REMARKABLE TRIAL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21503, 29 May 1933, Page 11

REMARKABLE TRIAL

SOME UNIQUE FEATURES PROLONGED PROCEEDINGS PROBABLE COST OF £IOOO The trial of Nurse Elspoth Kerr, who wns sentenced on Saturday morning, was a remarkable one in many respects, and in some it was probably unique. Although the drug veronal has been w idolv used for nearly 30 years, it was frequently stated during the proceedings that this was the first case on record of anyone being charged with using it "with criminal intent. Another distinctive feature of tho case was the introduction of evidence regarding two previous deaths by the invoking of a section of the Evidence Act which had not been used since it was passed 40 years ago.

The proceedings were unusually prolonged and tho involved and technical nature of much of tho evidence required laborious study and preparatory work on the part both of the police and tho prosecution a nil of tho defence. Nurse Kerr was arrested on July 5 of last year on charges of administering poison to her eight-year-old foster-child, and although bail of £SOO was granted in October, that sum coidd not be found, and she remained in custody continuously. The first trial in the Suprc me Court early in March ocoupied eight days and ended in the jury disagreeing, and a second trial at the end of the same month, lasting five days, had tho same inconclusive result. The third and final trial last wepk. which ended in a verdict of guilty, also occupied five days, so that altogether the details were listened to by juries for 18 days, including two evening sessions. The typed evidence, including depositions in the Police Court, has filled over 430 pages of foolscap, each containing an average of more than 400 words. Thirtynine witnesses were called and several of them recalled for the Crown at each trial, but no evidence was tendered for the defence.

Owing to various factors, the cost of the three Supreme Court trials is very difficult to estimate with any degree of accuracy. Apart from officials in the Public Service each witness is entitled to a fee for every day on which his or her presence was required, and the expert professional witnesses receive special fees. The cost of jurymen's fees and maintenance at a city hotel would be in the neighbourhood of £3OO and it is probable the total costs would fall not far short of £IOOO.