Why I had to help my sister in suicide
A man who comforted his terminally –ill sister while she attempted to commit suicide will not face charges .
Graham Lawson faced the possibility of 14 years in jail because he watched his 48-year-old sister Sue .,a former bank manager ,die. She repeatedly tried to suffocate herself with a plastic bag , ‘‘howling’’with despair as she reached the point of being unable to resist taking a breath ,he said. She made seven unsuccessful attempts as Mr Lawson comforted her .She finally succeeded at the eight attempt.
Within an hour .Mr Lawson ,35,an agricultural worker who lives in Kent, was arrested, stripped and locked in a police cell for 24huors .In the first case of its kind in Britain ,the police and prosecutors decision on whether to take action hinged on Mr Lawson’s failure to dial 911 as his sister took her life at her home in Kent.Ken Macdonald ,the Director of Public Prosecutions, eventually told Mr Lawson’s solicitors in April last year, five months after the suicide ,that no action would be taken .
Yesterday ,Mr Lawson decided to disclose his case after it emerged last week that another man ,Brian Blackburn, escaped a prison sentence for helping his cancer-stricken wife commit suicide in a final ‘’act of love ‘’.He said ;’’Sue told me she wanted to die and she asked if I would be there for her . I made a promise that I would ,and I stuck to it .When she took her life I was with her .’’ His sister suffered from multiple sclerosis for 14 years and was unable to care for herself .Mr Lawson said he did not realized he could face charges of aiding and abetting suicide by carrying his sister upstairs to lie on her bed and not calling an ambulance . ‘’I had been staying with her for about a month ,when she was really , really ill ,’’ he said . ‘’She was sitting in her wheelchair and said ‘Right ,I ‘ve had enough . I want to do it ‘ . I carried her upstairs to her bed .’’ ‘’I don’t think I should have stopped her ,because of her determination and her bravery .’’
