Tonight on Sunday ` the day Rosie said goodbye. I hope everyone that I love knows that I love them. Helped to die by her husband, She had no life left to live. but he walked free. I don't understand. It's crazy. RT: Lima Delta Victor... When the Air Angels came calling, All I wanna do was just put him close to me. a prayer was answered. Copyright TVNZ Access Services 2012 Kia ora, I'm Miriama Kamo. This week Evans Mott created legal history when he became the first person to escape a conviction after helping his wife Rosie to die. He could have been jailed for 14 years, but he walked away from court with a clean slate. The consequences for Rosie's family, though, are on-going. Tonight, Janet McIntyre with their very personal, at times harrowing experience. A warning ` this is an issue bound to confront many of us. Our story begins with the message Rosie left for those she loved. I am really special. Real special. Especially to her family. She was quirky and stubborn. Very stubborn. She was sweet. She was really, really sweet. But nothing prepared Rosie Mott's family for the way she said goodbye. I'm making this movie so that nobody is under the illusion that I've been coerced into what I've done, been murdered. I don't understand. It's crazy, eh? Rosie and her daughter Amy were best friends. She just looks very strong and... yeah, I love that photo. They spoke by phone across the Tasman almost every day. But Rosie never mentioned this. Here I am on the 30th of August 2011. The message she filmed herself for her family, to be delivered after her death. OK. That's it. See ya. I mean, I know she said goodbye, but it kind of doesn't feel like she said goodbye. Not even in their last phone call, just after Christmas last year. Just ` just sobbing and crying, and I'm saying, 'Mum, what's going on?' and she just said that, you know, 'It's time, and I have to bow out gracefully, 'so everyone can get on with their lives.' It's like, 'You don't have to do this. You don't have to do this.' And she didn't say that she was going to, or she wasn't going to, she was just really upset and that was probably about three hours before she did it. Rosie didn't want to die. Absolutely, definitively what she said and statement of fact ` she didn't want to die. It's just her body had got to the point that she had no life left to live. Rosie did die, and Evans Mott, her husband, played a part in her death. This week he faced a High Court judge and a potential jail sentence of 14 years for assisting Rosie to take her life, even though he wasn't with her. I think it's barbaric. I think the system that we have is medieval. You know? If you accept that somebody has to die, and that they're incurable, untreatable, and it's time, and they're suffering ` why? Why should they then have to die by their own hands alone when their family and friends want to be there with them to be supportive? Rosie met Evans in the backblocks of the Gold Coast almost 25 years ago. An unusual relationship? Yes! (LAUGHS) You could say that. Yes, we're both dominant, so it's quite a firework-y relationship. An unconventional, adventurous relationship. They lived in the bush in the Outback and in the Islands with Rosie's two young daughters, Jessie and Amy, and later with their son Kane. So you lived in a corrugated iron hut? So you lived in a corrugated iron hut? Yes. Yep. (LAUGHS) Didn't like to be held down and didn't like to stay anywhere for too long. Eventually, though, Rosie and Evans settled in Auckland, in a flat on one of Auckland's flashest streets, Paritai Drive, but they were often apart. My regret is that Rosie and I didn't have our time together. Evans travelled for months at a time in Europe and the States, building luxury yachts. And Rosie, an anthropology student, stayed at home in the flat, healthy until just a few years ago. I'm going to tell you the story, the sad, tragic story, of my upcoming demise. I, uh, tripped over a cat. Rosie pinpointed the start of her decline to that accident, which left her with a broken arm and on-going intense pain. Test after test finally revealed she had the most aggressive strain of multiple sclerosis, a degenerative and incurable disease. There is no medication that will slow down the progress. Over four years she deteriorated, at times unable to move, at times unable to stop moving. This is Rosie touching her nose. What you're seeing is a), the inability of Rosie to touch her nose, and b), how an intention tremor works. At this point, I would have to say it is an absolutely devastating disease. It was the tremors, the shakes, hardly being able to walk, having to sort of stand up and plan every move, not being able to feed herself without shaking. She used to say, 'It's like there's hand grenades going off in my head.' But she could walk? She could walk, and she never would get in a wheelchair. She was convinced that she wouldn't get through January before she was in a wheelchair, and that was why, specifically, she decided 'No, I'm not gonna go into next year.' Because when she was in a wheelchair ` we didn't have a wheelchair-friendly house, and unless I was there full-time to wheel her around, you're pretty much in care. And of course, the system ` once you're in care, the only way you have any control of your destiny is to starve yourself to death. So she was not gonna go that way. Did she talk about going into care? She would not go into care. Absolutely. She would not. She would've thrown herself off a bridge rather than done that. In 2010, getting no relief from drugs, her condition worsening, Rosie started talking about ending her life. She bought a how-to book online. Did you try to talk her out of it? You know, I hear what you say, I understand what you say, but I don't think it's right for people to go either way. If you know somebody's got a degenerative disease that's hideous, then you're hardly gonna say, 'Oh well, just wait until you're a basket-case.' After the break ` I don't think there was anyone who said, 'Please don't do it, Rosie', and that's pretty sad. (SNIFFS) What if it was she just thought she had no one to look after her? We should make a trap for him. We should make a trap for him. Yeah. Though they lived in different countries, Amy was close to Rosie. And you'll love` No, no, no, no sand. A young mum raising two little boys on her own in North Queensland, she relied on Rosie for support. Like, on the phone she was always so upbeat and, you know, 'Hey, mate, how are you? Oh, yeah, I'm having a shit day, but it's OK.' What, honey? What, honey? Sand's got in my eye. Amy knew about Rosie's plan, but they both avoided talking about it. In some ways, though, I wish I'd said, 'Don't do it.' I hate to think maybe she did think that nobody asked her not to do it, you know? And I don't think there was anyone who said, 'Please don't do it, Rosie', and that's pretty sad. What if it was if she just thought she had no-one to look after her? And no-one will ever know that, and I should've been there for my Mum, I just ` maybe she didn't want me to be there, but I should've ` I should've been there and I regret that. You know, I expected a goodbye. Something. I expected some sort of ` 'this is it. I love you, goodbye.' Um, but it never came. I never got any email... Kane was the only child Rosie and Evans had together. He also lives in Australia. Kane was worried for his mum when he last visited her a year ago. Do you think she was taking into consideration the pressure she was putting on Evans, and all of you, by continuing her life? Um, she certainly was taking into consideration the burden she was throwing on everyone. She realised the way they were living wasn't sustainable. Sustainable in what way? Financially. And certainly how much worse it would have got. You know, just buying the drugs, and just all of it. It adds up to being quite expensive. I mean, a lot more expensive than somebody who's independent. Kane told us he thought his mother was worried about the financial burden she was creating. (EXHALES) I don't think financially she was that concerned. I think more she was concerned that she knew that her suffering was making everybody else suffer. So, Rosie was in pain with an incurable disease and wanted to die. Her daughter in Australia didn't want Rosie to do it, but didn't actually tell her that. Her son thought Rosie was worried she was costing too much to stay alive. Another daughter in Auckland offered to care for her mum, but Rosie wouldn't have a bar of it. That left Evans, her husband, the one person who was with her. He helped Rosie prepare for the end in December last year. We ` You say, we had everything so that if she wanted to do it ` and it was really the 28th, 29th, 30th, 31st, if she was gonna finish it before the new year, and that was in her head. 'That's time.' They rehearsed what Rosie would do with a gas cylinder and apparatus they'd bought. As far as assembling the equipment, we did it together, um, for the very simple reason that you only die once, and it's absolutely essential that she understood how this is supposed to work, because there's no second chance. If it doesn't work, you're probably a brain-dead vegetable. And on the 28th of December, after Evans returned from an outing, Rosie was ready. We just talked. And we didn't say anything sort of, um, mind-shattering, it's just 'Hello, how are you going, how are you feeling.' Da-da-da-da. And then whenever it was, about 12.30 or whatever, she said, 'OK, it's time for you to go.' Gave me a big hug. (VOICE BREAKING) And I left. That was that. Rosie, alone, administered her own death. Where did you go? To the shops, and got receipts to prove I was away. But if she'd been alive when I'd got back, it wouldn't have been an issue. You know, 'This is your time. If you want, it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter if ` 'you're still here when I get back, it's great.' Do you wish you'd been there? Oh, absolutely. Absolutely, yes. I wish I could've been holding her hand, you know, and saying, 'It doesn't matter, mate, you don't have to do it, or if you wanna do it' ` again, supportive. I mean, that's how it should be. But you could have stayed with her. No. You're putting yourself very much in a manslaughter, murder situation in that scenario. No, you can't, not within the current system. It's not possible. I don't know how he put one foot in front of the other and walked out of that house, but... I think extremely hard for him too, and especially to come back knowing, and, you know... I don't understand. It's crazy how you can... How difficult is it for you knowing that she died by herself? It's horrible. Really horrible. I mean, she had to die with a plastic bag over her head. That's` that's not nice. It's not nice. And especially having to do it yourself. I think it would have been scary and ` I dunno... It hurts more that it was sort of done out of fear. You know, that ability to say goodbye was taken away, just because she was afraid we'd all get dragged through the legal proceedings and it would disrupt all our lives. I hope that everyone I love knows that I love them, and that everyone whom I'm grateful to knows that I'm grateful. She needed to pass on her own. One can only imagine how it was for Mr Mott having to discuss these types of arrangements with his wife, as she wanted. In my submission, he was strong, supportive and loyal, and that is what she needed, and I suspect that is what we would all need in those circumstances. With considerable care, I've reached the conclusion that an order should be made discharging you without conviction. This week, as Evans Mott created legal history, Rosie would have turned 56. It couldn't be about a legacy for Rosie. I'm sorry. Thank God some good come of it. What more can I say? You know, it's just common sense prevails. Thank you for everybody who's supported me. Rosie's children were surprised but relieved by the outcome. They wish Evans well as he leaves for a boat-building contract in Spain. OK. That's it. See ya. Well, in reaching the decision, the judge took into account Mott's unblemished record, his early guilty plea, the low end of his offending, and Rosie's message. Up next ` the Air Angels. We call it a 'hundred dollar hamburger'. We'll just fly somewhere, and buy a hamburger, and fly home. That just doesn't compare with flying a mission and helping somebody. Bed-wetting can be embarrassing for kids. Thankfully, drynites.co.nz can help you manage the bed-wetting stage by providing expert advice. Plus, you can even try a DryNites sample for free. Welcome back. Lance Weller and Magic Hoani live worlds apart. Lance is retired, owns his aeroplane, and roams the skies. Magic has just arrived in this world. However fate, flying, and a streak of kindness have brought Lance and Magic together. Here's Phil Vine. Magic ` Teu and Shannon's precious baby boy. Born with a severe cleft palate. All I wanna do is just put him close to me, and` Yeah, I was overwhelmed. Every feed's a bit of a struggle. Unfortunately Magic, on the scale of cleft lip and palate, he's probably towards the worse end of the scale. It's a particularly difficult, challenging one. The good news is Magic's disfigurement is totally fixable. The bad news is geographical. Magic's in the Far North, the specialist team's in Auckland. Magic faces 20 years of dental and surgical intervention. Mum Shannon has some long journeys ahead. She told there'd be a fair lot of trips to Auckland. They need to get on a hospital bus that leaves here at seven o'clock in the morning, gets to Whangerei, then transfer from Whangerei Hospital ` no doubt with a wait ` to another bus that gets to Auckland. That could take a day and a half. They may have to stop over in Whangerei, you know, and by the time they've had the procedures they need in Auckland they might be home after four days, or five days. Magic's got four sisters : Harmony, Sky, Starbright, and Summer. Look! The camera! With Dad working at the mill, just getting on the road's a headache. Um, nappies. One on the couch, and one in my room... RT: Lima Delta Victor is just heading from Whangerei, estimating Kaitaia now at time 0.5. Fortunately for Magic, there's hope on the horizon. All traffic Cape Reinga, Lima Delta Victor is 25 miles north of Kaitaia. Lance Weller, flying back from Australia to start a new life and a new charity. I always had a residual feeling, from time to time, that I got educated here and then nicked off and did nothing for NZ. And I was looking for some way that I could just make some small contribution, and it turned out that I could combine it with flying. It's Angel Flight. A free service carrying needy non-emergency cases to hospital, using amateur pilots. It's nice to give something back, and help someone who's, you know, on tough times, in a little bit of strife. We already know that it's difficult for patients to get down to, say, Auckland, and we know patients don't make it because they can't afford it, they can't find a vehicle that's warrantable and registered. Are the people not going to appointments because they can't afford it? Yes. I may have had patients that have to do a whip-around the community to get some fuel for their car to get to an appointment. That was in Whangerei. So we're talking getting to Auckland. Angel Flights are getting patients to Auckland. It's a significant barrier for some people, and it means that they can't always make it. A lot of pilots, on the weekend, we call it a 'hundred dollar hamburger.' We'll just fly somewhere and buy a hamburger and fly home. But that just doesn't compare with flying a mission and helping somebody. Up, get up. Out, up! It's an early start in the Far North. Magic will be Angel Flights' first mission. We just gotta load it up ourselves, boss? At the airstrip in Kaitaia, a meeting of two worlds. There's the pilots ` We're sort of 50 and over, cos it takes that long to be able to buy a plane. I mean, you don't see 30-year-olds flying around in their own plane. It's hard-earned money. ` and the families with not enough earnings for a plane ticket, let alone a plane. Shannon's a little nervous. When she mentioned about a plane, and I told her that I'm scared of the heights, and she goes, 'It's all right, you'll be all right, girl, you're not gonna go down.' I was, 'Oh, OK then.' Everybody right? All set? < Set. Ready to take off. The excitement of her first aeroplane ride takes over. It's giving me butterflies! And the baby travels well. How's Magic, Shannon? How's Magic, Shannon? Oh, he's good. He's fast asleep. Where are we? Over the Kaipara Harbour. Over the Kaipara Harbour. Oh, chur. Just an hour's flight, and the earth angels take over. Went perfectly today, it was great. Volunteers like John Pringle Baby formula. provide a shuttle service and even take them shopping, footing the bill himself. So how's it feel to have completed the first one? Great! Now all we've gotta do is get the passenger home, and then I'll be able to relax. (LAUGHS) What do you guys get out of it? What do you guys get out of it? It is an absolutely incredible feeling. Thank you. It's just the pleasure of knowing you've helped someone. I don't know, how do you describe it? No, I can't describe it. After the inaugural flight with Magic, word of mouth brings them more patients from Kaitaia. Glad to be on land. Maoris aren't meant to fly. And Lance flies his first mission. It's Kauri (11). I mean, for any age, it's just wonderful to see things from the air. He had to come down here today to be assessed by a surgeon, as to his status. They could have spent six hours driving. We'll take him back this afternoon, and in one day, and they're back and family life goes on for them. So eight missions so far, All right, Kauri, out you come. and they're gaining the trust of the hospital hierarchy. They don't know us. Who are we? Are we reliable? What will you do to their patients? What will you do to their patients? What are we gonna do with their people? (LAUGHS) Are you gonna land in the right place? Are you gonna land in the right place? Yes. Yes. OK, a little bit bigger. With Air Angels' support, Magic's on a road to recovery without actually having to take the road. It was wonderful that we could bring them down and get them back, um, swiftly, and in a, you know, a nicer way. Thank you, John. You look after yourself. OK? You be good. (LAUGHS) Lance Weller wants to grow Angel Flight into a national network and is looking for volunteer pilots. Details are on the Sunday website. Check us out there and on Facebook: Sunday TVNZ. Thanks for joining us. Kia pai to wiki, have a great week.