally ill, or people suffering grievous or incurable illness, to ask for assisted dying, that was irrelevant to the decisions they had to make in Austen’s case.
During a two-week trial the jury heard that when police started investigating Treadwell’s death, it found references in her diary to a person they believed was Austen. A High Court judge allowed police to bug Austen’s house and phone calls. Her emails were also collected.