FINAL ADDRESSES

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 223, 17 June 1936, Page 13

FINAL ADDRESSES

Counsel For Defence and Prosecution

RETRIAL OF MAREO Cross-examination of Medical Witness By Telegraph.—Press Association. Auckland, June 16. The Supreme Court was crowded today when the final evidence for the defence in the Mareo murder trial was heard. After cross-examination of the last witness for the defence by the Crown prosecutor and the hearing of another witness for the Crown, counsel proceeded to address the jury. Mr. Meredith, Crown prosecutor, who followed Mr. O’Leary, had not finished his address when the court adjourned. Mr. Justice Callan is presiding. The Crown case is being conducted by Mr. V. R. Meredith and Mr. F. McCarthy, while the defence is again being conducted by Mr. 11. F. O’Leary, K.C. (Wellington!, and Messrs. Trevor Henry and K. C. Ackins. “You have contradicted al! the evidence* of the medical men. Can you quote any literature to support your view?” asked Mr. Meredith, in his cross-examination of Dr. E. W. Giesen, of Wellington. The .witness: I don't know if I can. Mr. Meredith: You remember that Mrs. Marco's weight, was given by Freda Stark as just iffider eight stone?

The witness: Yes. Mr, Meredith : Does it not follow that there must have been many times six grains of veronal in the whole of the body at death? The witness: AIF we know as to the amount of veronal at death is the amount extracted, and we know there must have been more. As to how much more nobody can make any estimate.

Mr. Meredith: I put it to you that there must have been many times more.

The witness: 1 cannot concede that. Mr. Meredith: Is there any other medical man who can support you in your propositions? The witness: I don't know of any. Re-examined by Mr. O'Leary, Dr. Giesen said that he had been in active practice at Wellington for thirty years. Other medical men still consulted him. For twelve years he was examiner for the University of New Zealand —for two years on toxicology and medical jurisprudence. After several technical questions bad been asked by the foreman of the jury Dr. Giesen left the box. Another Crown Witness. The Crown called George Seymour Denn Sheard, Mount Eden, who in 1928 was a member of the Humphrey Musical Comedy Company. The witness said that in Adelaide he was the tenor of the show and Thelma Trott, afterward Mrs. Mareo, was the soprano. They sang duets. He saw’ her every day and night for five weeks and she stayed with his people for three or four weeks. “I have no knowledge of her ever taking veronal in that period,” said the witness'. ‘‘She was not dopy and depressed; on the contrary, brightness was one of the greatest of her assets. I knew her on tour in Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand for about two years and. a half, and I never saw any signs of the dopiness which has been referred to. Miss Trott not only did her ordinary show work, but also acted as Humphrey Bishop’s secretary.’ Cross-examined by Mr. O’Leary the witness said ho realised that Mrs. Mareo would Ik? an asset to Marco. Re-examined by Mr. Meredith he said that in view of Miss Trott’s experience with Humphrey Bishop slit would be an asset as secretary. Mr. O’Leary ’s Address. Addressing the jury\ Mr. O’Leary asked them to consider what would be the end of the trial for the man in the dock charged with murder, the penalty of which they knew. Would lie be free to' return to his children and his friends or would he return to the cell where he had been incarcerated? Veronal, was not a murderer’s weapon, counsel went on. Records showed that deaths from veronal in the case of adults rose in the main from misadventure and suicide. M hat might kill one person might have little or no effect on another. A person setting out to murder by veronal could have no idea as to how much to give. The Crown selected the possibility that Mareo had given veronal to Mrs. Mareo. He did it, the Crown said, at a time when Mr. and Mrs. Mareo were said to be happy and when Freda Stark was present. lhe defence contended that the most likely alternative was that Mrs. Mareo by accident or design took veronal herself It was most likely and most consistent that she had some innocently on the Friday night; that on the Saturday she got up after the manner of persons under the influence of veronal, or even without getting up, and took the store of veronal, and that was what killed her.

Mr. O’Leary dealt next with the relations between Marco and Eleanor Brownlee. He spoke of the quarrel which took place after a Dixieland party, when Miss Brownless brought Mareo home drunk. That in itself was an indication that there was nothing improper between them. A man did not bring home his mistress into the bosom of his family. When he was allegedly murdering this woman, Mareo was drafting a letter to J. C. Williamson, Limited, asking them to take over ‘•The Duchess of Dantzig,” the play in which his wife played the leading part. Thelma Mareo was essential to Marco’s future projects, and yet the jury was asked to believe that he had murdered her. It might be suggested that Miss Brownlee was to take Mrs. Marco's place, but she was not an actress. Pirrchase of Veronal. "To procure veronal Mareo went to chemists who knew him,” said Mr. O’Leary. ‘‘He told the detectives he was taking veronal and told others be was taking it. 'Are those the actions ♦f a guilty man? Would he not have got rid of the stuff had he been guilty! All Mareo’s actions in regard to veronal were frank, and were certainly not those of a guilty man. As soon as his wife died he candidly admitted possession of veronal. He never hesitated. - He thought that his wife’s condition was due to medicine he had given her, and he was not candid about that medicine because he thought be bad committed an offence. I ask you to contrast his actions over the corrective medicine and his action regarding the yeronah On the one hand he was can-

did, truthful, and straightforward, and on the other he was not. Defence Evidence Attacked. Mr. Meredith, in addressing the jury, attacked the defence’s evidence. ‘T am going to put it to you,” said Mr. Meredith, ‘‘that that evidence has no bearing or practically none on this case. The whole case now depends on careful consideration of the incidents from the Friday night to the Monday afternoon when Thelma Mareo died.” It was surprising that it was necessary to bring people from Australia to prove Mrs. Mareo’s drinking habits. There should have been plenty of people in New Zealand and in Auckland who knew her intimately. People who knew her in Australia and performed with her there said they knew nothing of these accusations. Dr. Giesen, who was caped for the defence, put up the most amazing proposition. He was a man who admittedly studied the ca&a from the outset and advised the defence. He advised the defence that everyone was wrong, but he did not come to the last trial and give evidence, and it was only now that he got into the firing-line. Dr. Giesen’s theory was a contradiction of several reputable men who gave their evidence with certainty and who were supported by textbooks. .Surely out of the thousands of medical men in New Zealand there must have been some who would have come forward in the interests of justice to support Dr. Giesen. Mr. Meredith had not finished when the court adjourned.