Australian “Euthanasia” Manslaughter Convictions

Good news and bad news. An Australian jury has convicted two women who killed an Alzheimer’s patient. From the story:

The Sydney jury found Shirley Justins guilty of manslaughter and Caren Jenning guilty of being an accessary to manslaughter for the euthanasia drug death of former Qantas pilot Graeme Wylie…Justins pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting suicide early in the trial, and said Wylie was desperate to die before his dementia got worse. Jenning also told the jury she was motivated by mercy in travelling to Mexico to obtain the Nembutal for Wylie, who was one of her oldest friends.

Normally, such a defense melts hearts and juries—caught up in the “quality of life” ethos of our age—often will not convict. And that brings us to the bad news:

Apparently the women had a financial incentive for the deaths:One week before his overdose, Wylie drew up a new will leaving all but $200,000 of his $2.4 million estate to Justins.

The previous will had left 50 per cent to Justins and split the remaining half evenly between his two daughters, Tania Shakespeare and Nicola Dumbrell. Prosecutor Mark Tedeschi QC told the jury Justins was motivated by a desire to secure her financial future, and either deliberately killed Wylie or let him take the drug Nembutal and was indifferent to the fatal consequences.

Sadly, I believe that but for this proof, the case might never have been brought.

Predictably, the death on demand advocate Philip Nitschke was appoplectic:

Euthanasia campaigner Phillip Nitschke is advising Alzheimer’s sufferers against getting tested for the disease, after two women were convicted over the drug death of a dementia sufferer.

To Nitschke, nothing comes before the euthanasia agenda—not even obtaining proper medical care. Yet, he remains a hero of the international movement and a darling of the Australian media.