CROWN ADDRESS.

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

CROWN ADDRESS.

EVIDENCE FOR THE DEFENCE. MR. MEREDITH CRITICISES. In the 25 minutes before the Court rose Mr. McretHth attacked the defence evidence. Ho contended that the evidence that had been called to aid in tho suggestion that Mrs. Mareo was a drunkard and that she took drugs, and tho evidence as to the automatic taking of veronal, bad no bearing, or practically none, on the case. The whole case now depended on the careful consideration of the incidents from the Friday night to the Monday afternoon when Thelma Mareo died. It was surprising, said Mr. Meredith, that it was necessary to bring people from Australia to prove Mrs. Marco's drinking habits. There should have been plenty of people in New Zealand and in Auckland who knew her intimately. He criticised the evidence of the Rianos, who had not mentioned veronal to the police when making statements, though they had come to New Zetland to give evidence on this very point. As to the witness Whitington, this man had said he saw Thelma Trott take two tablets and then go out to supper and he expected her to go to a dance afterward with him. The inference was that she went back to her room to sleep, after the drug she had taken. Counsel suspected then, he said, that there was some reason why Thelma Trott was not prepared to go out to the dance with him. "That was why I asked him was he not a married man living apart from his wife," added Mr. Meredith. He turned next to Dr. Giesen, who, he said, had put up the most amazing propositions. In conclusion, Mr. Meredith said he would go into matters of evidence in a little more detail this morning.