Last week, a man who cut his terminally-ill wife’s throat, was found not guilty of murder in England.
After Dyanne Mansfield was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer in 2020, Graham Mansfield, 73, stated in court that his wife, requested that he kill her.
71-year-old Dyanne was said to have been told by doctors that she could survive for two years with chemotherapy. If not, it may only be for a couple of months.
“She said to me, ‘Graham, this is the best I’m going to be now, right at this moment in time. When things get bad, when they get too bad, will you please kill me?’ It was the saddest words I ever heard,” Graham stated in court.
“Without her, there is nothing. I said to her, ‘You’re not on your own. We’ll see this to the end,'” Mansfield said that he told her. He said that he would indeed do it but would have to kill himself next because living without her would be impossible.
On March 24, 2021, Mansfield called police, telling them that he had just slit his wife’s throat and that she was dead. He then tried to cut his own throat prior to overdosing on drugs.
Emergency crews discovered Dyanne with her throat slashed and Mansfield in a puddle of blood.
He is said to have told first responders that he “couldn’t even do this properly” and to let him pass away.
Authorities had discovered two letters in the residence, detailing the suicide pact. However, neither had been signed by Dyanne.
Mansfield said that the choice to kill her was an “act of love.” He added that both of them wanted everything to come to an end and didn’t believe anything was wrong.
He was cleared of murder charges but convicted of manslaughter. Thus, he was given a two-year suspended sentence.
The judge in the case agreed that the act was out of compassion and that Mansfield didn’t really want to kill his wife. However, it is what she wanted.
After the verdict, Mansfield said that England’s laws related to assisted suicide should be changed.
“Nobody should have to go through what we went through. Unfortunately today, my wife isn’t here. She shouldn’t have had to die in such barbaric circumstances. That is what we had to resort to.”
