VERDICT UPHELD

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22390, 9 April 1936, Page 12

VERDICT UPHELD

JUDGES UNANIMOUS (GUILT PROPERLY INFERRED ADMINISTERING OF POISON VIEWS OF THE CHIEF JUSTICE ]£by telegraph OWN correspondent] WELLINGTON, Wednesday The application on behalf of Eric 'Uareo for a new trial on the charge of murdering his wife, Thelma Mareo, by veronal poisoning, has failed. Judgment dismissing the application was Igiven by the Court of Appeal this afternoon, the Court having come to ; the conclusion that the evidence v\as leuch that the jury could reasonably and properly find tho prisoner guilty. tFive Judges heard the appeal, and their decision was unanimous. The Chief Justice, Sir Michael Myers, prepared a separate judgment of some 16 foolscap pages, and another judgIjnent was delivered by Mr. Justice •Ostler on behalf of himself and the regaining Judges, namely, Mr. Justice lOßeed, Mr. Justice Blair, and Mr. Justice Kennedy. This judgment occupied !18 foolscap pages. Theory of the Crown After dealing with tho principles applicable to consideration of an application under section 4-16 of tho Crimes [Act, 1908, for a new trial on the (ground that the verdict is against the "weight of evidence, the Chief Justice referred to the theory of the Crown ;and the contentions advanced on behalf of the prisoner. His Honor said that there was evidence of the purchase of poison by the vprisoner, and that the theory of the 'Crowi did not depend upon a consecutive series of assumptions unsupported % any/evidence. That the woman died "-from veronal poisoning was undisputed, jsind was indeed indisputable. That [point seemed to have been proven beiyond the possibility of doubt. It was .not suggested that any persons other than the prisoner could be pointed to •as having administered veronal to de•ceased, and indeed there was ample evidence from which the jury was entitled to conclude that there was no ."intentional administration by any third iperson.

Suggestion by Defence What counsel for'the prisoner suggested was that the evidence was not such as to entitle the jury to infer the prisoner's guilt, and the only alternative suggested was that veronal 'might have been taken by deceased herself, either with suicidal intention or by misadventure, and that this possibility was not reasonably excluded. His Honor said he did not ;understahd counsel to suggest that deceased could have herself taken veronal by misadventure, but the suggestion >as that she might in some way by misadventure have taken it in such large quantities as to bring about her <leath without any suicidal intention. His Honor referred to portions of the evidence which he thought essential on the aspects of the case he was dealing with.' It had.been contended, «aid Hia Honor, that there had been » particular opportunity for deceased to obtain veronal "from the suitcase in "the wash-house and to administer it to herself on the Friday night or Saturr- -day morning, or even on the Saturday sight before deceased called out to Freda Stark, who was then in the sitting room. Movements ol Deceased "It is. true," continued His Honor, •"•that Mrs. Mareo was out of bed on the Friday night for a little while, because there is' the evidence of Miss otark of her being in the bathroom when-Miss - Stark arrived, and also the evidence of Graham Mareo and Betty Mareo that she walked along the passage on the Friday evening. "I should think, however—and certainly the jury was justified in finding —that the Friday evening was undoubtedly the last occasion on which, if she so disposed and knew of the hidingplace of the veronal, she might have obtained it. The jury would certainly be justified in concluding that there was no opportunity on the Saturday morning, because the' prisoner had been m the bedroom all Friday night and left to go to his bath somewhere about 8 o'clock on Saturday morning, and almost immediately afterward there occurred' the incidents of the bumps and of Mrs. Mareo standing at the dressing table, to which reference has already Jjeen made. Possibility ol Self-Administration " It was suggested by Mr. O'Leary sth.it there was not excluded the possibility of Mrs. Mareo having obtained the veronal from the suitcase prior to Friday, kept it secreted in her room, & a nd taken doses of it herself on Saturday night, during her two hours of wakefulness or semi-wakefulness, but bo far, at ail events, as Saturday nignt is concerned, the jury had the evidence i: of Miss Stark and the doctors, upon which they were entitled to conclude •that this possibility was excluded. After dealing with the prisoner s statements to the police and the other * witnesses who gave evidence at his trial, the Chief Justice- concluded his judgment as follows: — 41 It. is sufficient, I think, to say that here tihere was a prima facie case, apart from any material which might otherwise have been debatable. That being so, the jury had to consider the evidence as a whole, and it all comes back to the question whether the verdict was one that 12 reasonable men, giving due weight to the presumption of the law . an favour of the prisoner's innocence, could not properly find. His Honor's Conclusion

« I am forced to the conclusion that this has not been shown, but that on the contrary the evidence was such that the jury could reasonably and properly fnd the prisoner guilty. In my opinion the application fails, and should be dis■jnissed." At the hearing of the application Mr. iH. F: O'Leary, K.C., of Wellington, with' him Mr. T. Henry and Mr. K. <C. Aekins, both of Auckland, appeared for Mareo, and Mr. A. H. Johnstone, •K.C., /With him Mr. V. N. Hubble, both of Auckland, for the Crown.