Stillwater Woman to Give Evidence on Enfield Murder Charge

Grey River Argus, 27 March 1948, Page 4

Stillwater Woman to Give Evidence on Enfield Murder Charge

QUESTION OF SALE OF- STRYCHNINE P.A. DUNEDIN, March ~26. The evidence is to be heard of Mrs Carlisle Croft, formerly .of Oamaru, mid now residing at Stillwater, Greymouth, as a witness in the re-trial of Phyllis Freeman, who is charged with the murder of Joyce Maisie Morrison at Enfield, near Oamaru. on October 3, 1942. Mrs Croft's evidence is to be taken in the Police Court at Dunedin before Mr J. D. Willis, S.M., on April 15. Mrs Croft was not called at the Lower Court hearing of the case against Phyllis Freeman in November. because of the state of her health. At the trial of Freeman in the Supreme Court, the jury disagreed, and a new trial has been fixed for Anri! 27.

. An application for the fixing of the time and place for the faking of Mrs Croft’s evidence was made in the Police Court by Mr W. H. Carson., who represented the'Crown. The application was granted after evidence had been given by Detective Sergeant J. W. Hili, of Oamaru. Phyllis Freeman is at present on remand in Addington Prison, Christchurch.

Detective Sergeant Hill said that, in the course of investigations as to the alleged murder, the Police Department at Greymouth obtained a statement from Mrs Croft, _ whose maiden name was McLeod. This statement contained information to the effect that on August 27, 1942, at Oamaru; she was employed as a single woman at the United Friendly Society’s Dispensary, and that she sold to Phyllis Freeman one ounce of strychnine. Miss McLeod signed, the sale-of-poisons book kept by the United Friendly Dispensary, as witness to the sale. Detective Sergeant said that Mrs Croft was not called as a witness at the Lower Court hearing because of the state of her health, and the inadvisability of requiring her to travel. The evidence which she could tender was essential io the Crown case. The detective sergeant said that she was subpoenaed for the hearing, which began in the Supreme Court on February 3, 1948, but she was certified by a medical practitioner as being unfit to travel.