A MELBOURNE man has pleaded guilty to assisting his sick wife's suicide
using a death device.
During a brief hearing in the Melbourne Magistrates Court today,
Scottish-born Alexander Maxwell, 55, entered a guilty plea to a charge of
aiding and abetting suicide, after a murder charge was withdrawn.
Maxwell's wife, Margaret, had suffered from cancer for nine years before
she died on October 9 last year.
The couple chose a caravan park on Phillip Island, a favourite holiday
spot, as the venue for the assisted suicide.
They used a plastic bag filled with helium, based on a device outlined in
a recently published book Final Exit by Derek Humphry, it is
alleged.
The device was based on the COGen machine (carbon monoxide generator) and
exit bags developed by Australian euthanasia campaigner Dr Philip
Nitschke.
After his wife died, Maxwell phoned a funeral home, which then alerted
police.
He remains on bail until an appearance in the Supreme Court on April 23.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,6125726%255E661,00.html
