South Africa-based microbiologist Prof Sean Davison was the guest of honour at a meeting organised by the Voluntary Euthanasia Society New Zealand Inc at the Dunedin City Library yesterday.
"We thought we'd do it here partly because of the publicity surrounding Sean's trial and partly because we have members all around the country, who don't always get the attention that we'd like to give them," VESNZ national committee member and spokeswoman Pat Hubbard, of Wellington, said yesterday.
Prof Davison was convicted in the Dunedin District Court earlier this month of assisting his 85-year-old mother, Dr Patricia Davison (also known as Ferguson), to commit suicide with a fatal dose of morphine on October 25, 2006.
After writing a book about the experience, Before We Say Goodbye, Prof Davison (50) was charged with attempted murder.
He instead pleaded guilty to an amended charge, on November 2, that he had "incited and procured Patricia Elizabeth Davison to commit suicide, in consequence whereof that person attempted to commit suicide".
Prof Davison later described the trial and verdict as "a personal tragedy", saying he had acted "for the love of my mother, to honour her wishes".
