SECOND WEEK OF MAREO BETRUL

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 134, 8 June 1936, Page 8

SECOND WEEK OF MAREO BETRUL

WIFE-MURDER CHARGE

ANALYST GIVES EVIDENCE. VERONAL FOUND IN ORGANS. Wow In Its second week, the retrial of Eric Mareo, the Auckland musician, aged 45, on the charge of murdering his wife, Thelma Clarice Mareo, aged 29, by the administration of the livpnotio drug veronal, was continued before Mr. •Tustice*Callan in the Supreme Court to-day. Public interest was maintained and again women showed more interest than men. The women's gallery was crowded, but the downstairs part of the Court, where the men stand, was only haltfllled. Chief interest this morning centred in the evidence of Mr. K. M. Griffin, the Government Analyst at Auckland, who detailed the' amount of veronal he found in the organs of the body, au>l thi: amount he recovered from the bedding on which Mrs. Mareo slept. So detailed has been the examination-in-chief and the cross-examination of the various witnesses that it now appears extremely unlikely that the trial will end in the same length of time as the first—nine days —and there is a possibility that the hearing will not he concluded this week. The case for the Crown is being conducted by Mr. V. Pi. Meredith and Mr. F. McCarthy, and Mareo is defended by Mr. Humphrey O'Leary, K.C., of Wellington, Mr. Trevor Henry and Mr. K. C. Aekins. "The Appendix." Norman Ralph Blomfield, company secretary, said he knew Mareo and Mrs. Mareo. Signs of drinking became increasing at the Mareo home while witness knew them. He never saw Mrs. Mareo drinking to excess at any time, but Mareo was a pretty heavy drinker at times. Witness was running the business side of the "Duchess of Dantzic," and on one occasion on the last night of the 6eason Mrs. Marco was in a state of collapse, but whether liquar or sheer exhaustion was the cause he did not know. Except for the first few nights of the season, witness took the Mareos home every night, and Mrs. Mareo was in quite a normal state, except for the last night, when she was helped in and out of the car. Witness noticed no smell of liquor about Mrs. Mareo.

Mareo ran? witness up about half an hour after the death of Mrs. Mareo. Witness said, "What on earth happened ?" Mareo replied, "The usual thing-." Witness asked. "What, the appendix?" and Mareo said, "Yes; foolish girl, if she had had it out when I wanted her to 6he would have been alive yet." Witness saw Mareo acain about three days later. He asked witness if he had seen what was in the paper. Mareo said, "Of course, Betty had to blurt that out in her usual crude manner." Mareo told him that he did not know until after he came to New Zealand that Mrs. Mareo was fond of "the dope." and that he had done everything possible to keep it from the public.

In reply to Mr. Henry, witness said the newspaper announcement to which Maxeo had referred contained the statement that Mrs. Mareo had been addicted to drink. Veronal Found in Organs. Tfce Government Analyst at Auckland, Kenneth Massey Griffin, after describing various tests he had carried out on organs and exhibits handed to him by the police, said he had found veronal present. The total extracted from the organs, a stained bed sheet and a mattress was 14.78 grains. Witness also examined some tablets handed to him by Detective-Sergeant Meiklejohn. They were five-grain veronal tablets. In a packet lebelled "Ashes from kitchen grate" witness found the burnt remnant of a Kirby's barbitone packet, and in another parcel he found a label from a barbitone bottle of 25 five-grain tablets. It had been scraped from a bottle and crumpled up. Witness explained the solubility of veronal. It was not readily soluble in water, but was in spirits such as whisky and brandy. His tests showed that six five-grain veronal tablets —30 grains—could be dissolved in half a cup of milk. He tasted the solution and it was like soda.

Under cross-cxamination by Mr. O'Leary, witness said tliat if half a cup of milk containing veronal was drunk and 50 grains of veronal was found in the system, it was reasonable to assume that the cup had contained 100 grains. Witness, in the course of his experiments, dissolved up to 60 grains—l 2 tablets. Close questioning on the methods used by the analyst in extracting veronal from the organs followed. Witness explained that in some cases he did not have the whole of the organ, and took a portion only for analysis. It was Usual to take a third or a half and keep the other part for check analysis. In the course of re-examination by Mr. Meredith, witness said that the normal, healthy person should notice the taste of veronal fairly quickly. He, in his experiments, had noticed the taste in one second. , The luncheon adjournment was taken j lit 12.50.