Man accused of giving wife pills

Press, 28 November 1980, Page 4

Man accused of giving wife pills

A child became suspicious when she saw a man dropping his own blood-pressure pips into a cup of coffee meant for his wife, the District Court heard at Ashburton yesterday. In a depositions hearing, Mr R. H. Beß and Mrs F, E. Hulme, Justices of the Peace, found that John Arthur Read, a fanner «nd horse trainer, aged 59, who faced a charge of trying to administer a noxious substance, had a case to answer.

He was committed to the High Court at Timaru, for trial on March 2. 1981, and allowed bai l of $5OO with a simil a r surety. Mr T. NGresson prosecuted; defence counsel was Mr N. G. Hampton.

The child to'd the Court she had been living in Read’s house at the time of the alleged offence. At 8 a.m. on October 8 she had entered the kitchen of the house and saw Read preparing a cup of coffee for himself and his wife, Maria Renate Read. She noticed that he poured mi'k in one of the cups of coffee and then picked up a bottle of pills which she knew he took for a heart comp !a int. He took one of the pil*s. himself and then poured another five into his hand. Trying to cover up this actions, he dropped the pills into the cup of coffee with mi*k and took it into the bedroom to his wife-

The girl followed and made signals to the woman not to drink the coffee. Read «t this time, was in bed reading a newspaper. The girl walked up to the woman and greeted her and, at the same time, whispered to her not to drink the coffee. ~

After pretending to drink some of the coffee, the woman told the girl to take both that cup a nd another empty one by the bed back to the kitchen.

The girl did so and tipped the full CU p o f coffee carefully out. Because “she was being nosey”, she looked in the bottom of the cup and Saw five small orange pi>ls. She took the pills back Into the woman, who was very shocked. The girl said she did not like Read as he had beaten her and a boy who was staying at his home several times for no reason.

Richard John Alan Searle, a chemist; of AHenton, Ashburton, said he dispensed jthe drug, .which -was hydralazine for. b ] dod pressure, to Re a d who* had it on prescription.

Barbara Maty Thomson, a scientist in the D.S.I.R- Chenieal Div i s,i on in Christchurch,; said ' that on

October 9, 1980, she received a coffee mug from Mrs Read. She examined the contents and found them to be hydr s lazine remnants. Mrs Read told the Court she met Read in London in 1978. After two weeks the coup’e were engaged. They travelled to Vienna to meet her parents and her children and then she returned to London, and Read to New Zealand.

For » year Read corresponded with her and in November, 1978, sent tickets for her children to go round the world. She next saw Read in August, 1979, when he came to Vienna during a time when she was very ill.

On September 28 that year she and Read a nd her two children arrived in New Zealand. On October 1 they were married in AucklandAfter the marriage they travelled by car to Palmerston North and then by plane to Christchurch. Between Wellington and Christchurch Read disclosed to' his wife that he had many private debts and a $40,000 mortgage on his home.

At Christchurch Airport she and Read were met by two of his landgiris. One of them kept teHing him that he had not signed all the cheques he had given her and she had been unable to pay bills that h a d come up. Mrs Read said that she was stunned. She had not been prepared for anything like that; all she had known w a s that his home was mortgaged. ■ When the couple arrived at the home she discovered that there were many unpaid debts and that her husband’s bank account w a s overdrawn. Read asked her to pay bills for him. He said that if she did not lend him the money he would have to seU the house or his horses. Mrs Re a d said she lent her husband money in three lots. The first on October 9, 1979, was $16,000. The second, on November 19. was $5OOO- Later he asked her for a further $5OOO but she was sick of the whole thing by this time and refused. She said she then lent him only $3500. Read had promised to pay the money back? by November 1, 1980, butxhe did not. An 1.0. U. he gave her amounted only to $20,000.

Mrs Read said her husband changed tremendously after they were married. He had been charming and nice before but after the marriage did not seem to . care.

He was drunk every day and spent the time between 3 p.m. and 10 p.m. at the local tavern. He was a compulsive liar. ' Mrs Read said that in June, 1980, she had bought a

house in Ashburton with her own money. The house was intended for her parents, who had expressed a wish to come to New Zealand. Read would not allow them in his house. At that time she had to begin working as a beautician at home as Read had very little money and was unable to maintain her and the children. She did not tell Read about buying the house because she did not want him to prevent her from buying it and she did not want him to get his hands on any more of her money. On October 8, Read awoke about 7.30 a.m. and asked if she would like a cup of coffee. She said “yes" and he went into the kitchen. She heard him talking to the girl. He returned with the coffee and behind him was the girl who began making signs that Mrs Read should not drink the coffee. Mrs Read said that she did not at first understand what the girl meant. But the girl then whispered to her not to drink the coffee. Mrs Read took the coffee and tasted it but it did not taste unusual. However, when Read told her three times to drink the coffee she became suspicious. She put the cup down and told the girl to take that cup and another empty one into the kitchen. When the girl returned with the empty cup Read was in the dressing room adjoining the bedroom. The girl showed her the cup and she saw four to five partly dissolved pills in the bottom. She took, the coffee cup and one of her husband’s blood pressure pills to her solicitor. He advised her to go to the police, which she did. Answering a question by Mr Hampton, Mrs Read denied that she had married Read because she had thought he was a wealthy man and had begun to be discontented only after discovering Read’s true financial position. She said she was a wealthy woman; she had married him in complete trust. Detective Sergeant R. A. McCrory, a detective in the Ashburton C. 1.8., gave evidence of a statement he had taken from Read on October 13- . . • Read had said he had in no way out pills in his wife’s coffee that morning. He had no idea why the girl would say such a thing unless someone had put her up to it. He had said that until October 8 he had lived a normal family life with his wife and her two children. I He had borrowed $20,000 only from his wife and was intending to sell one of his horses to pay her back.