Jury considering verdict in assisted suicide case

Former Lower Hutt teacher Susan Austen is accused of assisting suicide. Photo / Mark Mitchell

The jury has retired to consider the fate of a Wellington woman accused of assisting suicide.

Former Lower Hutt teacher Susan Austen is also accused of importing the Class C controlled drug pentobarbitone.

Police launched an investigation into the case after Annemarie Treadwell, 77, was found dead in her bedroom at a retirement village in Kilbirnie in June 2016.

The euthanasia advocate died from an overdose of pentobarbitone.

Justice Susan Thomas summed up the case to the jury before they retired this morning.

She reminded them it was not about their personal views on assisted dying.

"The topic of voluntary euthanasia is an emotive one, which can arouse strong feelings.

"However, your task is to put aside your own feelings about assisted dying and focus on the evidence and the law."

Thomas also reminded the jury it was up to parliament to make decisions on a bill that would allow medically assisted dying in New Zealand.

"Whatever might be happening in parliament, and whatever your own views are, is irrelevant to the decisions you make today."

Austen's trial started at the High Court in Wellington on Monday, February 12.