Husband of nurse who d.i.e.d by suicide after Kate Middleton prank call said he will ‘never forgive’ radio presenters

Warning: This article contains discussion of suicide some may find distressing.

The husband of a nurse who took her own life after taking an Australian radio prank call involving Kate Middleton previously said he could ‘not forgive’ the perpetrators.

Jacintha Saldanha was a 46-year-old night sister at the private King Edward VII hospital in London.

Kate was pregnant with Prince George when she was admitted to the hospital in 2012 (John Phillips/UK Press via Getty Images)
Kate was pregnant with Prince George when she was admitted to the hospital in 2012

Nevertheless, the Australian station broke major protocol and aired the hoax call anyway, reportedly telling the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) at the time that they didn’t think the nurse’s voice would be identifiable.

Two days after the Kate Middleton prank call was aired, Saldanha was found dead in her nursing quarters.

It’s understood she left three handwritten notes, with one listing the royal radio hoax call as the reason for her death.

Months after the coroner’s office ruled Saldanha’s death a suicide, her grieving husband, Ben Barboza, said he couldn’t ever ‘forgive’ the Australian disk jockeys.

“I am just really angry, why did they do that? Just a matter of three or four seconds changed our whole life,” he said, as per The Guardian. “They were making some kind of mockery, saying: ‘OK, we fooled them.’ I can’t forgive the people who broadcast that.”

Jacintha Saldanha was the night sister who fell victim to the prank call (STRDEL/AFP via Getty Images)
Jacintha Saldanha was the night sister who fell victim to the prank call

After hearing how his wife believed she bore responsibility for putting the hoax call through, Barboza added: “It was the humiliation she felt, and the guilt. I go over that in my mind, over and over. She didn’t want me to know, to share that humiliation.”

After the coroner’s ruling, the late nurse’s son, Junal, added: “Dad, my sister and myself miss our beloved mum every day, and will do so for the rest of our lives.”

William, then Duke of Cambridge, sent his condolences on behalf of himself and his wife in a letter dated New Year’s Day 2013, according to the outlet, where he said he thought the dire situation to be ‘unbelievably sad’; both he and Kate wanted to extend their ‘deepest condolences’.

Christian, who lost his job at the station earlier this year, has recently opened a lawsuit against 2Day FM radio station’s parent company, Southern Cross Austereo (SCA).

The lawsuit alleged the hoax call breached the Australian Communications and Media Authority code of practice and should never have been able to come to fruition.

Christian has claimed he and his former colleague were 'scapegoats' for the radio station (Today Tonight)
Christian has claimed he and his former colleague were ‘scapegoats’ for the radio station

It also claimed the prank call caused long-lasting damage to Christian’s career and that he’d received death threats from listeners following the incident.

Christian, who claimed he was ‘made a scapegoat’, is seeking penalties and compensation for his potential earnings loss and damages now that he has left his post, alleging that his redundancy was ‘not genuine’.

Meanwhile, Greig, who left the station well before her former co-star, expressed understanding of Christian’s decision to sue while reiterating her sympathy for the Saldanha family.

She also called for reforms in how media companies support staff.

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