NEARING END

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLI, Issue 20446, 17 June 1936, Page 11

NEARING END

SECOND TRIAL OF MAREO COUNSEL ADDRESS JURY By Telegraph—Press Association AUCKLAND. June 16. The Court was crowded tl morning when the evidence for the defence in the Mareo retrial was concluded, with the completion of the cross-examina-tion of Dr. Giesen. “You have contradicted ell the evidence of the medical men. Can you quote any literature to support your view?” asked Mr Meredith. Witness: I don’t know if . can. Mr Meredith: You remember that Mrs Mareo’s weight was given by Freda Stark as just under eight stone? Witness: Yes. Mr Meredith: Does il not follow that there must have been many times six grains of veronal in the whole of the body at her death? All we know as to the amount of veronal at death is the amount extracted, and we know there must have been moix, As to how much more, nobody can make any estimate. Mr Meredith: I put it to you, there must have been many timi" more? Witness: I cannot concede that. Mr Meredith: Is there any other medical man who can support you in your propositions ? Witness: I don’t know of any. Re-examined by Mr O'Leary, Dr. Giesen said he had been in active practice in Wellington for 30 years. Other medical men still consulted him. For 12 years he was examine, for the University of New Zealand—for two years on toxicology and medical jurisprudence. After several questions were asked by the foreman of the jury, Dr. Giesen left the box. The Crown called George Seymour Dennis Sheard, Mount Eden, who in 1928 was a member of the Humphrey Musical Company, who said that in Adelaide he was the tenor of the show, and Thelma Trott, afterwards Mrs Mareo, was the soprano. They sang duets. He saw her every day and night for five weeks, and she stayed with his people, three or four weeks. “I’ve no knowledge of her ever taking veronal in that period,” said witness. “She was not dopey and depressed; on the contrary her brightness was one of her greatest assets. I knew her on tour in Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand for about two and a half years, and never saw any signs of the dopiness which has been referred to. Miss Trott not only did her ordinary show work, but also acted as Humphrey. Bishop’s secretary.”. Cross-examined by Mr O’Leary, witness said he realised that Mrs Mareo would be an asset to Mareo.

Re-examined by Mr Meredith, witness said in view of Miss Trott’s experience with Humphrey Bishop, she would be an asset as a secretary.

Mr O’Leary’s Address

Counsel for the defence, Mr H. F. O’Leary, K.C., addressing the jury, asked them to consider what would be the end of the trial for the man in the dock charged with murder, the penalty of which they knew. Would he be free to return to his children and his friends, or would he return to the cell where he had been incarcerated? Veronal was not a murderer’s weapon, counsel went on. The records showed that deaths from veronal in the case of adults rose in the main from misadventure and suicide. What might kill one person might have little or no effect on another. A person setting out to murder by veronal could have no idea as to how much to give. The Crown selected the possibility that Mareo had given veronal to Mrs Mareo. He did it, the Crown said, at a time when Mr and Mrs Mareo were said to be happy and when Freda Stark was present. The defence contended that the most likely alternative was that Mrs Mareo, by accident or design, took the veronal herself. It was most likely and most consistent that she had had some innocently on Friday night, that on Saturday she got up after the manner of persons under the influence of veronal, or even without getting up, and took a store of veronal and that was what killed her.

Mr O’Leary dealt next with the relations between Mareo and Eleanor Brownlee. He spoke of the quarrel which took place after the Dixieland party when Miss Brownlee brought Mareo home drunk. That in itself was an indication that there was nothing improper between them. A man did not bring home his mistress into the bosom of his family. When he was allegedly murdering this woman Mareo was drafting a letter to J. C. Williamson, Limited, asking them to take over “The Duchess of Dantzic,” the play in which his wife played a leading part. Thelma Mareo was essential to Mareo’s future projects, and yet the jury was asked to believe that he had murdered her. It might be suggested that Miss Brownlee was to take Mrs Mareo’s place, but she was not an actress. “To procure veronal Mareo went to chemists who knew him,” said Mr O’Leary. “He told the detectives he was taking veronal and told others he was taking it. Are those the actions of a guilty man? Would he not have got rid of the stuff had he been guilty? All Mareo’s actions in regard to veronal were frank and were certainly not those of a guilty man. As soon as his wife died he candidly admitted the possession of veronal. He never hesitated. He thought that his wife’s condition was due to medicine he had given her, and he was not candid about the medicine because he thought he had committed an offence. I ask you to contrast his actions over the corrective medicine and his actions regarding the veronal. On the one hand he was candid, truthful and straightforward, and on the other he was not.” Attack on Evidence for Defence Mr Meredith in addressing the jury attacked the evidence for the defence. “I am going to put it to you,” said Mr Meredith, “that that evidence has no bearing or practically none on this case. The whole case now depends on a careful consideration of the incidents from the Friday night to the Monday afternoon when Thelma Mareo died. It was surprising that it was necessary to bring people from Australia to prove Mrs Mareo’s drinking habits. There should have been plenty of people in New Zealand and in Auckland who knew her intimately. People who knew her in Australia and performed with her there said they knew nothing of these accusations. Dr. Giesen, who was called for the defence, put up a

most amazing proposition. He was a man who had admittedly studied the case from the outset and advised the defence. He advised the defence that everyone was wrong, but he did not come to the last trial and give evidence and it was. only now that he got into the firing line. Dr. Giesen’s theory was a contradiction of several reputable men who gave their evidence with certainty and who were supported by text-books. Surely out of the thousands of medical men in New Zealand there must have been some who would have come forward in the interests of justice to support Dr. Giesen.” Mr Meredith had not finished when the Court adjourned.