CHARGE OF MURDER

Otago Witness, Issue 3804, 8 February 1927, Page 30

CHARGE OF MURDER

THE MERRETT CASE. YOUNG NEW ZEALANDER ON TRIAL. LONDON, February 1. Six women jurors were empanelled when John Merrett stood his trial at Edinburgh. He appeared in the dock in an overcoat, and wore horn-rimmed spectacles. He pleaded not guilty. Mrs Sutherland, a housemaid, gave evidence that' after she left Mrs Merrett writing im the sitting room, where John was reading, she heard a shot and a scream. John entered the kitchen, and said that his mother had shot herself. John added: “I have been wasting mother’s money. I think she was worried.”

Mrs Sutherland found Mrs Merrett lying on the floor, near a revolver, at the bureau. She denied telling the detective that she saw the revolver falling from the hand of her mistress. Her mistress had told -■ her that she had had a hard life, losing her husband during . the Russian revolution. She was devoted to John, and they appeared to be on the most affectionate terms.

Inspector Fleming read John’s statement, in which he declared that his mother complained’ that he was spending too much money and neglecting his. studies. His mother was writing when he . pointed out a wrongly-addressed, envelope. . She said: “Go away; you bother me.” He went to the other side of the. room to get some books, and heard a report. He then saw his mother falling on the floor. .Inspector Fleming, said that deceased’s Banking ■ account was overdrawn. He questioned accused regarding three cheques amounting to £Bl, dated • after his mother’s admission to the hospital, and John said that his mother had signed the cheques, and he had filled in the amounts, which was a customary arrangement.

THE FORGERY CHARGES. LONDON, February 1. /Merrett was also charged with forging his mother’s signature to cheques totalling £475. Merrett explained that,, he bought a revolver and 50 cartridges for £5, intending’to use them while on holiday in France. His mother took the revolver on March 13 last, and he did not see it again. Inspector Fleming added that other cheques and counterfoils were missing. A DOCTOR’S EVIDENCE. LONDON, February 2. ' At the Merrett trial Dr Holcombe gave evidence that the deceased, after her admission to. the infirmary, said: “I was sitting writing letters, _ and John was standing beside me. I said, ‘Go away and do not annoy me.’ Then I heard an explosion, and I do not remember any more.” Dr Holcombe admitted that he did not write the statement down. Mr Aitcheson (defending counsel) : Are we at the mercy of your recollections 10 months after the event? : - Dr Holcombe: Yes. Dr Holcombe gave evidence that Mrs Merrett was-shot behind the ear. There was no sign of blackening or singeing. Mrs Penn, the deceased’s sister, said that Mrs Merrett was married in New' Zealand in 1907. - Her husband was an . electrical engineer. They separated before the war. The mother and son .returned to England in 1925. The son attended Malvern College for a year. The .mother’s, yearly income was £7OO. ■■ Merrett was now living in India. Witness added: “My sister-told me, ‘They say I had a. fall, but I doubt it. It w r as a sudden explosion as if ■ John shot me.’ ” EVIDENCE AGAINST ACCUSED. LONDON, February 4. At the Merrett trial, Walter Penn, the deceased’s brother-in-law’, said that Donald told Mrs Penn:-/‘I did not do it, but I will confess if you like.” Witness did not take this-seriously. Nurse Grant gave evidence - that she had overheard a conversation , at the hospital. Mrs Penn told, Mrs Merrett she must have fallen. Mrs Merrett replied: “No. It was an extraordinary thing. I heard an explosion. Did not Donald do it? He is such a naughty-boy.? Experts testified that, suicide ‘was improbable.. . A message received on December . 4 ■stated:-—After a lapse of eight months a New Zealander, John Donald Merrett, 19 years of. age, has been arrested on a charge .of murdering his mother, Mrs. Bertha Merrell, aged , 56. Both came ; from .a New Zealand station to complete the sori’s education for the Diploiriatic Service,’ and he entered’Edinburgh- University. The mother took a three-months’ lease of a flat in a fashionable quarter ‘ of Edinburgh, and a’week after they entered into possession the mother whs found shot.' The ; Son told 'the .police that , he' ' was ’ seated beside the dining foOm fire' on March 17,

when he was startled by a revolver shot, and, turning, fie saw his mother, who was sitting at a bureau writing, fall on the floor bleeding from a wound in the ear. The doctors found a bullet embedded in the nose. The mother did not recover consciousness. The tragedy was at first attributed to an accident, but the detectives unceasingly continued their investigations. The son meanwhile began studying for Oxford, and took up his residence at Hughenden, Buckinghamshire, where he was arrested and further charged with forging cheques for £3OO. He was popular in the village, and played Rugby and Badminton. It is understood that he received an allowance from the Public Trustee.