Michelle Jones
SEAN DAVISON walked through the gates at international arrivals, bent to scoop up one of his young sons before kissing his partner Raine Pan.
“No more tears,” said Davison.
Davison, the UWC professor who helped his terminally ill mother die, returned home yesterday after serving five months’ home detention in his native New Zealand.
Pan and the couple’s young sons, Flynn, three, and Finnian, who turns two today, waited for Davison at Cape Town International Airport with a bouquet of brightly coloured flowers and cheery “welcome home” balloons.
With a large media contingent behind them, the family watched the Singapore Airlines aircraft carrying Davison taxi towards the terminal.
After the family’s reunion at the gates, Davison addressed the media.
“I’m thrilled to be back, obviously. Now I’m a free man.
“I was always free in my heart. I did my sentence, but I did not commit a crime.”
Yesterday marked the launch of a petition by Dignity SA, a pro-euthanasia organisation of which he is an executive member, which calls for a bill to be brought before Parliament to legalise assisted suicide in defined conditions.
“I will continue to campaign for a law change. I believe there is a lot of support in SA – let’s find it. My case has linked SA to New Zealand and I hope if one country changes its laws, the other will follow.”
Davison said he looked forward to thanking Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu – who wrote a letter as a character reference – in person for his assistance in sparing him from serving jail time.
He said he had spoken to UWC vice-chancellor and rector Brian O’Connell yesterday while on the plane.
“He reaffirmed that UWC will be leading the discussions on this debate.”
Davison said it was his family who suffered the most during his absence.
“While my life didn’t change from one day to the next, she was faced with new and difficult challenges each day. It was very unfair.”
Pan said she looked forward to spending time with Davison and continuing their lives.
Davison went on trial in November last year after being arrested in New Zealand in September 2010 on an attempted murder charge.
In a leaked book manuscript, he admitted to giving his mother Patricia Ferguson, 85, a lethal dose of morphine.
Davison was cleared of attempted murder after agreeing to plead guilty to a lesser charge.