Speaker 1: Hilda. I'm Chelsea Daniels and from the team behind the
Speaker 1: front page the New Zealand Herald's daily news podcast, This
Speaker 1: is Accused the Polkinghorn trial. Over a series of weeks.
Speaker 1: In conjunction with our usual daily episodes, we'll be bringing
Speaker 1: you regular coverage as one of the most high profile
Speaker 1: trials of the year makes its way through the High
Speaker 1: Court at Auckland. A warning, this podcast contains disturbing content.
Speaker 1: After seven weeks and over eighty witnesses, we have finished
Speaker 1: hearing evidence in the trial of Philip Polkinghorn. The former
Speaker 1: Auckland io surgeon, is accused of murdering his wife, Pauline Hannah,
Speaker 1: who was found dead on April fifth, twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1: He maintains she took her own life. In the final
Speaker 1: days of testimony, the debate over activity on Hannah's phone
Speaker 1: continued before the last two witnesses to take the stand
Speaker 1: offered their views on the state of her mental health
Speaker 1: and the risk factors that could have pushed her towards suicide.
Speaker 1: Day thirty of the trials saw police digital forensic analyst
Speaker 1: June Lee return for further across examination. Lee was called
Speaker 1: as the Crown's last witness on Day twenty one, some
Speaker 1: weeks ago, to discuss the use of palling Hannah's phone
Speaker 1: in the hours before her death. He returned to the
Speaker 1: High Court at Auckland in week seven to continue his
Speaker 1: cross examination after the defense's IT expert at a can
Speaker 1: at Shaho, testified on the Crown's version of events. You'll
Speaker 1: remember that data pulled from Pauline Hannah's phone appears to
Speaker 1: show that she looked up two contacts in her phone
Speaker 1: around four am on the morning of her death. Those
Speaker 1: contacts were Polkinghorn and the daughter of a family friend.
Speaker 1: The defense argument is that Hannah would have at least
Speaker 1: selected the contacts from within the messaging app, and possibly
Speaker 1: also drafted and then deleted messages to them. The police
Speaker 1: digital forensic analyst June Lee has previously testified that the
Speaker 1: defense has misinterpreted an automatic security look up procedure to
Speaker 1: suggest the phone's messaging app was used. In fact, it
Speaker 1: was an automatic background security process. We know that, Lee said,
Speaker 1: because there are no corresponding device logs showing the phone
Speaker 1: being moved or switched on. As Mansfield continued his cross
Speaker 1: examination of Lee, they discussed other factors, including the use
Speaker 1: of airplane mode and how police accessed Hannah's phone. Lee
Speaker 1: discussed how a program called gray Key was used, in
Speaker 1: his words, to brute force entry into Hannah's phone and
Speaker 1: extract its data, which was then analyzed by the program
Speaker 1: Celebrate gray Key and Celebright record time differently, which has
Speaker 1: led to some discrepancies between the logs for both programs.
Speaker 1: The crux of the discussion revolved around the two interpretations
Speaker 1: of the phone's data, and neither Lee or Mansfield budged
Speaker 1: from their position at the end of hours of cross
Speaker 1: examination spread across several days in this trial, Lee's position
Speaker 1: remains that the activity at four a m was the
Speaker 1: Identitied look up service and not Hannah using the phone
Speaker 1: herself at acan. Shaho then returned to the stand to
Speaker 1: discuss Lee's testimony. When he returned via video link to
Speaker 1: the court, Mansfield made a point of reiterating his witness's
Speaker 1: expertise when it comes to Apple products. Chaho is a
Speaker 1: registered Apple developer and has been using iOS eighteen software,
Speaker 1: which is not currently available to the public, since June.
Speaker 1: He therefore has more expertise on analyzing iPhones than Lee,
Speaker 1: in the defense's view. Discussing the data logs for Hannah's phone,
Speaker 1: Shahos said the last entry for April fourth was ten
Speaker 1: forty seven pm and there are no device entries until
Speaker 1: April eight, which he said is quite peculiar. Mansfield then
Speaker 1: referred to a booklet of police photos showing Hannah's phone
Speaker 1: with its leather case open and the screen on about
Speaker 1: five pm on April fifth. The phone waking up and
Speaker 1: receiving text messages, as the photos show it had done,
Speaker 1: was not recorded in the data logs. Chaho said that
Speaker 1: this perplexes him because if the device logs are correct,
Speaker 1: then they should show entries from April fifth. There should
Speaker 1: also be other logs before April eight, if the records
Speaker 1: are correct, he said, so he believes there's missing data
Speaker 1: between those dates. Shaho said that when you access a
Speaker 1: phone using a computer program like Celebride, things can happen
Speaker 1: to the data. Under cross examination from Crown Prosecutor Alicia McClintock,
Speaker 1: Shaho said that, asides from working with Australian Federal Police
Speaker 1: on removing sex crime material from devices, he's never worked
Speaker 1: directly for a law enforcement organization. Asked on his views
Speaker 1: that Hannah accessed her phone at four am on April fifth.
Speaker 1: McClintock said that Shaho can't say for sure who would
Speaker 1: have been using it. He said, to his information, only
Speaker 1: Hannah had access to her password and phone. McClintock said
Speaker 1: that Polkinghorn had told a friend he had accessed his
Speaker 1: wife's pass code at one point in time. Asked if
Speaker 1: he had seen the raw data analyzed by police, Shaho
Speaker 1: said the Celebrate report contained the raw data. The Crown
Speaker 1: argued that those two elements are separate, and Shaho said
Speaker 1: he has not looked at the raw data separately from
Speaker 1: the report. The next witness for the defense is doctor
Speaker 1: David Menx, a Yale trained psychiatrist who now lives in Raglan.
Speaker 1: Due to the lengthy it testimony, Menx took the witness
Speaker 1: box late in the day on Thursday, and his testimony
Speaker 1: carried into day thirty one. He said Hannah had several
Speaker 1: risk factors for suicide on the night before her death.
Speaker 1: Continuing from earlier testimony, defense lawyer Ron Mansfield questioned him
Speaker 1: on whether the combination of Zoppa clone and alcohol helps
Speaker 1: with getting to sleep definitely, mens said. He said tolerance
Speaker 1: to alcohol could cause the person to wake after getting
Speaker 1: to sleep because alcohol clears from the body quickly. He added,
Speaker 1: with chronic use, there's the possibility of going into withdrawal
Speaker 1: symptoms during the night, including nervousness and agitation on waking.
Speaker 1: Asked about the presentation of suicide risk, Manx explained there
Speaker 1: is no typical presentation of suicide risk. In fact, suicidal
Speaker 1: behavior and risk varies enormously between people. When Crown Solicitor
Speaker 1: Alicia McClintock started her cross examination, she asked Manx to
Speaker 1: confirm that he couldn't be sure the combination of potential
Speaker 1: risk factors was present for Hannah on the night of
Speaker 1: April fourth, twenty twenty one. He acknowledged he could not
Speaker 1: do this. She questioned Manx on the bereavement of Hannah's
Speaker 1: mother in February twenty twenty one. He agreed not much
Speaker 1: weight should be put onto the event because it was
Speaker 1: two months prior to Hannah's death. It was also an
Speaker 1: expected event following a long and difficult illness. McClintock pointed
Speaker 1: out there was evidence from people who knew Hannah that
Speaker 1: she was sad but philosophical about her mother's death. However,
Speaker 1: Menx pointed out Hannah had been very connected to her
Speaker 1: mother and had expressed thoughts of ending her life to
Speaker 1: a GP on December twenty third, twenty nineteen. The thoughts
Speaker 1: were connected to her mother's deteriorating condition. We've heard earlier
Speaker 1: in the trial Hannah called her GP and expressed suicidal
Speaker 1: thoughts because her husband had left her and her mother
Speaker 1: was in hospital. It later emerged in evidence Polkinghorn said
Speaker 1: he was on a course but in fact had flown
Speaker 1: to Sydney. He was meant to attend family Christmas at
Speaker 1: their Rings Beach batch in the Coromandel. Mens was not
Speaker 1: able to say how much these events added to Hannah's
Speaker 1: suicide risk profile. He also confirmed there was no medical
Speaker 1: evidence confirming Hannah had attempted to take her own life
Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety two. As her sister Tracy earlier testified,
Speaker 1: questioning moved on to Hannah's prescription drug use. Hannah was
Speaker 1: prescribed an amphetamine diet drug phenamine, also known as juramine.
Speaker 1: Several witnesses have questioned the practice of long term prescribing
Speaker 1: of the drug. One of the side effects is depression.
Speaker 1: Menx agreed with McClintock the risk of depression was more
Speaker 1: likely when a person starts to take the drug. He
Speaker 1: confirmed evidence showed that Zoppa clone was prescribed to Polkinghorn,
Speaker 1: not Hannah. He commented it was discouraged for practitioners to
Speaker 1: self prescribe or prescribed to family members. McClintock asked Menx
Speaker 1: if he saw any evidence of impulsivity or disinhibition in
Speaker 1: Hannah's behavior before her death. Not so much at the
Speaker 1: behavior of level, he said. The more striking aspect to
Speaker 1: her case was how her speech would sometimes get loosened
Speaker 1: up when she was drinking. More than one witness commented,
Speaker 1: Hannah talked more freely when she had been drinking. Wouldn't
Speaker 1: the same be true for most of us, McClintock asked absolutely.
Speaker 1: Menx replied. He confirmed there was enough Zoppa clone found
Speaker 1: in the couple's Upland Road home that it could have
Speaker 1: been a lethal dose if taken all at once. Mens
Speaker 1: said that the major risk factor he saw in the
Speaker 1: days before Hannah's death was her disrupted sleep pattern, with
Speaker 1: the trial having heard earlier she was sending emails at
Speaker 1: all hours of the night. McClintock said that the trial
Speaker 1: has also heard Polkinghorn was sending emails late at night.
Speaker 1: Do we also take that into account in assessing Polkinghorn's
Speaker 1: risk factors for violence? She asked. Mens said that is
Speaker 1: not something he looked at. He said methanphetamine and prior
Speaker 1: instances of intimate partner violence would be risk factors for violence.
Speaker 1: Returning for questions in reply, Mansfield asked about suicide risk
Speaker 1: and if we look at an individual or a combination
Speaker 1: of factors, Menx said it's a frustrating challenge and a
Speaker 1: person's vulnerability to the risk factors depend on context, mood,
Speaker 1: and circumstances at the time. The trial has heard a
Speaker 1: lot from different friends and work colleagues about Hannah's behavior
Speaker 1: in the weeks and months before her death, Menx said
Speaker 1: it's difficult to say if any of them would have
Speaker 1: been able to identify those risks. For coverage of other
Speaker 1: news events in New Zealand, listen to the front page
Speaker 1: The Herald's daily news podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1: After a brief statement was read to the court from
Speaker 1: Joanne Ung, an accountant with the RSM, to clarify an
Speaker 1: issue with accounting evidence raised earlier in the trial, the
Speaker 1: defense then called the final witness of the trial. Associate
Speaker 1: Professor Sarah Hettrick is an academic at the University of
Speaker 1: Auckland and is also the principal Clinical advisor at the
Speaker 1: Suicide Prevention Office. Under questioning from defense lawyer Ron Mansfield,
Speaker 1: Hetrick said it's a myth that well presenting, high performing
Speaker 1: Type A personalities are immune from suicide. She said, there's
Speaker 1: no combination of risk factors enabling someone to say who
Speaker 1: might commit suicide. Even when directly asked, two thirds to
Speaker 1: three quarters of people who subsequently go on to take
Speaker 1: their own lives have denied feeling suicidal. We have no
Speaker 1: ability to predict suicide. The science is very clear around that,
Speaker 1: Hetrick said. Even suicidal thinking is not something that can
Speaker 1: be used to predict the risk of suicide. She added,
Speaker 1: and there's no need for a diagnosed mental illness for
Speaker 1: someone to commit suicide. Something like forty to fifty percent
Speaker 1: of people who commit suicide in this country have had
Speaker 1: no contact with mental health services, she said. And while
Speaker 1: a person's loved ones would like there to be a note,
Speaker 1: Hettrick said, only a quarter of people leave a note,
Speaker 1: and they often don't contain any explanation. Asked about people's
Speaker 1: reactions to traumatic events. Hettrick said people can present in
Speaker 1: a composed way even when they're feeling overwhelmed with grief,
Speaker 1: and that can impact how we recall events as well.
Speaker 1: That concludes all the witness testimony from the Crown and
Speaker 1: the defense. Over eighty people have appeared in the witness
Speaker 1: box via video link or had statements read out to
Speaker 1: the jury. Over the last seven weeks, We've heard from
Speaker 1: police officers who arrived at the Upland Road scene of
Speaker 1: Hannah's death on April fifth, twenty twenty one, and forensic
Speaker 1: specialists who became involved in various stages of the police investigation.
Speaker 1: We've heard about Polkinghorn's increasing use of meth and sex workers,
Speaker 1: tensions at his workplace, his disappearance from Christmas twenty nineteen,
Speaker 1: and conflicting views on how he treated his wife. We've
Speaker 1: also heard about Hannah's work stresses during the COVID pandemic
Speaker 1: at a time when her mother was slowly dying. We've
Speaker 1: heard about her reliance on medication and alcohol and an
Speaker 1: alleged suicide attempt in nineteen ninety two, and the more
Speaker 1: recent history concerning her mental health. Her brother testified for
Speaker 1: the Crown, while her sister was the first witness for
Speaker 1: the defense. Both the Crown and defense called family, friends, colleagues, neighbors.
Speaker 1: Those Crown witnesses tended to have suspicions about Polkinghorn's absence
Speaker 1: from family events, his weight loss, his work stresses, and
Speaker 1: his treatment of Hannah, while feeling she was coping well
Speaker 1: despite the problems in her life. While the defense witnesses
Speaker 1: hadn't noticed any changes in Polky, that he was still
Speaker 1: his usual funny, intelligent, giving work focused self, but at
Speaker 1: the same time noticed that Hannah seemed to be struggling.
Speaker 1: Forensic accountants have looked through the couple's finances. IT experts
Speaker 1: have analyzed their technology, Mental health and drug experts have
Speaker 1: weighed in. Electricity experts have debated what time the kettle
Speaker 1: was turned on. Philip Polkinghorn himself never took the stand,
Speaker 1: but we heard his voice twice, once on day one
Speaker 1: when his one one one call was played to the courtroom,
Speaker 1: and again when his lengthy hours long police interview was shown.
Speaker 1: And Pauline Hannah was heard in her own words, recorded
Speaker 1: at her family farm, talking at length about the problems
Speaker 1: in her life, while emails and text messages gave the
Speaker 1: court insight into her state of mind over the last
Speaker 1: few years of her life. Week eight will see the
Speaker 1: Crown and Defense deliver their closing addresses before Justice Graham
Speaker 1: lang sums up the case. Then it will be up
Speaker 1: to the jury to determine if Philip Pulkinghorn is guilty
Speaker 1: or not guilty. You can listen to episodes of Accused
Speaker 1: the Polkinghorn Trial through the Front Page podcast feed or
Speaker 1: find it on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1: This series is presented and produced by me Chelsea Daniels,
Speaker 1: with producer Ethan Sills and sound engineer Patty Fox. Additional
Speaker 1: production support by Helen King. Additional reporting from The heralds
Speaker 1: Craig Captain and George Block And for more coverage of
Speaker 1: the Polkinghorn trial had to ensid Herald dot co dot
Speaker 1: enz