DEATH FROM VERONAL

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 138, 12 June 1936, Page 11

DEATH FROM VERONAL

HAWERA CASE CITED DEFENCE OF ERIC MAREO (By Telegraph—Press Association.) AUCKLAND, This Day . Keen interest is being evinced in the defence of Eric Mareo, at his retrial on a charge of murdering his wife, Thelma Clarice Mareo, and the court was crowded this morning. Dr. T. L. Paget, of Wellington, Inspector of Private Hospitals under the Health Department, gave evidence that he had not practised for the past twelve years but had previously practised at Stratford and Palmerston Nor Si for thirty years. A statement he had read during the Mareo case had caused him to offer yesterday to give evidence. The statement was that if a patient lapsed into unconsciousness through an overdose of veronal and recovered, that patient would not relapse and die.

Witness said the statement reminded him of a case that came under his notice twenty to twenty-five years ago of a woman who lived near Hawera and had been a patient of his at Stratford. When he was called in she had been in a fairly deep coma. The history of the case given to him was that she had been given veronal two nights previously. Witness said he thought ten to fifteen grains had been given on medical advice. The first dose was not effective and a second similar dose was administered the next evening.

The cumulative effect of those two doses, said witness, was to cause coma. When witness arrived the woman was in a comatose condition but while he was there she roused, recognised him, and talked and seemed to be recovering. Witness said he could not remember what treatment had been given the woman, but Re thought they had prescribed strychnine for the heart They thought she was recovering, but she relapsed into unconsciousness and although she was under constant medical attention the coma increased and she died from veronal poisoning. COMA CAUSED BY DRUG. "I was satisfied she was in a state of coma because of the veronal," continued Dr. Paget. "She may have had the limit of forty grains in twenty-grain doses, but I cannot remember exactly. I think it was impossible for her to have had a third dose. Her husband was very fond of her and there was no question of criminal intent. The veronal was given on that occasion hypodermically." Replying to Mr. V. R. Meredith (for the Crown), witness said he agreed that drugs of the barbituric acid group acted fairly certainly but he did not agree with the statement that they acted with rapidity. He would recommend that a dose be taken an hour or two hours before the patient desired sleep. The witness said that the patient to whom he referred was between 50 and 55 years of age. Her general health had been good but he had not seen her for some time before the fatal illness and she may have deteriorated physically during the interval. No post-mortem examination was carried out and he was unable to tell the Court of the woman's organic, condition. The patient was in a'condition of coma—with a brief intermission in which she was awake —for about thirty-six hours. Her appearance was dusky and her breathing laboured. Witness roused her, he thought, by speaking to her and probably moving her. He thought it possible that the other doctor might have given her strychnine before he (witness) arrived and this might have assisted her to awake. I Re-examiried, Dr. Paget said he had J found no organic disease of the heart or lungs. To Mr. Justice Callan, witness said that when roused the woman did not become at all lively. She was drowsy and spoke in a drowsy way. MELBOURNE WITNESS. Irene Alice Riano, widow, of Melbourne, questioned by Mr. T. Henry, for the defence, said she met Thelma Trott in 1931 with a variety company. Her daughter and granddaughter joined the company., She saw Miss Trott again in Melbourne in 1933, when her family joined the Ernest Rolls Company. She remembered Thelma telling her that she could not sleep without sleeping powders. One night Thelma had a bottle of veronal which she said was the best thing on the market for sleeplessness. She had once said she would kill herself because life was not worth living. Mrs. Riano said she remembered Thelma saying that If the Ernest Rolls Company did not take her to New Zealand she would kill herself, and they decided to take her. While in Auckland Thelma came to witness's dress-ing-room and asked if witness could give her some powders or something. Mareo was standing" in the doorway, and said, "I wish you could try to convince Thelma to be a homeopath, because something will happen if she doesn't stop taking so many sleeping draughts."

Witness said she remembered Thelma drinking at the Crow's Nest Cabaret in Wellington and being under the influence of liquor.

To Mr. Henry, witness said she was very fond of Miss Trott. There had been a difference between her daughter and Mareo over the latter playing music too fast, but there was no difference with Miss Trott.

Cross-examined by Mr. Meredith, witness said that when she was interviewed by the police at Melbourne she may not have mentioned the fact of Thelma showing her the bottle of veronal. A policeman just came to the door and asked some questions and took notes in a book "He took us by surprise, and I didn't think it was important to tell him everything I knew," said witness. Mr. Meredith: I put it to you that he asked straight out whether Thelma Trott took veronal.

Witness: I do not remember that he was not asking me questions. I was telling him. Mr. Meredith: Do I understand that he stood there mute while you told him about Thelma?

Witness: He asked some questions, a lot particularly about dates. Mr. Meredith: Then you purely voluntarily brought out these things about her drinking. Witness: I did it out of my love of justice. I thought it was my duty. Mr. Meredith: Did not your love of justice and duty impel you to tell the police about that bottle of veronal? Witness: I am not sure. I did not tell them. Mareo had said to her before he got married that Thelma was taking too many drugs, and asked witness to break her of it. Mr. Meredith: If what you say is correct, it follows that Mareo knew his wife took drugs. Witness: Yes, I suppose so. Mr. Meredith: Would you be surprised to know that when his wife was unconscious and a doctor asked him whether his wife ever took -drugs, he said "No." Witness: Perhaps dope and drugs are two different things. Mr. Meredith: Would you be surprised if he said in answer 'to the police that his wife did not take drugs to make her sleep, but took alcohol? Witness: I don't know whether I would be surprised. EXPERIENCE WITH VERONAL. John William Beattie, school teacher, of Hunterville, said that in November, 1931, while at Dunedin, he was suffering from a nervous breakdown and consulted two doctors. They prescribed veronal to induce sleep. He j took veronal for about a year. For a time one tablet was enough, but later he had to take two. He used to take them about half an hour before he went to bed. Occasionally they 'did not have any effect and after tossing for some time he would get up and take two more. At the time he was suffering from a duodenal ■ ulcer. j Witness said he remembered one night taking two tablets with tea about 10 o'clock. He escorted some visitors to the tram and retired about 11.15 o'clock. The veronal had not had effect about midnight and he took two more tablets. He remembered distinctly that eight were left in the box. He went to sleep and did not remember anything until the morning. Then he remembered his wife trying to awaken him but he just sagged and went into a deep sleep. At dinner-time his wife again tried to rouse him, but he sagged again and went to sleep. "About 7.30 that night," said witness, "my wife was able to rouse me with difficulty. I was just like a drunken man. 'We went for a walk and my speech was very thick. When we retired at 10 o'clock I decided to risk one tablet. They were kept in the bathroom. I found the box with the lid on, but there were no tablets and I concluded that I had taken them myself on the Saturday night. Mywife has never taken veronal in her life." Mr. Justice Callan: You conclude, then, that between 10 o'clock on the Saturday night and the Sunday morning you took 60 grains—l 2 tablets? Witness: Yes. The effect wore oil on the Monday. On another occasion, witness said, he found himself in the bathroom. The bottle fell into the washhand basin and roused him. He was satisfied that he was after more veronal but had enough will power to force himself away from the bathroom, where it was kept. On the way back to bed he entered the wrong bedroom. Witness said he had never seen Mareo until today, but he thought this experience with veronal might be valuable and he had therefore written to the Court. The luncheon adjournment was then taken.