MAREO RE-TRIAL

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 June 1936, Page 7

MAREO RE-TRIAL

ADDRESS TO JURY DEFENCE CLAIMS [PEB PRESS ASSOCIATION.] AUCKLAND, June 16.

Counsel for the defence in the Mareo re-trial, Mr O’Leary, K.C., addressed the jury to-day. He 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 he 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. The records showed that deaths from veronal in the case of adults arose, in the main, from misadventure and suicide. 5V 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 had 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. The 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 a store of veronal, and that was what killed her.

Mr O’Leary dealt next with the relations between Mareo and Eleanor Brownlee. He spoke of the quarrel which took place after the Dixieland party, when Miss Brownlee 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, said counsel, 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 Mareo’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 Mareo’s place, but she was not an actress.

“To procure veronal Mareo went to chemists who knew him,” said Mr O’Leary. “He told detectives he was taking veronal, and told others he was taking it. Are thosd the actions of 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 the possesion 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 the medicine, because he thought he had committed an offence. I ask you to contrast his actions over the corrective medicine, and his action regarding veronal. On the one hand, he was candid, truthful and straight-forward; and, on the other, he was not.”

MR MEREDITH’S ADDRESS. Mr Meredith, in addressing the jury, attacked the defence evidence. "I 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 called for the defence,” said Mr Meredith, “put up a most amazing'.proposition. He was a man who, admittedly, studied the case 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 one in contradiction of several reputable men who gave their evidence with certainty, and who were supported by textbooks. Surely, out of 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. TO-DAY’S PROCEEDINGS. POINTS AGAINST MAREO. AUCKLAND, June 17. Lengthy queues of men and women awaited the opening of the doors, when the Mareo re-trial entered what is expected to be the last day. Mr Meredith, resuming, said that the case was clearly one of veronal poisoning. If Mrs Mareo took it herself, it was either suicide or misadventure. If, on the other hand, it was administered intentionally by someone else, then the act involved that person in the crime of murder. The Mareos had been married only eighteen months, and the bride had £5OO, of which the husband had' dissipated £4OO. It was idle to say that it was a happy marriage. Three bitter quarrels were known of. There was the occasion when Mareo came home from Dixieland, drunk. After indulgence in liquor, restraint was lifted, and' the real state of mind indicated. Mareo abused his wife that night, and she replied that she would go out into the street, if he would give her back her £5OO. Then there was the mental attitude of accused on the night he was driven home, in a drunken condition, by Eleanor Brownlee. It was clear that Miss Brownlee came that night with the intention of stop-( ping, for she was equipped with her pyjamas. She must have come at Mareo’s invitation. Later, Mareo, in a semi-dressed condition, had ordered his wife out, and said, “Eleanor will look after me.” Then there was Mareo’s accusation against his wife, of perversion. By this time, he had no social relations with his wife, who had been entirely supplanted by Miss Brownlee. Mr Meredith referred to

Mrs Mareo’s brightness with Freda Stark on the. Friday night, and her request to come early next day. That was a picture of Mrs Mareo, but what of Mareo? Counsel then outlined the incident of the writing and the handing of a morbid letter to Betty, concerning her parentage. Mr Meredith lengthily described the incidents of the fatal week-end, and, touching on the incident of giving milk, said Dr. Giesen agreed that Mareo’s subsequent sleepiness, together with the fact that he could not be roused, was consistent with Mareo having had a dose of veronal, before the time Mrs Mareo was taken to the lavatory. Dr. Giesen agreed also that the condition of Mrs Mareo was consistent with a dose of veronal being taken just before she went to the lavatory.

“Now, gentlemen,” said Mr Meredith, “you get this startling position. Just before the milk was prepared, they were apparently both free from the influence of veronal, so you have it that, at the same time, two different people were both showing signs of veronal. Mrs Mareo got it at that time, she got it only one way. It definitely must have been in the milk. Who had veronal in his possession at that time? Mareo. Who was out in the kitchen, preparing the milk? Mareo. Then, taking the evidence of Mareo going under the influence, what possible inference can you draw, but that when Mareo prepared the milk, he put veronal in it, took some himself, and gave his wife a fatal dose?” Mr. Meredith concluded at 12.20 p.m.

“We all are human,” said His Honor commencing his summing up to the jury, “and whatever efforts we make, we are likely to err in handling the great amount of material in this case, if I should mis-state anything, it is your right and duty to help to correct me.”

His Honor said it was for the prosecution to satisfy them beyond doubt that the charge had been proved. The jury won.a approach the matter with the same earnestness and degree of care as though their own lives depended on the right answer. The whole case nad to be tried to the jury’s on the evidence at this trial, as though Mareo never had been tried before. The Judge had not finished when the luncheon interval was taken.