SA scientist sentenced for helping mother die
A scientist who helped his terminally ill mother die in New Zealand has been sentenced to five months of home detention.
The Otago Daily Times newspaper said 50-year-old Sean Davison, a South Africa-based microbiologist, wrote a book in which he described how his 85-year-old mother Patricia, who lived in New Zealand, was in pain in 2006 during the last few months of her life.
In the book, he notes that at his mother’s request, he gave her crushed morphine tablets in a glass of water. The admission led to charges last year, and this week he pleaded guilty to helping his mother commit suicide. Davison’s lawyer described his client’s actions as an “act of love”.
