Crown's Submissions in Mareo Case Main Address Concluded

Manawatu Times, Volume 61, Issue 72, 26 March 1936, Page 8

Crown's Submissions in Mareo Case

Main Address Concluded

CONDUCT OF ACCUSED DISCUSSED Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, Last Night. In the Appeal Court the Marco case was continued. Mr Johnstone, for the Crown, referred briefly to the point taken by him just boforo the Court adjourned yesterday. Ho had shown that prisoner had, on April 15 and 10, imade inconsistent statements as to why his wife was asleep and as to his failure to send for a doctor. According to Marco, his wife was a drunkard, but the evidence called had shown this was untrue; nor was it likely- that she would take drugs so as to cause her death by misadventure or •suicide. It was true that a member of the household had better means of observing her way of living than outsiders, but it was improbable they had all been misled, save Eleanor Brownlee, and that only on one occasion. The witnesses called by the Crown to speak on this matter were tradesmen, also their neighbour, Mrs Knight, with whom -the Mareos were on terms of intimacy. Mrs Knight said- she had never seen Mrs Mareo under the influence of drink. A theatrical friend of Mrs Mareo who had called at -the house on April II gave evidence that she went about her ordinary household duties and thero was no suggestion of her taking liquor. Ho and other witnesses who had known her during the periods of rehearsal for dhe play, “The Duchess of Dantzig,’ , and while it was running, had not "Seen her under the influence of drink, although accused said that at this time he was buying a bottle of brandy for his wife every day ind she consumed the greater portion if it. Some three weeks before her death Mrs Mareo had gone to Dr. Walton and admitted to him that she had been taking brandy, but that was becauso she was worried on account of i certain charge her husband made

against her. Mr Johnstone, continuing, said that the doctor’s evidence did not disclose that Mrs Mareo showed signs of drinking, nor did the- post-mortem examination performed by Dr. Gilmour bring .to light any evidence of alcoholism. According to him, the appearances were not consistent with her taking a large quantity of liquor every day. Any explanations or sugggestions made by prisoner founded on the constant and continued use of alcohol by his -wife were not proved. On the other hand, the evidence was to tho contrary. Hence it was submitted that the jury were perfectly justified, on the'evidence, in finding that deceased was substantially a normal young woman. No doubt she was highly strung and of a nervous temperament, and probably on occasions took liquor, but his contention was that she emphatically was not the drunken person whom her husband wanted to make her out to be. The jury had also before them Mareo’s evidcnco that he never suspected she took drugs. The Crown had also shown that no drugs or receptacles for drugs were found in ;the possession of deceased or anywhere amongst her belongings after her.death. There was no suggestion in the evidence, except the statement by Betty Mareo, who on one occasion saw Mrs Mareo taking sbmo tablets .which were probably aspirin or Aspros, that deceased took veronal.

Chief Justice’s Query The Chief Justice asked whether it was not common ground that the jury were entitled tb find, and did find, that death was duo to the supply or veronal which prisoner brought into the house. In reply, Mr Johnstone said ho was going "to submit that that was the position. The evidence was clear that she was in good health on Thursday, April 11, and quite well on the following day, except in one respect. It was not clear whether she went to bed early on the Friday night or had been in bed all day, but in any event she was in reasonably good health that night. Betty Mareo was at tho house, and although they passed in tho passage neither spoko to tho other. Mrs Mareo got up and cleared away the tea things which had been used at the time when Betty had gone to Mrs Knight’s place next door to uso the telephone. This was denied by Graham Mareo, in evidence; he had, said she had not cleared tho things. Which of these witnesses was to be believed was the question for tho jury, and they had evidently accepted the first version. Three quarrels which had taken place between Mareo and his wife had been discussed, and mention made of Mareo’s financial position. He had no regular employment and had been unemployed for some time and financially embarrassed. It appeared throughout the evidence that he was addicted to drink and had been taking veronal for insomnia, although he stated ho took it on account of a nervous disorder. Reference to Letter

Referring to a letter written by Mareo to Betty Mareo, marked “Private; not to be opened unless you hear of my death,” Mr Johnstone said that it was iu the nature of a farewell letter which the jury might quite well have concluded was written by a man who might commit suicide, or at least by a man who, in the affairs of his own life, was in a reckless mood. It would appear that the future held little for him and that he was straightening out matters with his daughter, Betty Mareo, for his wife did not matter to him muck.

The Chief Justice: I don’t think that quite correct. Wasn’t sho to take part in a new play of his? Counsel: That was projected, but there was no evidence whatever that she knew about it.

Continuing, Mr Johnstone said that on the other hand there was no letter written by Mrs Mareo. There was nothing to indicate that sho had a tendency for suicide. It was true that she might have had fear of pregnancy, but prisoner himself got her some medicine slie was actually taking. Tliere was therefore no urgency about suicide and thero was no evidence that Mrs Mareo had in her possession any veronal. Considering tho question as to who gave Mrs Marco the poison, Mr Johnstone submitted that there was' evidence to go to the jury that Mareo did. There was evidence that ho gave her probably a hundred grains of veronal, and there was evidenco that three doses of veronal were given to her between the Friday night and Monday. The Chief Justice; When you say there is evidence that doses were given you mean evidence from which such inferences might be drawn? Counsel: Yes.

Furthermore, counsel said, the jury had evidence that at the' crucial time prisoner himself was in possession of substantial quantities of veronal, that he was taking night by night for sleeplessness, and ho knew of its effects. Saturday Keviewed When Mr Johnstone was reviewing the cvent3 of Saturday, April 13, the Chief Justice remarked that there was no evidence of Mareo having given Mrs Mareo any milk or food during the morning. Mr Johnstone replied that there was no sugggestion as to this. However, ho submitted it was necessary to infer that she had a dose subsequent to that given the previous night. The medical evidence, based on witnesses' observations of Mrs Marco's condition on the Saturday morning, showed that her symptoms were such as would be associated with her recovering from a toxic dose taken on the Friday night, or they might have followed on immediately after taking a toxic dose that morning. There could be no doubt she was asleep all Saturday, as she had been under observation by one or more of the witnesses except for a period of one and a-half to two hours during the morning. She was in a heavy sleep both before and after that period. Either she had veronal in the room, or to get it she had to get up and go to the wash-house and find it, where it lay hidden in a suitcase. Mareo occupied the same room on the Friday night, sleeping in a chair. He was using veronal himself, and this showed an opportunity to give her veronal on the Saturday morning. This would point to an opportunity only if it stood alone, but as had been submitted to the jury, the events of the Friday night and Saturday had to be taken into consideration as well. The Chief Justice: Supposing Mrs Mareo went into the wash-house on the Friday night or earlier and had taken possession of those things—l am just putting that forward as an alternative hypothesis —that would completely alter tho position, would it not? Mr Johnstone: That is so. The Chief Justice added that if Mrs Mareo had done that there was no need for her to go to the wash-house on the Saturday morning. She would not know how long Marco had been in the bedroom and she might even have had time to go to the wash-house on the Saturday morning. Mr Johnstone stated that the sequence of events was such as to mili tatc against her going out and obtaining veronal. Her condition that night

was quito different from that in tho morning. If tho evidence of Freda Stark was to be believed —and the jury inclined to accept her story in all the essential matters of her evidenco as correct —the differences in the quantity of milk that was contained in the cup before and after Mrs Mareo had consumed part of it were explainable on the ground that their statements would depend on the time they handled the cup. Mr Johnstone continued that Mrs Mareo was unconscious on the Saturday except for a period of two hours, after which she became unconscious again and relapsed into a deep coma, dying on the Monday evening. During the two hours when she was awake and conscious it was proved she was given four things—water, sal. volatile, bread or coffee and hot milk—and it was proved veronal was only slightly soluble in water and sal volatile. Preparation of Milk It was submitted tho jury were entitled to consider that veronal was not given in the coffee or bread, but on the other hand tho jury were entitled j to think veronal was ablo to be dis-1 solved in milk. There was evidence that at that stago Mrs Mareo could not have taken the milk herself, and she could not have taken veronal herself. Mr Justice Ostler: After sho had woken up and called Freda Stark, was sho left alone in the room at any time whilst she was awake? Counsel: No; the milk was prepared in the kitchen by prisoner and it was brought into the room by him. He was taking veronal at the time. Two days before he bought 20 tablets of vcronaL The evidence was that at the time he was taking veronal himself, because when Freda Stark asked him to help her with Mrs Mareo, he could not wake up. Mareo had the means and the opportunity to add veronal to the milk, and it was submitted that, as the physical results on Mrs Mareo became manifest after she had taken the milk, as was stated in the evidence, then the jury was justified in taking the view it was administered in .that way by Mareo. The Crown’s submission was, therefore, that thero was evidence from which it could properly be inferred that veronal was contained in the milk given to Mrs Mareo at the request of Mareo on the Saturday night, and the jury was entitled to infer that Mareo gave all the doses, whenever given, necessary to produce her death. An examination of the analyst’s evidence showed that 5.35 grains of veronal had been recovered from 101 ounces of body organs; also 2.S grains front another source. This showed that Mrs Mareo must have had more than a therapeutic dose. Indeed, the medical cases showed that, when a fatal dose had been administered, very little veronal was recovered. At the conclusion of his address Mr Johnstone submitted that there was ample evidence for the jury to find that Mrs Mareo received a lethal dose. Junior Counsel’s Address Mr V. N. Hubble then commenced an address on the conduct of accused, with particular reference to the weekend from the Friday to Monday', and his statements after his wife’s death to the detectives. The first thing that emerged was that Mrs Mareo, speaking broadly, was unconscious from the Friday night to Monday morning. The jury might reasonably, almost inevitably, ask the question: If her condition was such as described, why did ho not get a doctor? He should have called one at any rate after the Saturday morning and certainly after the Saturday night. As there wms no satisfactory explanation, the jury could infer he did not want her to get well. In other words, ho desired her death. In actual fact his attention was six times called to the necessity for a doctor —three , times ,on the Saturday and three times on the Sunday'. The failure to call a doctor was given more point by the events on Monday mornl- - when, according to his own statement, he was alarmed. However, a doctor was not actually obtained until Freda Stark came ou,t to the house in the afternoon and went to a neighbour to phone for one. The general answer to this put forward was that Mareo had given his wife medicine for a certain purpose, and he felt he had committed an offence in this. This was for the jury to- consider, and apparently they had rejected this contention on his behalf. At this stage the Court adjourned,