LAST DAY

Stratford Evening Post, Volume IV, Issue 159, 17 June 1936, Page 5

LAST DAY

i MAREO RE-TRIAL '. n vBUBLIGr INTEREST. Crown Case Reviewed By Mr. Meredith. - ifri r - FATAL WEEK-END. Press Association—Copyright. Auckland, Today. Lengthy queues of men antf Women were awaiting the opening of tihe Court doors when the Mareo retrial entered what is expected to be the last day to-day. Mr V. R. Meredith (Crown Prosecutor), summing up, said that the case was clearly one of veronal poisoning. If Mrs Mareo took it herself, it was either suicide or misadventure; on the other hand, if it was administered intentionally" by someone • 1 ' else, then the act involved that person in the crime of murder. The Mareos had been married only eighteen inonths and the bride bad £SOO, of which the husband had dissipated £4OO. It wagi idle to say .It was a happy marriage; three bitter quarrels were known of. There was the occasion when Mareo came Home from Dixieland drunk. After indulgence in liquor, restraint was ntteel and the real state of his.- mind was indicated- Mareo abused his wife thJit

night and she replied she would go out into the street if he would give her back her £SOO. Then .there was the mental attitude of accused on the night he was driven home in a drunken condition by Eleanor Brownlee. It was clear that Miss Brownlee came that night with the intention of stopping, for she was equipped with her pyjamas and must have come at Mareo's invitation. Later Mareo, in a semi-dressed condition, had ordered his wife out and said: "Eleanor will look after me." Then there was the accusation against his wife of perversion. By this time Marco had no social relations with his wife, who had been entirely supplanted by Miss Brownlee. Mr Meredith referred to Mrs Mareo's brightness- with Freda Stark on the Friday night and her request to come early next day. 7 picture iof Mrs Mareo—but what of Mareo? Counsel then outlined the incident •of Mareo's'writing and handling of his morbid letter to Betty* concerning her parentage. Mr Meredith lengthily described the of the fatal weekend, and, touching on the incident of the giving of the milk, said that Doctor Giesen agreed that Mareo's subsequent sleepiness, together with v the fact that he could not be roused was consistent with Mareo having had a dose of veronal before the time when Mrs Mareo was taken to the lavatoryDr. Giesen agreed also that the condition of Mrs Mareo was' consistent 'W ith a dose of veronal being taken just before she went to_the lavatory. What Inference? "Now, gentlemen," said Mr Mere dith, "you get this startling position. Just before the milk was prepared they were apparently both free from the influence of veronal. So you have it that at the same time there were two different people, both showing signs of veronal. ; If Mrs Mareo got it that lime, she got it only one way; it. definitely must have been in the milk.

"Who had veronal in his possession at that time?—Mareo. , "Who was out in the kitchen preparing the milk —Mareo. "Then, taking the evidence oi' .Mareo going under the influence, ■» hat possible inference can you draw but that when Mareo prepared the milk he put veronal in it, took some himself and gave his wife a fatal dose?" JUDGE SUMS UP. Mr. Meredith concluded at 12.20 p.m. "We are all human," said his Honour, commencing his summing up to the jury, "and whatever efforts we make we are likely to err in handling the great amount of material in this case. If I should mistake anything it is your right and duty to help to correct me." His Honour said it was for the prosecution to satisfy them beyond, doubt that the charge had been proved. The jury would approach the matter with the same earnestness and degree of care as though their own lives depended on the .right answer. The whole case had to be tried to the jury's satisfaction on the evidence at this trial as though Mareo had never been tried before a judge. The summing-up was uncompleted at the luncheon adjournment.