NEABING THE END

Waikato Times, Volume 119, Issue 19913, 16 June 1936, Page 8

NEABING THE END

MAREO MURDER TRIAL.

DEFENCE EVIDENCE FINISHED. DR. GIESEN CROSS-EXAMINER (By Telegraph.~Press Association.) AUCKLAND, Tuesday. The Court was again crowded this morning when the evidence for the defence in the retrial of Eric .\lareo. musician, on a charge of murdering his wife, Thelma Clarice .\lareo, on April 15, 1935, by poisoning her with \'eronai, was concluded with the cross—examination of Dr. Giesen. Mr V. R. Meredith, with Mr F. Mc— Carthy, is conducting the case for the Crown and Messrs H. F. O'Leary. K.C., T. Henry and K. C. Aekins are defending the accused. Mr Meredith, resuming his crossexamination of Dr. Giesen asked: You have contradicted all the evidence of the medical men; can you quote any literature to support your View? Witness: 1 do not know if I can. 311- Meredith: You remember Mrs .\lareo‘s weight was given by Freda Stark as just. under eight stone. Witness: Yes. Mr Meredith: Does it not follow there must have been many times six grains of veronal in the whole of her body at death. . Witness: All we know as to the amount of veronal at death is the amount extracted, and we know there must have been more. As to how much more. nobody can make any estimate. Mr Meredith: I put it to you: There must have been many times more? Witness: I cannot concede that. Mr Meredith: is there any other medical man who can support you in your propositions? \\'itness: I do not know of any. Pie—examined by MifiO’Leary witness said he had been in active practice in Wellington for 30 years and other medical men still consulted him. For 12 years he was examiner for the University of New Zealand~for two years on toxicology and medical Jurisprudence. After several technical questions had been asked by the foreman of the jury, Dr. Giesen left the box. Flnal Witness tor Prosecution. The Crown called George Seymour Dennis Sheard, of Mount Eden, who in 1928 was a member or the Humphrey Bishop Musical Comedy Company. He said that in Adelaide he was the tenor of the show and Thelma Trott (afterwards )Irs .\lareo) was the soprano. They sang duets; he saw her every day and night for five weeks, and she stayed with his people for three or four weeks. “I‘ve no knowledge of her ever taking veronal during that period," said witness. “ She was not 'dopey and depressed; on the contrary brightness was one of the greatest of ‘her 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 Mr Humphrey Bishop‘s secretary. Cross—examined by Mr O'Leary wit—ness said he realised that Mrs .\lareo would he an asset to Mareo.

fie—examined by Mr Meredith, he said in View of Miss Trott‘s exper—ience with Mr Humphrey Bishop, she would he an asset as a secretary.

Mr H'Leary then cgmmeni‘éd His address to the jury.

YESTERDAV’S EVIDENCE. " Under cross—examination by Mr‘ Meredith. Dr. Giesen said he disagreed. substantially with the conclusion ot’| Dr. Gilmour, Dr. Gunson and Dr. Lud-‘ brook. Mr Meredith: You agree this iar‘ with them. that Mrs Mateo is dead ‘2— I understand so. ~ Are you in general practice now?— Not for a good many years. Asked if he specialised in acting for insurance companies in compensation! cases. witness said that that was what‘ chiefly occupied him now. 1 Your statement that Mrs Mareoi could not take ve‘ronal without know—l ing she was taking it went a little too‘ far?~»—ch, because in some cases the original taste of the mixture would obscure the taste. 1 Does not the fact that Mrs Mareo‘ immediately went to sleep on the Set—urday morning show that she had just had a dose of reronal?—No, because \‘eronal does not act immediately. Her going off to sleep when being put back into bcd was consistent either with her re‘oovering from a Friday night, dose or having just taken a Sat—urday morning dose. The fact that she was searching is more consistent with a Friday night dose. 1 . Searching Not. Evident. i , Mr Meredith: Where do you get the idea that she was searching?— That was my interpretation of Graham Marco's evidence. Mr Meredith read the passage. and witness agreed that it had no refer—ence‘ to searching. \\’itncss agreed that. there. was no evidence of any \‘ernnai being found in the bedroom. \Vitness agreed that when Mrs Marco would call out to her friend in the nth. room and could ask for a drink it. showed that. the serious efforts of vrronal must have worn nit—if there had been any serious affects. llis conclusion from the evi—dence was that Mrs .\lareo was still under the influence? of the drug. al~ though she. was able to make known her primary needs. .\lr Meredith reminded the witness that Mrs Maren had correctly named a number of objects in the' room at the request of Harm and Freda Stark, \\'itness said Mrs Mareo's conduct before taking the milk was consistent with the fact that Veronal was rapidly getting out of her bloodstream. "Time of Anxiety." Marco was unahlc‘ to 110117 at that time and it srmnod that he had had sonirihiiu: which al‘fm‘tod him. con—‘tinuod \\iini'ss. it should have been a tillli‘ of considerable an\ir‘i}' for him. \\’lion l’rrrla stark nilv‘nmicd to woken him slic was nnahic to do so. The iplmngr in Mrs .\inrro‘s condition on ‘;ntlll‘lli’i)’ nizht ailr-r She had horn i 'akpn on]. of the imslrm'nn showed that itlwrp “as then more \rronal in her I system. \\’ilncss said he thmmht .\lrs .\iaren Imiziit. how when tho \'rronal lmiann i 11’ and I p.m. on Faturda} the [drug i-rini: dormant in her slumarli

until the milk and sal volatile in the evening made it active again. She was under the influence of the Verona] she had taken until 9.30 that night. \\'itne‘ss said it was sometimes found that. the amount of reronal in the body of a person killed by it, was very small. The \'eronal had done its damage to the body long before death and had been eliminated. He did not think there was anything.r in the lit—erature to show that. the stomach might ce‘ase to act. on \‘eronal for a period of hours. Queatlon of Absorption. .\lr Meredith: Was there not. this quantity of veronal lying unabsorbed on her stomach from 9.30 p.m.. when she woke up. to 2.30 a.m.l7—No, be—cause efforts were being made to keep he'r awake. Does it. mean that veronal was un—absorbed ‘f—Probahly it does mean that some of it, was absorbed, but not the whole of it». \Vttnese said he thought the stomach juices were almost entirely absent during the Saturday. That was e'le—mentary. M - Meredith produced two text books stating that. the secreting of stomach juices was continuous in the absence of food. Mr Meredith: Are you still going to say that. an empty stomnr‘h will not; secrete or are you not. up to (late?— I still say we do regard it as an elementary proposition that a starving stomach is (imply 6“?“ 0f gastric juices. As a matter of fact. you had not read these hooks?—-I have them at home. Have you rc‘ad them on this point? ——Not recently. In answer to His Honour witness said there was no information to show whether the machinery of the stomach would operate on tablets during long fasting. He knew as a font. that \‘ero—nal did stay in the stomach unabo sorbed. he'cause they had to wash it out after many hours