A sexual assault survivor has expressed anger after her father, a convicted sex offender, became the first prisoner in New South Wales to access voluntary assisted dying. The man, who cannot be named due to a suppression order, was seven years into a 30-year sentence for multiple sex crimes when he was granted a medically assisted death following a terminal cancer diagnosis.
The victim, the man’s daughter, said she felt “robbed” that her father was allowed to die on his own terms. “He was given the easy way out, the comfortable way out … he deserved to live out his natural life in prison,” she posted. She launched a fundraiser seeking compensation for victims and changes to the law to prevent other criminals from accessing voluntary assisted dying.
Under NSW law, prisoners with a terminal illness can apply to the Voluntary Assisted Dying Board, which comprises legal and medical practitioners. The state premier, Chris Minns, said he was not proposing to change the system. The Greens MP Sue Higginson opposed any changes, stating that “people who are imprisoned, even for terrible crimes, do not deserve to be tortured and must be treated with dignity and respect”.
A 2024 report by Go Gentle Australia found that 3,200 people across Australia and New Zealand had accessed voluntary assisted dying since 2019. The victim also called for perpetrators’ applications to be disclosed to victims.
