A court in Cyprus has ruled the confession of a British man to killing his terminally ill wife was obtained lawfully and can be used in evidence against him.
David Hunter, a 75-year-old retired coal miner from Northumberland, is on trial for premeditated murder after a plea deal on the lesser charge of manslaughter collapsed.
His wife Janice, 74, died of asphyxiation in December at the couple’s retirement home near the coastal resort of Paphos.
Hunter has admitted killing his wife but his legal team has argued it was assisted suicide at her request.
His defence lawyers had also said that his confession should be inadmissible as evidence in the trial.
They claimed he was not provided with his right to a lawyer or to remain silent before statements were taken from him when he was arrested on suspicion of killing his wife.
His lawyers had previously called a forensic psychiatrist to give evidence, who said that Hunter was suffering from dissociation at the time and that his statements to medics should be inadmissible against him.
But on Tuesday, a judge at Paphos District Court dismissed the defence’s application and ruled that Hunter’s statement would be admissible in his trial.
The court found that Hunter was lucid at the time and was aware of what was happening, demonstrated by the fact he took pills and called his brother after allegedly killing his wife.
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It added that at the time of his arrest, he recalled to police and his brother in detail how he smothered his wife because he wanted to end her suffering and how he subsequently took a mixture of pills to end his own life.
Michael Polak, of Justice Abroad, the group representing Hunter, said the pensioner is “shocked and dejected” at the decision.
“We called a forensic psychiatrist to give evidence and his evidence was totally rejected by the court,” he said.
“With regards to the right to a lawyer, European human rights law would require David to provide an unequivocal waiver of his right to a lawyer, and in this case there hasn’t been one.”
Hunter’s lawyers said he was acting on the wishes of his wife, who they say was terminally ill with blood cancer.
An agreement between the prosecution and defence to reduce the murder charge to manslaughter collapsed late last year after prosecutors would not accept Hunter’s claim that his wife asked him to end her life unless he provided proof.
State prosecutor Andreas Hadjikyrou told reporters: “If we accept this, every other man in the future who kills a woman will say ‘we had an agreement’.”
Mr Polak added that the defence team will apply to the Supreme Court of Cyprus for a judicial review of the decision, which could lead to the trial being paused ahead of the next scheduled hearing on 28 March.
Countries in South and Southeast Asia have been coping with a weeks-long heatwave which has seen record temperatures sweep parts of the region.
Pupils in the Philippines, India and Bangladesh have been told to stay at home and learn remotely due to a severe health risk.
Schools in Cambodia have also cut back on their hours.
Cambodia faces its hottest temperature in 170 years, according to meteorologists – as high as 43C (109F).
Bangkok in Thailand has reached 40C (104 F), but the heat index is said to have topped 50 C (122 F) due to the heat being trapped among the mass of buildings.
The United Nations Children’s Fund warned in April that the heat could put the lives of millions of children at risk and asked people who care for them to take extra precautions.
A spokesperson for UNICEF said around 243 million children were exposed to hotter and longer heatwaves.
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They said the increased heat was “putting them at risk of a multitude of heat-related illnesses, and even death”.
Thirty people in Thailand have died from heatstroke in the past month, according to data from the country’s health ministry.
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People are being advised to avoid outdoor activities and to stay hydrated.
Several towns in Myanmar were included on lists of the hottest spots globally last month, with temperatures reaching 48.2C (118F) in at least one case.
Parts of eastern India also experienced their hottest April on record.
Kerala, on India’s west coast, this week instructed all schools and colleges to close until Monday, while influencers in Bangladesh have encouraging people to plant trees in response to the record heat.
Benjamin Horton, director of the Earth Observatory of Singapore, said there were three factors for heatwaves: a naturally-occurring climate phenomenon known as El Nino, an increase in global temperatures, and human-induced climate change.
Philippine coastguard spokesman Jay Tarriela told Sky News that this week’s confrontation was the first time China had used “such aggression” against their ships.
“The metal parts and the railing were bent. The canopy was also destroyed. So this came as a surprise for us that China never hesitated to use brute force,” he said.
“It completely justifies us calling The People’s Republic of China a bully country.”
The Philippine coastguard was on a resupply mission to the Scarborough Shoal to deliver food and fuel to Philippine fishermen when they were struck.
The submerged reef lies in disputed waters. China claims sovereignty over the reef but it is much closer to the Philippines and lies within its legally recognised exclusive economic zone.
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The vessel Sky News was on board was the closest the coastguard had ever been to the shoal – just 600 metres away from it.
Asked if the mission to the shoal was a provocative move by the Philippine coastguard, Commodore Tarriela denied they were “poking the bear” but rather “driving the bear out of our own territory”.
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Sky witnesses China-Philippine confrontation
The Philippines has been stepping up its patrols in the area under the instruction of President Bongbong Marcos, and reasserting its claim to the shoal in recent months.
It has raised the spectre of open conflict. While neither side currently wants that, there is now a greater threat of open conflict.
Asked what the end game was for the Philippines, Commodore Tarriela said their priority was to “tell the world” about China’s aggression.
He said their secondary goal was to ensure “like-minded states” also made China “fall in line and respect international law”.
Philippine government policy is not to resist using water cannon against Chinese vessels – and Commodore Tarriela insisted that policy remains in place after the confrontation.
The government also remains intensely determined to protect the waters it believes it has every right to operate in.
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“We’re not going to yield and we’re not going to surrender a square inch of our territory,” Commodore Tarriela insisted.
Beijing has called the action its own coastguard took as “necessary”.
Speaking at the Chinese foreign ministry’s daily news conference, spokesperson Lin Jian described the coastguard’s conduct as “professional, proper, and lawful”.
Three suspects have been charged by Canadian police over the killing of a Sikh separatist leader in Vancouver last June, in an incident that sparked a diplomatic spat between Ottawa and New Delhi.
Hardeep Singh Nijjar, 45, was shot dead outside a temple by masked gunmen in Surrey, outside Vancouver, on 18 June 2023.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police assistant commissioner David Teboul said police could not comment on the nature of the evidence or the motive.
“This matter is very much under active investigation,” Teboul said.
The three suspects – Indian nationals Kamalpreet Singh, Karan Brar and Karampreet Singh – were arrested in Edmonton, Alberta, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.
Superintendent Mandeep Mooker said: “This investigation does not end here. We are aware that others may have played a role in this homicide and we remain dedicated to finding and arresting each one of these individuals.”
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Canada killing ‘linked’ to India govt
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sparked a diplomatic feud with India when he said in September that there were “credible allegations” of Indian involvement in the killing. India angrily denied involvement.
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Mr Nijjar, an Indian-born citizen of Canada, was a leader in what remains of the Khalistan movement – a once-strong group calling for the creation of an independent Sikh homeland.
He was organising an unofficial referendum in India for an independent Sikh nation at the time of this death and had denied allegations of ties to terrorism.
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The Khalistan movement has lost much of its power but is still supported by some in the Punjab state in northwestern India and in the Sikh diaspora overseas.
A violent, decade-long Sikh insurgency shook north India in the 1970s and 1980s, and was ultimately crushed in a government crackdown which saw thousands of people killed, including prominent Sikh leaders.
In June 1984, Indian forces stormed the Golden Temple, the holiest Sikh shrine in Amritsar, where separatists had taken refuge.
In more recent years, the Indian government has repeatedly warned that Sikh separatists were trying to make a comeback.
The Indian government said it “completely rejected” Mr Trudeau’s allegations and added: “We are a democratic polity with a strong commitment to rule of law.”