JUDGE SMS lIP IN MAREO Till.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 142, 17 June 1936, Page 8

JUDGE SMS lIP IN MAREO Till.

VERDICT AWAITED. INTENSE INTEREST. CROWN ADDRESS CONCLUDED. FIN Ali WORDS TO JURY. Amid a tense atmosphere, thci trial of Eric Mareo, the Auckland musician, aged 40, charged with the murder of his wife, Thelma Clarice Mareo, aged 29, by the administration of the hypnotic drug veronal, draws to a close. Intent public interest was to-day displayed, and all morning and afternoon long queues of men and women waited outside both entrances in the hope that they would be given the opportunity of seeing the last stages of the trial drama.

Chief counsel for the Crown, Mr. V. R. Meredith, who opened his address to the jury in the closing half-hour of yesterday's sitting, concluded at 12.20, and he was followed immediately by Mr. Justice Callan, the trial judge. His Honor was still addressing the jury when the luncheon adjournment came. Defence counsel, Mr. Humphrey O'Leary, K.C., concluded his address late yesterday afternoon. It is expected that the jury will retire this afternoon and return with their verdict this evening. " Clear Case." On resuming his address this morning Mr. Meredith said that he had dealt with the case in a general way and he now proposed to do what he could ta assist the jury in its consideration by making some observations on the evidence. The case was clearly one of veronal poisoning. ' The point for consideration was how Mrs. Mareo got it. If she took it herself it was either suicide or misadventure. If, on the other hand, it was administered intentionally by someone else, then the act involved that person in the crime of murder. I An important factor for the jury to weigh was the relationship between Mareo and his wife. They had been j married only IS months, and Mrs. Mareo.. as a bride, had the sum of £500, of which her husband dissipated £400. It. was idle to say that it was a happy marriage. Three bitter quarrels were known of. Mr. Meredith then went on to deal with the.circumstances of these quarrels.

There was the occasion when Mareo came back from Dixieland drunk. After indulgence in liquor restraint was lifted, and the real state of mind was indicated, and what did Mareo say in liquor that night? Counsel then referred to the abuse of his wife by Mareo on his return and how she had replied that she would get out into the street if he would give her back her £500. Then there was the mental attitude of the accused when he was driven home in a drunken condition by Miss Brownlee. It was quite clear that Miss Brownlee came that night to Mareo's house with the intention of stopping, for- she was equipped with her pyjamas. She must have come at Mareo's invitation. Mareo, when in a , semi-dressed condition in the bathroom, liad orifered his wife out of the house, saying that "Eleanor will look after me." That conduct showed accused's attitude towards his wife again. Condition on'STriday. Though Mrs. Mareo had at one stage been in a highly nervous condition the. medical evidence was that she would get better with the help of the sedative medicine. There was the evidence of the tradespeople and others before the fatal week-end that Mrs. Mareo was in a normal condition on the Friday, though she was not too well and had stayed in bed. She had got up in the evening and cleaned up. When Freda Stark arrived, Mrs. Mareo took some pride in showing her garments she had been making. When Freda left that night Mrs. Mareo wished her a cheery good night and said, "Mind you come early to-morrow and not late as vou usually do."

That was the picture of Mrs. Mareo, but what of Mareo? continued counsel. Mr. Meredith then referred to the evidence of Betty Mareo, of how the accused, who was in a worried state of mind, handed her a remarkable letter revealing to her her parentage. After reading the letter Mr. Meredith stressed the passage which said, "If ,anything happens to me communicate with a solicitor in London," and Mareo's reference to the failure he had made of his life, and finally, that the letter was "not to be opened till you hear of my death." What was the necessity for Mareo handing that letter to Betty ? Unless there was some unusual state of mind there was no need to write that morbid letten Mareo's mind was clearly running on his prospective death. Unless something unusual happened, he had -Mlenty of time to have a proper conversation with Betty and reveal what he "d written.

to the fatal week-end, Mr. + Mrs. Marco's condition . Lurday. One would not have

expected that a woman in lier state would have been left alone for long in that state. Bnt Marco went out that morning. and tlie next that was known was that Freda Stark arrived to find them both asleep. Marco had said that his wife had got veronal on the Friday night. and it would not have been difficult for a woman in a semi-doped condition to be given'more. The medicine she had been taking bad quinine in it, and was known to be bitter. It was a significant thing that the medicine bottle could not be found. The varium pills were there, but not the bottle. Turning again to the arrival of Freda Stark, Mr. Meredith said that Mareo had come out of the room with a staggering gait, looking altogether as if he had taken veronal himself.

Left Mrs. Mareo. "Freda asks him to get a doctor for his wife," counsel went on. "He puts it off, and the excuse is that he is afraid because he has given her the dope and lie might get the chemist into trouble. You would think he would get in communication with the chemist to find out what was the matter with the medicine,. You would think he would have done it earlier, when he found his wife on the floor. Hid he? Xo, he went out, and left her all the morning. Then later he decides to go out for a 'blow' with Miss Brownlce, and tells Freda that if his wife wakes, 'Tell her I am out on business.' "While he is out, Freda notices that Tlielma's sleep is getting lighter," continued Mr. Meredith. "She calls out, and when Freda comes, speaks to her. Mrs. Mareo is awake, though dazed, heavy aijd nervous, as one would expect from a heavy dose of veronal. She drinks water. About ten o'clock Mareo has returned from his 'blow.' They talk to Mrs. Mareo, tell- her jokes, and she is able to laugh at some. Sal volatile is given to her, Freda Stark notices that she is becoming increasingly brighter. ; She asks for tofTee and chews it.

"Tlieu we come to the stage wlien the milk is prepared. Mrs. Mareo is able to name things in the room now, and so she has her mental processes restored. You have to consider whose evidence concerning the giving of the milk is correct. Freda Stark has told how Graham brought in two clips and Mareo comes in with another. Freda says she gave half a cup to Thehna and then handed it to Graham, who also gave her a little. He was not getting on too well, and handed it back to Freda. This time, when she was giving her the lower part of the cup, Thelma clenched her teeth and turned away, and would not open her mouth again—an indication that she did not want any more. The Milk Incident. "Graham has said he got the cup first, and that when he got it, it was half full. But when a person is preparing milk, especially for a woman who has had nothing to eat for a long time, he is not going to send in half a cup of milk. It is not reasonable to think half a cup would :be enough. Then, who would he expected to give the milk — who hut the female, Freda Stark, the friend and natural nurse? It has been suggested that the milk was given with a spoon. It appears that it would he quite unnecessary to use a spoon. There would he no necessity to revert to spoon feeding a person who had already drunk. Possibly Graham's- recollection would not he expectM to be as clear as that

of Freda Stark. You have Thelma getting more wakeful all the time, then the milk is brought 111 by Mareo. The milk is given. She has to be held and propped up. Towards the last attempt she is showing signs of going off to sleep. Freda sees this, and says, 'We had better get her to the lavatory.' Marco tries to help, hut stumbles over the hed. He is useless to help. "Mrs. Marco's drowsiness is steadily and rapidly increasing. She is put back to bed and is right off to sleep straight away. Mareo is now half lying and half sitting on the bed. The evidence is that Mareo gets into the chair by the bedside and goes fast asleep. In the condition his wife is then in, he should have been awake. The fact of this sleepiness, together with the fact that he could not bo aroused later, Dr. Giesen agrees, is consistent with Mareo having had a dose of veronal before the time Mrs. Mareo was taken to the lavatory. Dr. Gieson agrees, too, that the condition of Mrs. Mareo was consistent with a dose of veronal being taken just before she went to the lavatory.

"Now, gentlemen, you get this startling position. Just before the milk was prepared, they are apparently Loth free from the influence of veronal. After the milk is given, both are showing the effects of veronal. So you have it that at the same time two different people are both showing signs of veronal. If Mrs. Mareo got it at that time, she got it in only one way. It definitely must have been in the milk. Who had veronal in his possession at that time? Mareo. Who was out in the kitchen ■preparing the milk? Mareo. Then, taking the evidence of Mareo going under the influence, what possible inference can you draw but that when Mareo prepared that milk, he put veronal in it, took some himself, and gave his wife a fatal dose?" Fatal Coma. The coma that Mrs. Mareo went into on the Saturday night was a fatal one, and that showed that she niust have had a big dose, continued Mr. Meredith. Counsel then described how veronal was carried by the bloodstreams through the body. From the fact that nearly six grains of veronal were recovered from (51b of Mrs. Marco's organs, it was obvious that a large amount must have still been in her body, and this amount could only be approximately estimated. It was impossible to contemplate that it could have lain in her stomach without being distributed. Counsel then attacked Dr. Giesen : s evidence that in a fasting stomach there would be no juices to dis-

tribute the veronal. Mrs. Mareo had had a meal of lish and chips on Friday night, and her stomach could not be described as a fasting one. -After a discussion with his Honor as to what the authorities held, Mr. Meredith said the point he was making was that Mrs. Marco's stomach was never devoid of gastric juices' which agitated the veronal and caused its distribution through the bloodstream. Jlis Honor said ho quite agreed that the authorities said so, and Dr. Giescn had gone too far until Mr. "Meredith had recalled him. Mr. Meredith then discussed the possibility of Mrs. Marerf going to the wash house herself in an automatic state and obtaining the. veronal. In lier condition, without the use of her limbs, it was impossible for lier to do so without falling about. If the veronal had been in her room, why was it that no sign of it, or a receptacle was found? The condition of Marco's wife during this period was enough to alarm anybody. Yrt, en the Saturday morning. Mareo had on three occasions declined the suggestion of Freda Stark that a doctor should be called. jWent for a Drive. On the Sunday morning he went out for a drive with Miss Brownlce, and when it was again suggested that he should get a doctor, lie replied that lie would wait 'and see if Mrs. Mareo had awakened when he came back. Then, on a further request, he lied. He said he had telephoned to a chemist, who told him that he could expect his wife to sleej) for two or three days.

"Freda Stark was side-tracked by that lie," declared the Crown prosecutor. "He should have been frightened on the Saturday morning and terrified on the Saturday night and Sunday morning. On tlie Sunday morning, instead of looking for. the chemist, he was out driving with Miss Brownlee. If, as it has been suggested, lie did not go to the chemist because tlie chemist was not living on the premises, would he not have been on the doorstep on the Monday morning, saying, 'For Heaven's sake, what has happened?' But Mareo never went near the chemist. What was the necessity to lie to Freda Stark? On the Sunday night he had promised Freda Stark lie would get a doctor. On the Monday morning Graham did not go to school. I put it to you, gentlemen, that the thing looked serious.

"Marco himself says that his wife was blue in the face. Mareo sent his son up to meet Miss Brownlee. whom he had arranged to meet, and she came to the house. A half-hearted attempt was made to pet a doctor at 10..'i0, but it was found that the doctor would not be back pntil 1.30. No attempt was niade to get another doctor. All this time the position was frightfully grim. Mrs. Mareo alone was battling with death, and yet no attempt was made by anybody to get a doctor. Miss Brownlee tidied up the house, but 110 attempt was made to tidy Mrs. Mareo or to smooth her pillow. Miss Brownlee left at 1.30, and went down the passageway past the open door of the bedroom where Mrs. Mareo was breathing stentorously. Freda Stark, when she •arrivel, heard that breathing. She was telephoned by little Graham. Dreadful Picture. "The picture she saw in Mrs. Marcos' bedroom when she arrived was somewhat dreadful. Brown saliva was coming from Mrs. Marco's mouth and had caked in her hair. Freda Stark did not worry about the husband's instructions then. She rushed to the telephone and tried three doctors until she got Dr. Drcadon. So upset was she that she was unable to give liim the message, and the lady of the house, Mrs. Knight, had to do so. Freda then went back and washed Mrs. Mareo. In doing so, she turned up the bedclothes and found her nightdress saturated." Counsel described the arrival of Dr. Drcadon and Mrs. Marco's subsequent dispatch to hospital. It was too late. She died at 5.30. What of Marco's conduct after the death? asked Air. Meredith. He referred to statements that accused had made to the police regarding drinking habits and suggestions of perversion. "I feel like a cad saying all this," Marco had commented—but he did say all these things. His actions after the death indicated that Mareo was prepared to continue the relationships and association with the same girl, his connections with whom had caused so much trouble during the life of Thelma Marco. The defence, emphasised the contention that Mrs. Mareo was an asset to Mareo. What had he done to preserve that asset? The jury must consider that. Tongue Now Stilled. "It would not matter if she was a drunkard, if she was a veronal taker, if she was a. lesbian, if she was a prostitute—it would not matter what she was; that justifies 110 man in giving her a lethal dose of veronal," declared Mr. Meredith, after making brief reference to the Australian evidence. "But I think it is only right that I should mention the thing* that have been suggested about her and criticise them, because Mrs. Marco's tongue is now stilled.

"The whole point is this," he said in conclusion: "How did Mrs. Mareo get that dose? If you find that she got it in that cup of milk, then that must mean that Mareo gave it to her. If you have any doubt about it, any reasonable doubt about it, then it is your duty to give Mareo the benefit of the doubt. But if your consideration forces you to the conclusion that the veronal was in the milk, I would ask you to give a verdict in accordance with your finding." The duty of the jury involved the protection of the helpless, counsel said. A poisoning case was the mo.-t insidious form of murder. He asked them not to shirk in their duty. Mr. Meredith concluded his address about 12.20.