POISON CHARGES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21498, 23 May 1933, Page 12

POISON CHARGES

ILLNESS OF CHILD THIRD TRIAL OF NURSE CROWN'S CASE OPENED EVIDENCE OF DOCTORS / ; The third trial of Elspeth Kerr, a Jiurse, aged 46, :on three charges of administering poison, was commenced before Mr. Justice Herdman and a jury in the Supreme Court yesterday. The hearing is expected to last for five days. .When the case was first heard it occupied the Court for eight days and ended on March 7 in tho jury failing to agree. A second trial, which lasted for five days and closed on March 81, ended in another disagreement. Tho charges against Nurse Kerr aro that on April S and 10, 1932, at Devonporfc, and on April 16, 1932, at the Auckland Hospital, sho administered tho poison veronal to her eight-year-old foster-daughter, Dorothy Cameron (known as Betty Kerr), with intent to injure her, and so as to cause her life to be endangered. Tho Crown Prosecutor, Mr. Meredith, and Mr. McCarthy aro conducting tho prosecution and Mr. Singer and Mr. Meek appear for the defence. Police-Inspector J. Cummings, of Wellington, is present watching the case. Two out of three jurymen who desired to be excused were exempted. Twenty-nine names woro called before the full panel was secured, 12 being stood aside by the Crown and five challenged by the defence.

Crown Prosecutor's Opening Mi*. Meredith began his address to the jury by explaining tho nature and characteristics of veronal and its compounds. Ho pointed out that they had never been officially listed as poisons in New Zealand. Nurse Kerr was an experienced nurse, who had conducted her own nursing home for 10 years. The Crown Prosecutor went on to detail the illnesses from which the child Betty Kerr had suffered in April of last year at her home in Devonport and in tho Auckland Hospital. Mr. Meredith, traced the circumstances leading to tho exhumation of the body of Nurse Kerr's husband, Charles Kerr, who died on January 10, 1932. From his body 17f grains of veronal were recovered by the _ Government analysts, and tho medical evidence would be that he died from veronal poisoning after a very large dose. On October IS tho body of a patient of Nurse Kerr's, Mrs. C. F. Day, was exhumed 13 months after burial, and from it grains of veronal, had been recovered. Again the medical opinion was that she must have died from an overdose of veronal. There were two insurance policies on Mr. Kerr's life, one of £Bl and bonuses and the other of; £6l and bonuses. It was difficult to point to a motive which, to the ordinary person, would supply a reason for the acts alleged against Nurse Kerr, but it- was not necessary for the establishment of any case to prove motive. The evidence would clearly establish that Betty Kerr was poisoned with veronal, and tho only question for the jury would be: Who gave her tho veronal? Nurso Kerr was the only person who could have given it to her. Evidence o! .Doctor The first witness was Dr. J. G. Stewart, of Takapuna, who said he had found the child Betty Kerr seriously ill on April 8, 1932. After an examination in consultation with Dr. Holdgate they were still uncertain as to the diagnosis. Two days later the child's condition was desperately serious, and she was deeply unconscious. Nurse Kerr could not suggest any likely cause whatever. Dr. Holdgate and he insisted on having the child sent to hospital. Witness was then of opinion that there was very little chance of the child's recovery. If two a:#d a-half grains of veronal were taken from the child next morning that would enable doctors to diagnose a condition of veronal poisoning. A few days prior, to Mr. Kerr's death in January, 1932, witness considered he was in an excellent state of health. Some sharp passages occurred during the cross-examination of the witness by Mr. Singer, who frequently referred to evidence given by tho witness at previous trials. Counsel and Witness "I-take it that you are deliberately misrepresenting mo," said Dr. StewArt.

"I am not doing that," said Mr. Singer. Witness: You are doing so. Mr. Singer: I will not take that from you. ' Witness: You will take it from me. /Mr. Singer: I say that you are deliberately misrepresenting when you will not admit what you said in evidence a month ago. Witness said one unsatisfactory feature of the nursing of the child by Nurse Kerr was that no temperatures had been taken. Ho had never attended Mr. Kerr as a medical man. Further similar evidence concerning the illness of the child was givon by Dr. K. H. Holdgate. Ho said that •when Nurse Kerr asked him for something to ease the child's pain he gave her a veramon tablet, containing two grains of veronal, with instructions to give half at night and half in the . morning if necessary. On April 10 ho ' did not think the child would live. She could not bo roused by any stimulus ■whatever. Later she made a remarkablo recovery in hospital. If analysis showed that two and a-half grains of veronal had been found in the child on April 31, she must obviously havo been suffering from veronal poisoning the previous day. Mr. Singer: When Nurse Kerr asked you for something to soothe the child's pain you prescribed veramon? Witness: Yes, 1 fell into tho trap. Mr. Singer: I do nob think that is proper. 1 thiuk it is vei-y unseemly. lYou are not prosecuting. The hearing will be continued this morning.