WOMAN ON TWO MURDER CHARGES

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30678, 18 February 1965, Page 3

WOMAN ON TWO MURDER CHARGES

(New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, February 17. The hearing of depositions concerning two charges of murder against Margaret Murray Doull, aged 52, a manageress, of Takanini, began in the Auckland Magistrate’s Court today.

Doull is charged with murdering her husband, Alexander George Doull, at Whangarei on January 30,1962, and her sister, Janet Bell Greenhorn, at Takanini on August 22 last year.

The hearing, before Mr L. G. H. Sinclair, S.M., is expected to last at least three days, about 52 witnesses will be called.

Mr G. D. Speight is appearing for the Crown. Accused is represented by Mr P. A. Williams.

The names of two early women witnesses were suppressed by the Magistrate soon after the hearing began. Mr Speight sought an order under section 46 of the Criminal Justice Act in these people’s “own interests.” Mr Williams consented. , A young woman described seeing the late Mr Doull during the illness he had before his death. She said she thought Mr Doull had suffered from influenza. He had had difficulty in getting about and did not seem to be able to walk long distances. For some years he had had trouble with his legs, suffering from ulcers and varicose veins. But he had worked on his farm and at one stage had a carpentry job.

The woman said she remembered him visiting a Dr. Simmons in Whangarei some time before his death. She remembered he had been confined to his bed for some time before death. “Very Sick” She said she thought when she saw him in his room that he was “very sick.” She thought he showed signs of pain. The accused, Mrs Doull, had said shs was having difficulty in keeping her husband on the bed, and she had said she thought she might have to tie him down because he was moving around so much. The woman said she rer.embered Mr Doull was delirious and had bad? diarhoea. ■ She said she thought tjie accused said she had .telephoned the doctor and’ that he was out, or that she had said she could not get hold of the doctor. The woman said, she did not think the doctor was calling in Mr Doull’s last few days. Mrs Doull had said once that her husband’s delirium was due to his mental condition. Witness said Mrs Doull went to Australia in 1958 or 1959 and returned to New Zealand about 18 months ago. Mrs Doull took a place at Beach road, Takanini. A former patient in Oakley Hospital and sister of the accused, Mrs Janet Bell Greenhorn, after a time went

to live with Mrs Doull at Takanini. Witness said she called on the pair at Takanini about six times in 1964. Mrs Greenhorn was there most times. Physically, she appeared quite well.

The young woman said accused telephoned her two or three weeks before Mrs Greenhorn died and said Mrs Greenhorn had influenza. To Mr Williams, witness said she thought Mrs Doull was kind to her husband. Mr Williams: There were moments of obvious affection between the couple? Witness: I think so. Tied To Bed X A second woman witness, whose name was also suppressed, said she remembered seeing Mr Doull a day or .two days before his death. He was lying tied to his bed and Mrs Doull said this had been done to stop him falling off and hurting himself. Witness said she could not remember Mrs Doull saying what was wrong with her husband. He was motionless. The witness said there might have been a doctor in those last couple of days but she did not remember seeing one.

Witness said Mrs Doull had not told her what had been the cause of her husband’s death.

About a week or fortnight before Mrs Greenhorn’s death, Mrs' Doull had visited the witness and said Mrs Greenhorn had been in bed all week.

She (Mrs Greenhorn) was not interested in her food and had gone off food. Witness said she thought accused had told her there had been a doctor.

. “Not Close” s There was a cordial relationship between Mrs Doull and Mrs Greenhorn, said witness, but they were not very close.

Mrs. Doull told her, said witness, that Mrs Greenhorn had arrived out at her flat one day. She (Mrs Doull) was working and she did not feel her sister should be left alone by herself. Mrs Doull had said Mrs Greenhorn should either go and live with someone else or go back to a home, and she said she had tried, to get her back into Oakley Hospital and had tried also to get her admitted to Kingseat Hospital. Basil Donald Alexander, formerly a Poriti fanner, said he did not get on particularly well with Doull. “I would say he was a bit

unbalanced ... not a reliable man.” When he heard Doull was sick he went with his wife to visit him. Doull was sitting up in bed reading. He gave a grunt and nodded goodday. “It was not what you would call a welcome,” said Mr Alexander.

He went on that Mrs Doull had said: “Isn’t Alex silly? He thinks I’m trying to poison him.” “We laughed it off, took it as a bit of a joke.”

Arthur Gordon Norton, a former Wairua bridge farmer, described Doull as a “poor farmer." Mrs Doull was an excellent worker “I’m Free” After Doull’s death he was present when someone expressed sympathy to Mrs Doull and she had said something to the effect, “I’m free, I can kick my heels up.” They took it as a nervous expression that anyone might make.

Frank Joseph Ercag, an electrical lines foreman, said through a dairy entry he could say he saw Mrs Doull on January 11, 1952, and asked to see her husband. She replied that would be no use. He would not know the witness “because he was mad.”

Louis Hamilton Percy Simmons, medical practitioner, of Whangarei, said Doull had been his patient from 1946 until his death in 1952. Apart from his ulcerated leg Doull’s health was good. Witness said he last saw Doull alive on January 22, about a week before he died. Doull was suffering from an attack of influenza and witness certified this as the cause of death. > Acutely 11l Wilton Ernest Henley, Medical Superintendent-in-Chief to the Auckland Hospital Board, said Doull was acutely ill when he came to see him. Doull, whose records showed a loss of about a stone in weight in a year, was immediately transferred to Middlemore Hospital. Witness said Doull complained of pain in the legs when walking and cramp. Doull was too ill for his legs to be examined.

David Robert Lomas, a seedsman, of Onerahi, produced a record book showing the sale of poisonous substances from his shop since 1939. There were four entries showing the sale of a poison to a person signing the book as “M. M. Doull” in February and March, 1946, November, 1950, and January, 1955. The hearing will be continued tomorrow.