"Doctor Called in at Once."

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 123, 27 May 1930, Page 9

"Doctor Called in at Once."

"My friend asks you to believe that Munn schemed this murder," said Mr. Northcroft;: "that his use of part of the poison was a clever piece of bluff, and that he put the other by for his dreadful criminal purpose. If that were Munn's purpose, then why did he buy the poison in November and keep it till the middle of February?" No one but a lunatic would start out to murder anyone in the way alleged by the Crown —continuing to give doses of strychnine. The doctor was called in the first time Mrs. Munn was ill, and it was absurd to suggest that a man wouldgo on administering small doses of the poison, knowing that the victim could at any time" say what was going on. Counsel drew attention to the difficulty of administering strychnine and the fact that it left sure traces. It was obvious that had Munn wished to use such a poison he had not taken the trouble to read up about it, for it was the last poison a man would choose. Then, again, Dr. Dudding, a young, alert, skilful man, was "on Munn's heels" from the very first seizure that Mrs. Munn experienced, and it was an additional reason why no one but a lunatic would go on trying tc poison the woman. Counsel emphasised the point that no one could take strychnine without being aware of it, on account of its extreme bitterness. The Crown suggested that the taste could be disguised in Epsom, salts, but the exp°erts had exploded that theory. Counsel asked the jury to picture the state of mind of a man so devoid of feelings that day by day he slowly poisoned his wife. He would be sitting at the "edge of a precipice" with the possibility of the doctor dropping in on him at 'any moment. While Munn was absent during the week of his wife's illness Dr. Dudding might easily have paid Mrs. Munn a visit. It was no arrangement of the accused's that he was at home the day the doctor did call. A guilty man would keep the closest possible watch on his wife and his home. If Munn was deliberately keeping Mrs. Munn's friends away from her, why should the children not have been sent with a note from the father acquainting the friends of his wish? How easy it would have been for Munn to indicate suicide if he had been engaged in criminal poisoning. Not only did Munn fail to do anything.of the sort but he left a broad trail of all his actions. A criminal usually made one mistake, but according to the Crown Munn did a hundred grotesquely stupid things. "For the Crown to Prove." Continuing his address this morning, Mr. Northcroft contended that nothing had been presented against the accused which could not have been presented against an innocent man. However suspicious the circumstances of the administration of the poison might be, it was not for the accused to explain those suspicions. It was not for him to say, "I can show you just what happened." It was for the Crown to prove its charge up to the-' hilt. The reticence and conduct of Mrs. Munn were consistent with suicide. Mr. Northcroft concluded his address by pointing out that an accused was not to be found guilty except upon the clearest possible evidence. He quoted■ the case of Oscar Slater.

' The jury might think a man was possibly a murderer, probably was a murderer, but the Crown had to satisfy them that the accused, and no other, was actually the murderer.