‘He couldn’t take it’: Inquest hears claims man placed hand over mother’s mouth as she lay dying
“They decided to stop eating and drinking because you’re not supposed to bury your children.” A Hobart man has told an inquest his parents wanted to die after hearing devastating news.
Tasmania
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As Nelda Edwards lay in bed and struggled to breathe, one of her sons allegedly just “couldn’t take it” anymore.
Robert Edwards reached forward and put his hand over her mouth, an inquest into her death has heard.
The claim was heard by Hobart’s Coronial Division on Tuesday, the second day of an inquest into the dual deaths of elderly Sandy Bay husband-and-wife, David and Nelda Edwards.
The Mercury is not suggesting Robert was responsible for his mother’s death.
Nelda died on March 4, 2016, just two days after David had passed away – and within weeks of the devastating news their eldest son Glendon had died overseas.
Robert’s wife Vivian Edwards, giving evidence, said in the wake of her husband’s death, the “vivacious, beautiful, funny” Nelda had become “shaking and frail”.
“She felt really skinny when I cuddled her, and shaking,” she said.
“She was trying to put everyone else at ease but her eyes had gone, she was blank in the eyes. She was not the usual Nelda.
“I was sad. She was in such a state. We found out later she hadn’t eaten since she’d found out about Glendon.”
Vivian couldn’t remember how long it took for Nelda to pass away after developing end-stage breathing – which she understood was deeply upsetting to her husband, Robert.
“I think he told me at one stage he’d put his hand over his mother’s mouth and he was upset about it,” Vivian told Coroner Simon Cooper.
She agreed her husband told her his mother had been struggling to breathe and “he couldn’t take it”.
The inquest previously heard that Nelda had died of mixed drug toxicity, while David had died with lymphoma and had an elevated level of morphine in his blood.
Their doctor son Stephen was previously charged with his mother’s murder, by administering “terminal sedation in circumstances of existential distress” – but the charge was dropped when it became apparent the GP was “gravely ill” himself.
Vivian said her parents-in-law had regularly spoken about how the devoted and loving couple planned to end their lives, which frequently upset her.
“They used to walk hand-in-hand everywhere,” she said.
“They were constantly talking about it later in life, what they were going to do. They were going to jump off a cruise ship, they were going to buy drugs in Mexico.
“One time they said they were going to put a hose on the back of the car and go to sleep in the car together, and it got to me.”
She said she wasn’t aware of Stephen administering morphine, midazolam and clonazepam to Nelda, and didn’t recall if her husband witnessed that.
“I didn’t think he saw anything,” she said of Robert.
Vivian said she had assumed that Stephen was simply “doing what doctors do” at a person’s death, “to ease the passing”.
The Edwards’ youngest son, Leigh, also gave evidence on Tuesday, saying his parents had “no plan” for their death.
“(They would say) we’ll get some drugs from Mexico, we’ll jump off the pier, we’ll slit our wrists in the bath. They had no plan,” he said.
“They said if they didn’t eat or drink for seven days, their kidneys would fail and they would die.”
Leigh said his parents decided to die after he’d told them about Glendon’s death, and once his father’s health took another downfall.
“I think that’s when they decided to stop eating and drinking because you’re not supposed to bury your children,” he said.
“They told me they were going to stop eating and drinking.
“The look in their eyes, the look in their face, their whole attitude to life had changed.”
He said he’d seen Stephen give both of his parents “a teaspoon of clear liquid” on the last days of each of their lives, but no “no idea” what the liquid was.
Under examination from Mick Allen, counsel assisting the coroner, Leigh said he “didn’t know and didn’t want to know” what had precipitated his mother’s death, which turned out to be drug toxicity.
“I think my mother died because she wanted to die,” he said.
He denied he’d decided to simply “look the other way”.
The inquest continues.
Inquest examines how grieving Sandy Bay husband-and-wife died in wake of son’s death
October 16, 4:15pm
Within weeks of discovering one of their beloved sons had died suddenly overseas, elderly Sandy Bay couple David and Nelda Edwards took their final breaths.
The “loving and devoted couple” had been married for 68 years before they died in March 2016, just two days apart – after they were both allegedly administered sedatives and opioids.
Now, Tasmania’s Coronial Division plans to discover exactly how and why they died, with their dual deaths the subject of a five-day inquest currently being held in Hobart.
Among the list of witnesses due to give evidence is another of their sons, former New South Wales nursing home doctor Stephen Edwards – who will return to Tasmania next month to enter the witness stand.
Mr Edwards was previously extradited and charged with murdering his mother in a mercy killing, by giving her a cocktail of drugs after the death of her son Glendon, and the death of her husband just two days prior.
Stephen Edwards was never charged with causing his father’s death.
On Monday, counsel assisting the coroner, Mick Allen, said the couple’s eldest son, Glendon, died suddenly in Thailand on February 23, 2016.
The news came at a time when the health of David Edwards, 90, had started taking a downturn.
Mr Allen said David’s regular GP, Jonathan Forrester of the Long Beach Medical, had offered to pay a home visit – but Stephen Edwards declined, telling the doctor he was on his way to Hobart.
He said when Stephen arrived in Hobart, he described his father as having a “death rasp” and asked Dr Forrester for scripts for morphine, midazolam and clonazepam.
When David died on March 2, a doctor wrote prostate cancer and dementia on his death certificate, and his body was donated to the University of Tasmania, according to his wishes.
Mr Allen said Nelda, 88, had a number of health conditions, but that none of them were considered terminal.
He said she died on March 4 after Stephen administered her with several clonazepam doses plus morphine.
Nelda and David Edwards’ deaths became the subject of a detailed Tasmania Police investigation, with state forensic pathologist Donald Ritchie conducting autopsies on both.
Dr Ritchie found David died of lymphoma and had cardiovascular disease with carcinoma of the lung, and had an “elevated level of morphine” in his blood.
The pathologist found Nelda’s cause of death was “mixed drug toxicity”.
Stephen was charged with murdering his mother, and was also jointly charged with his brother Robert of conspiracy to obstruct or pervert the course of justice by “providing misleading information about the cause and circumstances” of Nelda’s death.
Both men pleaded not guilty and were about to stand trial, when all charges were dropped after it became apparent Stephen’s illness was terminal.
The lead investigator in the case, Detective Senior Constable Andrew Peterson, told Coroner Simon Cooper he attended the Edwards’ home on the night of Nelda’s death – and that Stephen was present.
“He made no mention that he had been engaged in treating his mother,” he said.
“He said something to the effect that he believed she had died of kidney failure.
“He left the state very shortly thereafter.”
He said Tasmania Police found a number of morphine ampoules, but also said there was a discrepancy between the drugs Dr Forrester prescribed and the ampoules left at the house.
Detective Senior Constable Peterson said at the time of his parents’ death, Stephen Edwards was a beneficiary of their will and had debts of $90,000 to the tax office and a mortgage of $450,000.
He also said police had been told that Robert Edwards had allegedly placed a pillow over his mother’s face “to hasten the death”.
Dr Forrester, giving evidence via video link, said he’d felt confident prescribing Stephen the medication for his father – noting his fellow GP had experience in end-of-life care.
“I had no reason not to believe Stephen. He came across as very definite about his dad dying. I took him at face value,” he said.
“He came across as both confident and competent at looking after someone in palliative care.”
“It seemed like a reasonable request.”
The inquest continues.
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