Court Waives Death Penalty for 2 Nurses

Lawyers for the brother of an Australian nurse who was murdered said a court had accepted the man’s waiver of his right to demand the death penalty for two British nurses convicted in the slaying. The death waiver document was presented to the High Islamic Sharia court in Al Khubar. “The court has accepted Mr. Gilford’s irrevocable waiver,” a statement by the Riyadh-based International Law Firm said. It said representatives of the British and Australian governments witnessed the submission and signed statements attesting that the waiver had been submitted and accepted by the court. Deborah Parry, 39, and Lucille McLauchlan, 32, are accused of murdering Yvonne Gilford at the King Fahd medical complex in Dhahran in December 1996. Gilford had been stabbed, bludgeoned and suffocated.