CHILD'S ILLNESS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 73, 28 March 1933, Page 8

CHILD'S ILLNESS.

. NURSE KERR TRIAL. SECOND DAY'S HEARING. '. HOSPITAL NURSES' EVIDENCE. With nine witnesses completed, the case for the Crown in the charts against Elspeth Kerr, aged 45, the Devonport nurse", is going ahead more rapidly ° than was the case at the firet trial a month ago. About 30 witnesses, are still to be heard. Nurse Kerr is charged on three counts •' of administering poison, veronal, to her foster-child, Dorothy Betty Cameron e Kerr (known acs Betty Kerr), with in- " tent to injure, thereby endangering life, The offences are alleged to have been e committed on April S, 10 and 10, 1932 i- Mr. V. R. Meredith and Mr. F. Slj. n C'arthy are conducting the case for the e Crown, and Mr. K. A. Singer and Mr. W. W. Meek are appearing for lire! g Kerr. Inspector J. Cumnringe, of the e Police Coinmiidioner's Oflice, Wellington, y is also watching the case, e Evidence along the lines of that of Dr. Garfleld Stewart was given by Dr. s K. H. Holdgate after the main edition ■1 of the "Star" went to press yesterday afternoon. He said that Nurse Kerr e asked for something to relieve Betty's e pain, and he gave her a veramoh tablet, with instructions to use half in the' evening and the other half next morning, e The whole tablet contained two grains n of veronal. Nurse Kerr had not told '• him on April 9 that she had given the e child a medinal tablet. The court sat for two hours last evening, when the evidence of Dr. J. A. Stallworthy, resident surgeon of the I Auckland Hospital, was completed. He I 1 said that on March 28 he found Betty I Kerr surTering from acute pyelitis. '> When witness next saw the child on 0 April 10 (she had been home in the 1 meantime) she was in a deep coma. He examined her on April 16 and found' her a perfectly normal child. Just as he left her, Nurse Kerr came to see her, and, after she left, the child became ill with the same sj'mptoms she had had on admission, only not quite so profound. Dr. S. L. Ludbrook, specialist in children's diseases, also gave evidence. This morning Sister Phyllis Mildred Pottinger, of the Auckland Hospital, who had Betty Kerr under her care last April, told of the illness and recovery of the child. She was cross-examined by Mr. Singer as to the routine work , of nurses in her ward and on certain . aspects of 'the child's illness. She was f also cross-examined at length as to Mrs. j Kerr's visits to the hospital and the . evidence she gave in the lower Court and the evidence she had giyej in the j Supreme Court. Witness said that if J they had any veronal • in the ward it , was kept in a box on top of the poison ; cupboard. They did not have any veronal in the ward at the end of last year, They did not have veramon at all. Counsel Warned. - Mr. Singer pointed ou.t that there was 1 a mistake in the notes c; Sister Pot- • tiuger's evidence taken last evening. i His Honor remarked that a mistake - could easily have been made. Counsel commented to the jury that . all the mistakes made were against the j defence. His Honor: You have no right to say , that. Mr. Singer. Mr. Singer: I will comment on that point to the jury later. His Honor: You have no right. 1 Mr. Singer: I will. ' His Honor: If you are going to con- ' duct yourself like that, I will have to ' take steps. I hope you are goinp to ! observe the decencies of the New Zealand ' Bar , Mr. Singer: I know the decencies of tl'.e New Zealand and also the Ehglish Bar. His Honor: I don't' think so. Mr. Singer: I am sure of it. His Honor: Go on with your crossexamination, Mr. Singer. Evidence of Nurses. Nurse Doris Harwood, of the Auckland Hospital, said that on April 16 last she was in the children's ward and i she saw Mrs. Kerr with Betty. Th 3 child asked for a drink of water, which witness got from *a tap in the ward, The child took two or three eips and left the cup on the'locker. She 'appeared ' to be all right. When witness took the ' cup away, Nurse Kerr was sitting by the bedside. Another nurse at the Auckland Hospital, Mary McLaughlin Lilburue, sail that about five o'clock on the morning of April 19 she had taken a specimen from Betty Kerr. The specimen was about three or four ounces; and she labelled the bottle with 1 the child's name. She identified her handwriting on the bottle. Nurse Catherine Baniierinan MeCormick, after describing the deeply unconscious state of Betty Kerr when she arrived at the hospital,' said that Nurse Kerr had told her that Betty had had veronal prescribed by Dr. Holdgate. Nurse Catherine Wood gave evidence of taking a specimen from the child and of handing it to Dr. Holdgate. (Proceeding.)