MAREO TRIAL CLOSING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22353, 26 February 1936, Page 15

MAREO TRIAL CLOSING

CROWN CASE ENDS COUNSEL'S ADDRESSES " NO DEFENCE WITNESSES final appeals to jury - REVIEW OF THE EVIDENCE The final stages of the trial of Eric ilareo, musician, aged 44, who is charged with the -murder of his wife, Thelnia Clarice Marco, at Auckland on April 15 of last year, have been reached, and the Crown closed its case yesterday morning. The Supreme Court tj-ial commenced before Mr. Justice Fair on Monday of last week, and the allegation of the Crown is that Mareo brought; about his wife's death by administering doses of veronal. The evidence of three detectives brought the Crown fase to a close at 11.25 a.m. and,after a brief adjournment Mr. A. H. Johnstone, K.C., commenced his final address to the jury on behalf of the prosecution. His review of the case against Mareo was completed at 2.45 p.m. No evidence was called for the defence and Mr. H. F. O'Lcary, K.C., immediatelv bi?gan his address on behalf of the accused. He had not finished when the Court rose for the day .His address will be followed to-day by His Honor's gumming up. after which comes the jury's retirement to consider its verdict. " Stands Unshaken " -In opening his final address to the jury- Mr. Johnstone said he was sure that all counsel engaged in the trial would wish him to express thanks to the jury for the care and attention they had bestowed upon their task. "The whole of the materials upon which you are to form your verdict are now before you," said Mr. Johnstone. "It becomes my duty to address you and I do so with one purpose only, and that is that you may be able to form a just and right conclusion upon the momentous issues which you have to decide. Upon us lies the burden of proof. The accused is presumed to be innocent to begin with, and if we fail to establish his guilt ha is '?ntitled to be acquitted.

"Tltie case which we opened to you last week was that the accused murdered his wife by administering to her veronal in a poisonous dose," continued Mr. Johnstone. He had told them that the Crown would not be able to put forward any witnesses who had actually seen ceronal being administered to Mrs. Mareo, and the jury would be obliged to consider a number of facts and circumstances. He would seek to show them what bearing these had upon the question they had to answer. "Our submission to you, gentlemen, is that the case which we opened to you last week gtancls unshaken to-day," he said. Allegations ol Drinking Mr. Johnstone proceeded to recall evidence tending to show what kind of people the Mareos were and what were their relations in their married life. Both husband and wife were professionally associated with the theatre, and euch people were obliged to be more casual in their conduct than were those who led more humdrum lives. Some allowances must be made on that account. Mrs. Mareo was a young Australian woman, a singer and actress. Mareo and she were married in October, 1933, and her whole married life totalled only 18 months. It was suggested of her that she drank to excess and that she had a dislike —perhaps a horror —of becoming a mother. Counsel emphatically submitted that the charges of drunkenness made against her had been grossly exaggerated. The Crown had called before them a large body of witnesses who saw her from time to time in varying circumstances, and not one of them ever saw her under the influence of liquor. Cwinsel dealt with these witnesses individually, drawing attention particularly to the evidence of witnesses who had been associated with Mrs. Mareo during the production of "The Duchess of Dantzic," and who saw no drunkenness at that time. Other Charges Made According to the accused's first statement, snid counsel, during that performance lie bought her every day a bottle of brandy, the bulk of which she consumed herself. He said that since then she had an average of two bottles of sherry every day, but Dr. Walton's examination did not disclose any signs of alcoholism, and neither did the post-mortem examination. "If she had been drinking to excess," said Mr. Johnstone," "she would never have played in the excellent manner in which she did during the ten nights in which she had a leading part in 'The Duchess of Dantzic.' 1 suppose it is true that there were times when she took more liquor than was good for her, but it, is due to her memory to say emphatically that she was not the drunken person her husband would have'you believe she was." Mr. Johnstone said it was difficult to ■ understand why other charges had been imported into the case by Mareo, save for the purpoise of blackening his wife's character. ,Marco had handed to the police letters which he said were in his wife's possession, and two of which appeared to have been written by a foreigner, ( bnt they proved nothing against Mrs. Mareo. Even assuming the charges were true, it did not lie in Marco's mouth to blacken her character in this way. If all tho charges were true to tho hilt they afforded no reason in the world why she should be poisoned, or even why she should poiion herself.

"What is important to notice," continued Mr. Johnstone, "is that there is no evidence that she took drugs of any kind." Mareo himself said in answer to the detectives that she took no drugs, but drank alcohol. No drugs or receptacles containing drugs were found in her possession or among her belongings. J lie jury might be perfectly certain that if any had been found it would have been brought into Court. .Turning to the evidence about the accused, Mr. Johnstone said Mareo was a musician associated with the theatre. Quarrels in the home with his wife were not infrequent. Betty could not get on with Mrs. Mareo and left the home. An association grew up between accused and Miss Brownlee, who in March, 1931, became a pupil of his in orchestration at a fee of £4 4s a quarter. She paid for one quarter and then ceased to pay anything, and began to play accompaniments for voice trials and rehearsals. Other Assistance Given Miss Brownlee helped to write Mareo's "write-ups" and advertisements. She became a typist for him and a shorthand writer. She attended to his correspondence and his financial affairs. She assisted him in the preparation of a scenario and worked not only on week days, but on Sundays as well. At his house she cleaned and tidied up. She cleaned his rooms at the theatre and laundered his clothes. She supplied him with a motor-car and drove him, drunk or sober, in it. As soon as Mrs. Mareo died. Miss Brownlee was installed at No. 1 Tenterden Avenue for as long as Mareo remained there, and later her room at Wvndham Street was constantly at his disposal—all this without any fee save the expectation of a problematical return from a film production. "A very experienced man of the world," said Mr. Johnstone, "found a young girl who could be an extremely useful assistant, whose mission in life —at that time, at any rate —seemed to have been to perform every possible kind of service for him, menial or otherwise. He seemedsalmost to have cast some spell upon her. "Looking to the Future" "Her qualifications were similar to those of his own -wife. They were both university graduates and they were musicians. Was it not that his own wife was now an encumbrance? And so. at the end of March, we find him out of employment, married, an addict to drink, taking veronal every day. £SOO of his wife's money spent, and on April 12. he writes to Betty a letter regarding her parentage. This is important, as it showed his frame of mind on that night. On our submission it is a letter of farewell and indicated that the writer intended to do away with himself. It showed that the outlook was bleak enough for him and after straightening out the affairs of Betty nothing mattered. His wife was nothing to him sexually or financially. "On April 12, however, she was quite well, except for a disorder, and her husband brought her some medicine. Freda Stark had said she had shown her some winter clothing—she was looking to the future. Arrangements were made for the week-end. There was nothing in her conduct to suggest that she was going to commit suicide." It had been stated by Dr. Walton that when Mrs. Mareo went to him her condition was such that he would not have been surprised if she had committed suicide, and so the jury was entitled to take into consideration any suggestion of suicide from the statements made. It had been said by Mrs. Mareo that rather than have a child she would "bump herself off." However, life was very sweet and people did not commit suicide without good reason. The only suggestion for it was that she had a disorder, but that was being corrected. Cause of Death Evidence "She at least did not leaive any note or memorandum of suicidal intentions, nor was there any evidence that she had taken any veronal or had any knowledge of there being any in the house," Mr. Johnstone continued. "After 18 months of married life they had got to the stage when she was nothing to him." Mr. Johnstone dealt with the events leading up to Mrs. Mareo's death. There was the question of what caused her to die. "It is our submission that the evidence is all one way —a fatal dose or fatal doses of veronal," Mr. Johnstone continued. "The evidence of experts was that she must have had 100 grains and authorities have been quoted to show that the average fatal dose is 50 grains. She died showing .all the clinical signs of veronal poisoning. When Dr. Dreadon saw her he concluded that she must have been suffering from veronal poisoning and veronal was found in the organs examined at the post-mor-tem. "It might be suggested that she was a susceptible person, but Dr. Gunson's evidence was that she did not seem to be a susceptible person. The medical men had the exact quantities taken from her body before and after death and the quantities of veronal taken from the organs of her body. From these thev have computed that a (lose of 100 grains must have been given aiul we must invite you to accept that as a fact." Three Possibilities If they came to the conclusion that she died" of veronal poisoning the next question for consideration was, who gave it to her? There were three possibilities. She might have taken it herself, intentionally or accidentally, or it might have been given to her accidentally, or it might have been administered to her intentionally. Our submission is," said Mr. Johnstone, "that it was given to her intentionally by the accused/" Counsel said they would renieinber tliaj, the accused had himself acquired a stock of veronal. He said he had done so because of the restrictions that were to be put on the sale of veronal on April 1, but lie knew quite well that he could easily obtain veronal afterwards and actually did so. He had veronal in substantial quantities in his possession. He admitted taking one tablet every night for three weeks and that accounted for 21. Eleven were in his possession, but 25 tablets had disappeared from his possession. Ho stated that the missing veronal was missing from a bottle which ho had concealed in a suitcase in the wash-house. It was, therefore, reasonable to suppose that the accused himself supposed that the veronal taken by Mrs. Mareo formed part of his stock. Days Belore Death There was a quantity of veronal in the house on the Friday evening and Mareo was taking veronal. Two witnesses stated that on April 16 the accused told them that he had given his wife veronal on Friday night to make her sleep. These witnesses had no possible object in conspiring to tell a deliberate untruth. Assuming that he gave her a large dose on I'riday evening the happenings to Mrs. Mareo on the Saturday morning were completely accounted for. Medical men said that her behaviour then was consistent with an overdose of veronal. Medical witnesses also said that sho must have had a dose on Saturday

morning, or otherwise she could not have slept through the day for some 13 hours as she did. The accused occupied the same room as his wife on the Friday night. He had veronal in his possession and was taking it night by night. He had ample opportunity to give it to his wife. Unless she had veronal in her own possession in the room it would have been necessary for her to go out to the washhouse and find it in the place where it had been concealed. Passing on to the events of the Saturday night Mr. Johnstone said he could best put them to the jury bv reading the evidence of the three witnesses who described the happenings 011 that occasion. Milk in Cup After the luncheon adjournment Mr. Johnstone read Mareo's own account of the same happenings. Differences in the witnesses' accounts were only to be expected, he said, and were a sign of truth and not of lying. But in all essential matters the evidence of Miss Stark stood uncontradicted, and she came through a severe cross-exami-

nation unscathed. There seemed, to be a difference in the quantity of milk in the cup as described by Miss Stark and j bv Graham, btit that was explained bv the fact that Graham did not get the cup until Miss Stark had given Mrs. Mareo half a cup from it. The whole story could be readily reconciled. It would be a strange tiling if Mareo prepared only half a cup of milk when lie was bringing in milk and bread for sustenance for his wife, who had had i nothing to eat for a whole day. The statements made by all three witnesses made it absolutely clear that Mrs. Mareo was awake for a considerable period on the night of April 13. Mareo said that in his statement, and his actions spoke louder still. He did not go off to prepare milk for a woman who was asleep. Shortly after she was given the milk she fell asleep and slept on for 20 hours at the least. Counsel invited the jury to ask themselves what caused the change from the period of wakefulness to the period of sleep. He submitted that the answer was that she had a dose of veronal given to her shortly before she fell asleep. Veronal readily dissolved in hot milk which masked its presence. The conclusion seemed inescapable that the milk did contain veronal, and that there was sufficient veronal to produce prolonged sleep. That was entirely consistent with the medical evidence. They said that in a liquid form and on an empty stomach its action would be very rapid. Suggested Quantity of Veronal The evidence was clear that Mareo had been taking veronal that night because he was too sleepy to be able to comply with Miss Stark's request to help his wife out of bed. Mareo had j every possible opportunity of putting j veronal in the milk. On the other hand, Mrs. Mareo never left the bed until she was helped out of it, and | when she was brought back by two people she fell asleep. It was impos- ■ sible for her in the condition in ! which she was that night to have taken a dose of veronal. "It is quite possible that more doses were given, but what we vty is that 100 grains at least were given during the course of Mrs. Marco's three-day illness," said counsel. "We do not know the exact number of doses or when they were given, but if you believe accused gave her two doses, one on the Friday and possibly on the Saturday morning, then you will have to believe he gave her a dose on the Saturday night. We submit that it has been proved conclusively that the accused gave doses of veronal on both nights. Accused's Explanation "Then there is the accused's conduct apart from the administration of veronal," Mr. Johnstone continued. Accused at least knew all about veronal, because he himself was using it. When he saw his wife lying on the floor on the Saturday morning and talking nonsense, and so utterly helpless that she had to be assisted to bed he must have been able to assign some cause to it. Accused's explanation was that he thought she was properly drunk, but there was no smell of alcohol about her during the three days. With the exception of two hours on Saturday night, she slept to Monday night, which did not seem consistent with alcoholism. Accused had said he thought his wife's condition was due to the medicine he had got from a chemist. Whether his wife was sleeping because of too much alcohol or as the result of taking the medicine, it was his clear duty to call a doctor. "He put this off with the most trivial excuses and it is for you to consider whether he wanted her to get well," Mr. Johnstone said. "The dictates of common humanity required that something should be done. He did nothing to help her in her dire extremity. Question of Motive "You can rule out any suggestion of suicide if you believe Mareo gave his wife veronal on Friday or that she was in such a helpless condition that she could not help herself. 1 here are only three persons who could possibly have given her veronal —the accused, I* red a Stark and Graham Marco. The evidence shows that neither Freda Stark nor Graham Mareo did so, and the--accused therefore was the only person who could have done so. "You can ask whether his statements are consistent with those of an innocent man," said Mr, Johnstone. Counsel then dealt with the question of motive. "In certain cases of murder," he said, "there is little or no difficulty in assigning motive to the acts, but there are many other cases in which motive does not ap|>ear. The suggestion hero is that the accused had tired of his wife. We are not bound to assign any motive, however. You have to consider Mrs. Marco's condition through the Friday. Saturday, Sunday and Monday, and if you find that accused gave her poison on one or more occasions it docs not matter whether it was found there was a motive. "You should scrutinise circumstantial evidence very carefully, but having done so you are obliged to act on it just as with any other evidence. If you find that Mareo murdered his wife, it is your duty to say so, but if there is a reasonable doubt it is your duty to acquit. There is the possibility of a third finding, although in our submission it is not here —that of manslaughter. We for the Crown have no doubt that you will all perform strictly your obligations under the law and so you will have fulfilled the onerous duties placed upon you and justice will be done."