Man ‘drank poisoned water’

Press, 7 December 1988, Page 33

Man ‘drank poisoned water’

PA Wellington A Porirua man, whose wife is accused of trying to poison him, said he took some of the poisoned water and then saw his wife running down the road in her nightdress. Amataga Sooialo was giving evidence on the first day of his wife’s trial in the High Court at Wellington. Maria Nive Sooialo, aged 38, a cleaner, has pleaded not guilty to attempting to murder her husband on March 11. Mr Sooialo said that one day in November last year his wife went out and did not come back. Some time after Christmas she came back and said she was living with a man called Felise. On March 6, Felise’s parents and another man brought her back to Mr

Sooialo and she asked for his forgiveness. Mr Sooialo said that the next day his wife borrowed the car and came back with love bites on her neck. The day after, she arrived home at 9 p.m. and said she had smashed the car. The following day when she arrived home, she admitted that Felise was driving when the car was smashed — he had been driving in the Western Samoan way, on the righthand side of the road. Mr Sooialo said the next day he told her to leave. He said he kept a bottle of water beside the bed to drink if he was thirsty during the night. That night he woke to see his wife beside the bed holding the bottle. She said she was looking for a smoke, Mr Sooialo

said. A few minutes later, he started to drink the water and it tasted different. He said he did not swallow any of it, but went to the bathroom and tried to vomit and clean his mouth out. His wife was not in the house any more and he saw her running along the road wearing a nightdress. It was about 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. Sooialo returned about 8.30 and said she wanted to kill him, Mr Sooialo said. A D.S.I.R. scientist, Eric Cairns, said the police gave him a container of a release agent to examine. The substance was a solvent used to release plastic moulds from a casting. Mr Cairns said it was a clear liquid very similar to a dry-cleaning

fluid. The available information about how much was required to be a lethal dose to a human was conflicting. It was at least 35g — about two tablespoons — but might be several times that. The substance would cause a burning sensation to mouth, eyes and throat. It would depress the heart and respiratory response. In cross-examination, Mr Cairns said that a smaller bottle he was given to examine would have held about 13 or 14g and it was half full when he got it. He agreed that it would be very unlikely that a conscious person would drink very much. The trial, which is continuing, is before Mr Justice Ongley and a jury of six women and six men.