Exit International | Susan Austen trial verdict: not guilty of aiding suicide

February 24, 2018

Susan Austen trial verdict: not guilty of aiding suicide

At the High Court in Wellington yesterday, Austen’s supporters gave a collective gasp of relief as she was found not guilty of aiding Treadwell’s suicide. Austen herself later said she had been in awe when she heard the verdict.

Austen was found guilty of two charges of specific importations of pentobarbitone. One was brought back personally in a box with her fascinator headpiece from Hong Kong in September 2016, and the other courier importation in March 2016, organised by Austen allegedly for Treadwell.

Susan Austen was the co-ordinator of the Wellington branch of Exit International.

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 guilty verdicts. Donald Stevens, QC, said in Australia importers of pentobarbitone were not convicted.

Austen was remanded on bail to be sentenced on May 11.

Austen’s lawyer, Donald Stevens, QC, said that if she had obtained pentobarbitone for Treadwell it was to give her comfort that she had the means to end her suffering if she chose to at some time in the future.

Suzy Austen speaking outside court after ‘not guilty’ verdict

During her trial Stevens said the diary entries were unreliable, using the example of a discrepancy between the diary account of a doctor’s appointment and the doctor’s own recollection of it.

The judge told the jury that to find Austen guilty of aiding the suicide she not only had to have helped Treadwell obtain the drug she used to kill herself, but also known that Treadwell was contemplating suicide, and intended to help Treadwell kill herself.

Stevens said that if the pentobarbitone was sourced through Austen, she had wanted to give Treadwell the comfort of knowing that she could control the end of her life if she wanted, at some time in the future. There was evidence that even if people have the means, they do not always use it.

Prosecutor Kate Feltham said before her death Annemarie Treadwell had no reason to write anything other than the truth in her diary when she described getting help from Austen.

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 on Friday.

Many had attended the two-week hearing. As the trial progressed, donations continued to roll in to fund her legal defence, and by the day of the verdicts $68,300 had been raised.

Justice Susan Thomas told the jury that law reform on assisted dying was irrelevant to the decisions they had to make.

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 recalled first meeting Treadwell.

They had both been adopted and Treadwell had seen that as a bond between them.

Treadwell had been an advocate for law change and made a submission to a select committee in support of that.

She was described during the trial as being lively, a church goer but spiritual rather than religious, a dedicated walker whose ability was deserting her, 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 starting to affect her feet. She had sore hips and jaw, and from at least 1991 she had been receiving treatment for depression. Winters were especially hard.

The judge had told jurors in her summing up that even though a bill was currently before Parliament to allow terminally ill, or people suffering grievous or incurable illness, to ask for assisted dying, it was irrelevant to the decisions they had to make in Austen’s case.

The jury heard that when police started investigating Treadwell’s death, it found references in her diary to a person they believed was Austen. Austen’s house and phone calls were bugged and her emails were collected.

Austen’s supporters had reacted to evidence about police setting up a drink-driving checkpoint near in Maungaraki, Lower Hutt, where Austen lived. It was a ruse to get the names of people who attended an Exit International meeting at Austen’s home on October 2, 2016.

Police said it was to follow-up with people who went to the meeting to make sure they were okay. Austen’s supporters laughed when the evidence was given.