1 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:10,680 Speaker 1: Hilda. I'm Chelsea Daniels and from the team behind the 2 00:00:10,720 --> 00:00:15,080 Speaker 1: front page the New Zealand Herald's daily news podcast, This 3 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:20,360 Speaker 1: is Accused the Polkinghorn trial. Over a series of weeks 4 00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:24,080 Speaker 1: in conjunction with our usual daily episodes, we'll be bringing 5 00:00:24,120 --> 00:00:26,880 Speaker 1: you regular coverage as one of the most high profile 6 00:00:27,000 --> 00:00:29,960 Speaker 1: trials of the year makes its way through the High 7 00:00:30,040 --> 00:00:35,000 Speaker 1: Court at Auckland. A warning, this podcast contains disturbing content. 8 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:41,200 Speaker 1: The former auckland E surgeon is accused of murdering his wife, 9 00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:45,160 Speaker 1: Pauline Hannah, who was found dead on April fifth, twenty 10 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:52,400 Speaker 1: twenty one. He maintains she took her own life. 11 00:00:53,240 --> 00:00:56,440 Speaker 2: When the police walked up those steps at one two 12 00:00:56,480 --> 00:01:03,600 Speaker 2: won Puckland Road that morning from into the house of 13 00:01:03,680 --> 00:01:08,360 Speaker 2: doctor Polkinghorn and Pauline Hannah, they assumed that the man 14 00:01:08,400 --> 00:01:13,000 Speaker 2: who stood in front of them was the devastated husband 15 00:01:14,520 --> 00:01:18,120 Speaker 2: and that the woman laid out on the floor in 16 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:20,080 Speaker 2: that position was. 17 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:23,080 Speaker 3: His wife, Pauling Hannah. 18 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:30,400 Speaker 2: Victim a suicide. Pauling Hannah's death at first pass did. 19 00:01:30,280 --> 00:01:33,959 Speaker 3: Look like a suicide. It was meant to. 20 00:01:36,760 --> 00:01:42,199 Speaker 2: The police going into that house, as they normally do, 21 00:01:43,080 --> 00:01:49,760 Speaker 2: looked around to assess the suicide. And they looked at 22 00:01:49,760 --> 00:01:54,280 Speaker 2: the supposed hanging mechanism. 23 00:01:53,040 --> 00:01:54,360 Speaker 3: The rod. 24 00:01:56,360 --> 00:02:02,360 Speaker 2: Halfway up that valuestrade as you see in the photograph. 25 00:02:02,400 --> 00:02:03,440 Speaker 3: So they did their job. 26 00:02:04,480 --> 00:02:12,000 Speaker 2: They tested that rote, not expecting what happened next to 27 00:02:12,280 --> 00:02:20,520 Speaker 2: happen under minimal tension that rode fell the way to 28 00:02:20,639 --> 00:02:26,400 Speaker 2: the graph. It seemed that things were not adding up. 29 00:02:28,160 --> 00:02:32,959 Speaker 1: That is how Crown Prosecutor Alicia McClintock began her closing 30 00:02:32,960 --> 00:02:36,720 Speaker 1: address of the crown's case. She said that police then 31 00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:40,480 Speaker 1: invited Polkinghorn back to the station. He may have thought 32 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:43,440 Speaker 1: he could talk his way out or the police wanted 33 00:02:43,440 --> 00:02:47,519 Speaker 1: to rub a stamp Hannah's suicide. But he couldn't explain 34 00:02:47,840 --> 00:02:51,600 Speaker 1: that scene and he couldn't explain that rope. That's because 35 00:02:51,880 --> 00:02:55,280 Speaker 1: Hannah didn't hang herself, McClintock said. 36 00:02:55,440 --> 00:03:00,480 Speaker 2: The police decided to explore the possibility that doctor polk Horn, 37 00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:04,320 Speaker 2: renowned eye surgeon, man of wealth and standing, had killed 38 00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:09,760 Speaker 2: his wife and staged it as a suicide. Now only 39 00:03:09,880 --> 00:03:16,239 Speaker 2: you can decide if he did. He is highly intelligent. 40 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:22,960 Speaker 2: He certainly sees himself as smart. There is an arrogance 41 00:03:23,720 --> 00:03:27,840 Speaker 2: and doctor Pulkinghorn, I suggest that you should not underestimate. 42 00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:33,720 Speaker 2: The crown case is that he has taken his wife's 43 00:03:34,520 --> 00:03:38,960 Speaker 2: life and he has blamed her for it. As he 44 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:45,640 Speaker 2: blamed her in life, he blames her in death. This 45 00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:51,720 Speaker 2: case is binary. If it's not suicide, it's murder. Pauline 46 00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:56,280 Speaker 2: Hannah did not die by accident. She did not die 47 00:03:56,320 --> 00:04:01,080 Speaker 2: by disease. She did not die by mistake. If it 48 00:04:01,280 --> 00:04:04,160 Speaker 2: isn't suicide, it's murder. 49 00:04:04,760 --> 00:04:07,800 Speaker 1: Hannah had a number of suicide risk factors, but there 50 00:04:07,880 --> 00:04:11,040 Speaker 1: was no evidence she was suicidal on the night of 51 00:04:11,080 --> 00:04:15,400 Speaker 1: April fourth. McLintock said this case is not determined on 52 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:19,240 Speaker 1: suicide risk factors or probabilities, but on the evidence of 53 00:04:19,279 --> 00:04:23,160 Speaker 1: those who saw, knew, and loved Pauline Hannah. Her own 54 00:04:23,279 --> 00:04:26,880 Speaker 1: voice in the Longlands recording and in her own letters. 55 00:04:27,279 --> 00:04:29,640 Speaker 3: She was not a woman who had given up. 56 00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:34,599 Speaker 2: She was a woman whose husband was giving up on her. 57 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:40,400 Speaker 2: She was in the way of doctor Polkinghorn's life with 58 00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:46,839 Speaker 2: the intoxicating medicine eshed it no doubt, fueled by the 59 00:04:46,920 --> 00:04:49,240 Speaker 2: impacts of methamphetamine. 60 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:54,440 Speaker 1: McClintock says she will start with Polkinghorn's conduct after his 61 00:04:54,520 --> 00:04:59,520 Speaker 1: wife's supposed death by suicide. This evidence clearly portrays a 62 00:04:59,600 --> 00:05:02,720 Speaker 1: man that doesn't fit with a man devastated by his 63 00:05:02,760 --> 00:05:08,520 Speaker 1: wife's suicide. The prosecutor said, Firstly, he erased evidence. Secondly, 64 00:05:08,960 --> 00:05:12,039 Speaker 1: he secretly tried to access whether he had left a 65 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:16,280 Speaker 1: clue on his wife's dead body. Thirdly, he started to 66 00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:20,080 Speaker 1: try and manipulate those who knew Hannah and tried to 67 00:05:20,160 --> 00:05:21,960 Speaker 1: paint her as suicidal. 68 00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:26,880 Speaker 2: McClintock says, before you, he's gone one step further and 69 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:33,480 Speaker 2: manipulated the evidence placed before you. He's faked a blood 70 00:05:33,560 --> 00:05:39,560 Speaker 2: result to try and make it look like his blood 71 00:05:39,800 --> 00:05:44,839 Speaker 2: is on the step at that address two years later 72 00:05:45,640 --> 00:05:51,200 Speaker 2: when it wasn't there in April twenty twenty one. We 73 00:05:51,279 --> 00:05:54,280 Speaker 2: are dealing humors of the jury with a very unusual 74 00:05:54,320 --> 00:05:58,400 Speaker 2: case and a very complex defendant. 75 00:05:59,120 --> 00:05:59,640 Speaker 3: He is an. 76 00:05:59,520 --> 00:06:04,719 Speaker 2: A man with high levels of intelligence and self assurance. 77 00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:09,039 Speaker 3: He appeared to be living a very comfortable life and 78 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:14,000 Speaker 3: renewer with his wife of twenty years, Pauline Hannah. He 79 00:06:14,120 --> 00:06:15,480 Speaker 3: was a renowned professional. 80 00:06:16,600 --> 00:06:20,120 Speaker 2: He was all of those things, it seem, but he 81 00:06:20,240 --> 00:06:23,800 Speaker 2: was also living another life which you've heard about. He 82 00:06:23,960 --> 00:06:29,320 Speaker 2: was living in another world, a world centered around medicine, 83 00:06:29,680 --> 00:06:33,599 Speaker 2: Ashton and their relationship which at least in his mind, 84 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:35,880 Speaker 2: was his future. 85 00:06:36,680 --> 00:06:40,719 Speaker 1: McClintock said there was secret financial support for a number 86 00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:44,720 Speaker 1: of sex workers and a problematic methamphetamine habit, and those 87 00:06:44,920 --> 00:06:50,200 Speaker 1: two lives collided on April fourth, twenty twenty one. McLintock 88 00:06:50,320 --> 00:06:54,280 Speaker 1: thanks the jury for listening to the morass of circumstantial 89 00:06:54,360 --> 00:06:57,159 Speaker 1: evidence in the case and said it's her job to 90 00:06:57,200 --> 00:06:59,560 Speaker 1: fit together the parts of the evidence that can be 91 00:06:59,640 --> 00:07:04,039 Speaker 1: used to prove Polkinghorn killed his wife. Once the Crown's 92 00:07:04,080 --> 00:07:07,520 Speaker 1: done that, she said, you can be sure that suicide 93 00:07:07,680 --> 00:07:13,120 Speaker 1: can be excluded. On pathology, McClintock said the true positive 94 00:07:13,160 --> 00:07:17,560 Speaker 1: findings here are very limited and not decisive, nor need 95 00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:21,240 Speaker 1: they be. She said. The findings establish the cause of 96 00:07:21,320 --> 00:07:24,880 Speaker 1: death as neck compression and not much more, but it 97 00:07:24,960 --> 00:07:28,440 Speaker 1: is speculative to use the absence of other injury to 98 00:07:28,480 --> 00:07:33,760 Speaker 1: support suicide. Defense pathologist doctor Stephen Cordner used the lack 99 00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:37,040 Speaker 1: of injury to support the suicide theory, but he did 100 00:07:37,080 --> 00:07:39,960 Speaker 1: not have all the evidence, said McClintock, such as the 101 00:07:40,040 --> 00:07:43,920 Speaker 1: scene evidence or the prior strangulation evidence as alleged by 102 00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:47,680 Speaker 1: family friends. The reardons all the evidence as to what 103 00:07:47,800 --> 00:07:52,679 Speaker 1: Polkinghorn did before and after Hannah's death. The crown doesn't 104 00:07:52,720 --> 00:07:55,160 Speaker 1: have to prove everything you have heard in the case, 105 00:07:55,440 --> 00:07:58,680 Speaker 1: the prosecutor told the jury, but to convict they must 106 00:07:58,800 --> 00:08:02,160 Speaker 1: feel sure on the evidence that they've heard that Polkinghorn 107 00:08:02,360 --> 00:08:05,640 Speaker 1: killed Hannah and he either intended it or he did 108 00:08:05,680 --> 00:08:11,520 Speaker 1: it recklessly. McClintock moved on to Polkinghorn's actions after Hannah's death. 109 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:17,000 Speaker 2: He was largely calm with the police and first responders, 110 00:08:18,240 --> 00:08:21,800 Speaker 2: and not so. We hadn't talking on the phone to 111 00:08:21,960 --> 00:08:25,920 Speaker 2: family members and others about what has happened. He was 112 00:08:25,960 --> 00:08:28,280 Speaker 2: described as wailing and as devastated. 113 00:08:28,640 --> 00:08:33,000 Speaker 3: He called himself devastated. Now it is very true, and 114 00:08:33,240 --> 00:08:34,439 Speaker 3: I don't suggest. 115 00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:39,199 Speaker 2: Otherwise that people grieve differently and there's no one way 116 00:08:39,280 --> 00:08:39,920 Speaker 2: to react. 117 00:08:40,320 --> 00:08:42,080 Speaker 3: I'm not suggesting that there is is. 118 00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:45,960 Speaker 2: Doctor Hettrick said, you look, shock can do strange things 119 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:51,679 Speaker 2: to people. But remember what he's telling us in the days, 120 00:08:51,960 --> 00:08:57,240 Speaker 2: weeks and months that follow her death is that he's devastated, devastated. 121 00:08:57,320 --> 00:09:00,320 Speaker 2: He says, you are right members of the jury to 122 00:09:00,480 --> 00:09:03,960 Speaker 2: stress hist his claim of devastation. 123 00:09:04,400 --> 00:09:07,840 Speaker 1: McClintock said that his priority, having made some calls about 124 00:09:07,880 --> 00:09:11,839 Speaker 1: his wife's death, was to delete his WhatsApp messages, including 125 00:09:12,000 --> 00:09:16,400 Speaker 1: his entire conversation history with Madison Ashton dating back to 126 00:09:16,480 --> 00:09:21,240 Speaker 1: twenty seventeen. During the police interview, Polkinghorn left the room 127 00:09:21,280 --> 00:09:25,360 Speaker 1: for a break at four twenty eight pm. McLintock said 128 00:09:25,400 --> 00:09:29,760 Speaker 1: when Detective Andrew Reeves examined the doctor's phone later, he 129 00:09:29,840 --> 00:09:33,880 Speaker 1: found no WhatsApp messages before April fifth, at about four 130 00:09:34,040 --> 00:09:38,239 Speaker 1: thirty pm. None of his messaging before then is available, 131 00:09:38,360 --> 00:09:41,360 Speaker 1: but we know they'd been in regular contact before that, 132 00:09:41,559 --> 00:09:44,200 Speaker 1: and a further review of his phone found he used 133 00:09:44,200 --> 00:09:48,000 Speaker 1: it multiple times overnight between April fourth and fifth, when 134 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:51,520 Speaker 1: he told police he was asleep. Earlier messages were found 135 00:09:51,559 --> 00:09:55,560 Speaker 1: on Ashton's phone from twenty seventeen to twenty twenty one, 136 00:09:55,800 --> 00:09:59,080 Speaker 1: but the contents of those messages have been scrambled together. 137 00:09:59,360 --> 00:10:01,720 Speaker 1: Mclintock's said that's not a coincidence. 138 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:05,760 Speaker 2: It's not a coincidence that all of the messages prior 139 00:10:05,760 --> 00:10:12,800 Speaker 2: to five April had gone off doctor Polkinghorn's phone and scrambled. 140 00:10:13,440 --> 00:10:14,559 Speaker 3: On Madison Ashton's. 141 00:10:14,920 --> 00:10:19,439 Speaker 2: I suggest, wouldn't you like to know what was being 142 00:10:19,520 --> 00:10:26,160 Speaker 2: said between those two in those earlier messages, But you 143 00:10:26,240 --> 00:10:34,000 Speaker 2: don't because doctor Polkinghorn has manipulated the evidence and deleted them. 144 00:10:34,600 --> 00:10:38,679 Speaker 2: The clear and obvious and I would say only inference 145 00:10:39,679 --> 00:10:43,360 Speaker 2: as to why he did this at that point in 146 00:10:43,520 --> 00:10:49,720 Speaker 2: time at the police station is because they contained messages 147 00:10:50,920 --> 00:10:56,520 Speaker 2: demonstrating that he was not the devastated husband at all. 148 00:10:56,720 --> 00:11:00,400 Speaker 2: If this was an open relationship that he had with 149 00:11:00,640 --> 00:11:07,160 Speaker 2: medicine Esh, mister Mansfield urges upon you, then what's the problem. 150 00:11:07,440 --> 00:11:11,320 Speaker 1: There are also deleted searches, such as how to delete 151 00:11:11,679 --> 00:11:16,000 Speaker 1: iCloud storage, which Polkinhorn searched the afternoon of April fifth 152 00:11:16,200 --> 00:11:17,680 Speaker 1: after leaving the police station. 153 00:11:18,600 --> 00:11:26,959 Speaker 2: The next search that he does and deletes is hugely significant, 154 00:11:27,520 --> 00:11:34,320 Speaker 2: and it comes on the sixth of April, and it's 155 00:11:34,360 --> 00:11:37,040 Speaker 2: on page eighty of Exhibit twenty. 156 00:11:37,960 --> 00:11:40,880 Speaker 3: This search unmasks the murderer. 157 00:11:42,040 --> 00:11:48,520 Speaker 2: I suggest leg ademer after strangulation. 158 00:11:50,160 --> 00:11:53,760 Speaker 3: After strangulation. 159 00:11:55,880 --> 00:12:04,880 Speaker 2: Strangulation is an entirely different Woo took. In this context, 160 00:12:04,920 --> 00:12:09,480 Speaker 2: it conveys murder rather than conveying suicide. 161 00:12:10,120 --> 00:12:13,760 Speaker 1: The one and only explanation is he's trying to check 162 00:12:13,880 --> 00:12:17,440 Speaker 1: if he had left behind a clue. McClintock said he 163 00:12:17,520 --> 00:12:20,360 Speaker 1: understands the working of the body and was worried that 164 00:12:20,440 --> 00:12:23,760 Speaker 1: he'd left a trace. As it turned out he hadn't. 165 00:12:24,800 --> 00:12:28,120 Speaker 1: There isn't an innocent explanation for the fact he searched 166 00:12:28,120 --> 00:12:32,800 Speaker 1: it on Duck Duck go and encrypted web browser. McClintock said. 167 00:12:33,080 --> 00:12:36,440 Speaker 1: She then moved on to Polkinghorn's holiday with Madison Ashton 168 00:12:36,600 --> 00:12:39,680 Speaker 1: the month of his wife's death. It's very telling, she 169 00:12:39,840 --> 00:12:42,360 Speaker 1: said that just three weeks after the loss of his 170 00:12:42,520 --> 00:12:45,160 Speaker 1: wife to a supposed suicide, he was off on a 171 00:12:45,160 --> 00:12:48,160 Speaker 1: holiday to a remote part of the country with Ashton. 172 00:12:48,920 --> 00:12:52,120 Speaker 2: Either he and his devastation just happened to have found 173 00:12:52,200 --> 00:12:56,680 Speaker 2: comfort in the arms of medicine Ashton in the South Island, 174 00:12:57,080 --> 00:13:01,040 Speaker 2: or this is what he wanted when. 175 00:13:00,840 --> 00:13:06,760 Speaker 3: He decided, either that his wife was of the way and. 176 00:13:06,760 --> 00:13:11,199 Speaker 2: He strangled her or what whether he did that more 177 00:13:11,320 --> 00:13:15,480 Speaker 2: spontaneously during an argument. Could be either of those things. 178 00:13:15,520 --> 00:13:18,160 Speaker 2: And I'll come back to this, but this is the 179 00:13:18,240 --> 00:13:19,520 Speaker 2: life he wanted. 180 00:13:19,360 --> 00:13:22,480 Speaker 3: And there he is. The end of the month with 181 00:13:22,920 --> 00:13:24,560 Speaker 3: Madisone Ashton. 182 00:13:25,200 --> 00:13:29,880 Speaker 1: From April seventh, twenty twenty one, Polkinghorn was contacting Madison 183 00:13:29,920 --> 00:13:34,520 Speaker 1: Ashton with limited references to Hannah and her death. McLintock 184 00:13:34,600 --> 00:13:39,120 Speaker 1: turned to what she said with Polkinghorn's attempts to manipulate witnesses. 185 00:13:39,600 --> 00:13:42,800 Speaker 1: He went around to his friend Paul Adrians's house and 186 00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:47,360 Speaker 1: encouraged him not to speak to police. Then there's Alison Ring, 187 00:13:47,679 --> 00:13:51,199 Speaker 1: Hannah's good friend, she said. Polkinghorn went around to her 188 00:13:51,280 --> 00:13:54,319 Speaker 1: house and started speaking ill of his wife, and also 189 00:13:54,400 --> 00:13:58,360 Speaker 1: procured a suicide note he said he'd found in Hannah's bedding. 190 00:13:58,800 --> 00:14:03,840 Speaker 2: He knew, as Allison Ring told you, Pauline Hannah always 191 00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:09,560 Speaker 2: left nut for everything. He knew questions were being asked 192 00:14:10,240 --> 00:14:12,920 Speaker 2: about why she hadn't. 193 00:14:12,800 --> 00:14:14,920 Speaker 3: Left a note here. 194 00:14:14,960 --> 00:14:20,960 Speaker 2: He is trying to manipulate Allison Rome. And as she 195 00:14:21,120 --> 00:14:23,680 Speaker 2: told you, that's exactly. 196 00:14:23,240 --> 00:14:24,280 Speaker 3: How she saw it. 197 00:14:25,320 --> 00:14:29,520 Speaker 2: I felt I had been manipulated by him. 198 00:14:29,960 --> 00:14:30,520 Speaker 3: That's what she. 199 00:14:30,560 --> 00:14:36,120 Speaker 1: Told you, McLintock said. Polkinghorn's deception got worse. She alleged 200 00:14:36,160 --> 00:14:39,440 Speaker 1: he planted blood in his house to explain away the 201 00:14:39,520 --> 00:14:43,160 Speaker 1: wound to his forehead that he could not explain at 202 00:14:43,160 --> 00:14:47,080 Speaker 1: his first interview. She said that while this sounds shocking, 203 00:14:47,240 --> 00:14:51,360 Speaker 1: the evidence tells us this. As ESR forensic scientist Fiona 204 00:14:51,440 --> 00:14:54,920 Speaker 1: Matheson examined the house thoroughly for blood and did not 205 00:14:55,040 --> 00:14:58,000 Speaker 1: find any on the steps leading up from the entrance 206 00:14:58,080 --> 00:15:01,360 Speaker 1: way to the small landing. She did find a red 207 00:15:01,440 --> 00:15:05,040 Speaker 1: brown mark on those steps, but said multiple times she'd 208 00:15:05,080 --> 00:15:07,680 Speaker 1: screened that area for blood and did not take a 209 00:15:07,720 --> 00:15:11,040 Speaker 1: sample because it didn't look like blood and was not blunt. 210 00:15:11,440 --> 00:15:16,320 Speaker 2: Two years later, along comes Dr Pulkinghorn to interfere in 211 00:15:16,440 --> 00:15:17,120 Speaker 2: all of that. 212 00:15:17,680 --> 00:15:20,840 Speaker 3: Doctor Scanlon is asked to visit his house at the 213 00:15:20,880 --> 00:15:21,960 Speaker 3: request of the defense. 214 00:15:22,560 --> 00:15:25,680 Speaker 2: Prior to arriving in New Zealand, he's been told there's 215 00:15:25,680 --> 00:15:30,000 Speaker 2: a blood stain on the side of the stairs. His 216 00:15:30,120 --> 00:15:34,760 Speaker 2: attention when he gets there is specifically drawn to that area, 217 00:15:35,480 --> 00:15:39,200 Speaker 2: but then it looked different. The one on the left 218 00:15:39,560 --> 00:15:45,120 Speaker 2: is what Fiona Mathieson looked at and said, I know 219 00:15:45,480 --> 00:15:48,720 Speaker 2: as a forensics shidist that is not blood, so I 220 00:15:48,760 --> 00:15:52,080 Speaker 2: didn't swab it. But in any event, she luminold the 221 00:15:52,320 --> 00:15:55,760 Speaker 2: entire area. The only blood stain that came up the 222 00:15:55,840 --> 00:15:59,000 Speaker 2: luminold testing was back over by the door. You'll remember 223 00:15:59,080 --> 00:16:04,520 Speaker 2: that two years later. The one on the right is 224 00:16:04,640 --> 00:16:08,680 Speaker 2: there when Doctor Scanlon turns out and he's directed to 225 00:16:08,720 --> 00:16:09,560 Speaker 2: it by whom. 226 00:16:10,880 --> 00:16:11,480 Speaker 3: Doctor Polk. 227 00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:15,800 Speaker 1: There were visual signs of contamination. The mark is in 228 00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:19,720 Speaker 1: the same place, but the size and shape are very different. 229 00:16:20,040 --> 00:16:22,320 Speaker 2: I suggest too, and there just isn't any way of 230 00:16:22,360 --> 00:16:23,480 Speaker 2: being polite about it. 231 00:16:23,520 --> 00:16:25,120 Speaker 3: Doctor Polhan's that there. 232 00:16:26,040 --> 00:16:28,800 Speaker 2: He knows he hasn't explained that mark on his head 233 00:16:29,360 --> 00:16:33,080 Speaker 2: an interview. He knows where that mark on his head 234 00:16:33,120 --> 00:16:35,560 Speaker 2: really came from from his wife. 235 00:16:36,360 --> 00:16:40,760 Speaker 1: If you accept his covering things up, that's circumstantial evidence 236 00:16:40,880 --> 00:16:45,080 Speaker 1: you can legitimately use to infer his guilt to McClintock said. 237 00:16:51,560 --> 00:16:54,680 Speaker 1: For coverage of other news events in New Zealand, listen 238 00:16:54,720 --> 00:16:58,760 Speaker 1: to the front page The Herald's daily news podcast wherever 239 00:16:58,800 --> 00:17:04,879 Speaker 1: you get your podcasts. McClintock then moved on to part 240 00:17:04,960 --> 00:17:09,520 Speaker 1: two of her address, Pauline Hannah herself. McClintock said Hannah 241 00:17:09,640 --> 00:17:13,720 Speaker 1: had her challenges, but was not suicidal that night, saying 242 00:17:13,760 --> 00:17:15,840 Speaker 1: that Hannah had been painted as a bit of a 243 00:17:15,880 --> 00:17:19,040 Speaker 1: stress cadet who drank too much and was obsessed with 244 00:17:19,080 --> 00:17:23,119 Speaker 1: her appearance by her husband. McClintock pointed instead to Hannah 245 00:17:23,200 --> 00:17:28,040 Speaker 1: being a beautiful, successful woman in her early sixties. She 246 00:17:28,119 --> 00:17:32,639 Speaker 1: loved her family and treated Polkinghorn's children as her own. 247 00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:36,080 Speaker 1: She could suffer a crisis of confidence from time to time, 248 00:17:36,359 --> 00:17:39,680 Speaker 1: especially in her work during the COVID pandemic, but she 249 00:17:39,800 --> 00:17:42,080 Speaker 1: was flourishing in her job at the time of her 250 00:17:42,080 --> 00:17:44,800 Speaker 1: death and looking forward to the opening of a new 251 00:17:44,880 --> 00:17:49,240 Speaker 1: vaccination center. McLintock urged the jury not to pay attention 252 00:17:49,400 --> 00:17:53,120 Speaker 1: to individual emails, such as one Hannah wrote that included 253 00:17:53,160 --> 00:17:57,000 Speaker 1: the line my life is insane. She said people are 254 00:17:57,040 --> 00:18:01,119 Speaker 1: complex and words on a page don't always convey well 255 00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:06,240 Speaker 1: what sets behind them, especially in isolation. She said that 256 00:18:06,320 --> 00:18:09,439 Speaker 1: no one had seen anything to suggest she was on 257 00:18:09,480 --> 00:18:10,520 Speaker 1: the brink, and. 258 00:18:10,520 --> 00:18:13,639 Speaker 2: To have her actions in going to the tip and 259 00:18:13,680 --> 00:18:18,199 Speaker 2: taking dinner to people can be sort of cast as 260 00:18:18,280 --> 00:18:23,080 Speaker 2: potential suicide indicators. Well, that confused even Doctormenki's who said, 261 00:18:25,240 --> 00:18:28,560 Speaker 2: that's a bit confusing to say that's an indicator of something. 262 00:18:29,119 --> 00:18:32,200 Speaker 2: It seems desperate to be frank to look to that 263 00:18:33,040 --> 00:18:36,200 Speaker 2: to suggest she was suicidal. People go to the tip 264 00:18:36,800 --> 00:18:39,159 Speaker 2: on long weekends and one of the reasons for that 265 00:18:39,400 --> 00:18:42,080 Speaker 2: is they want to go to the tip and throw. 266 00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:45,439 Speaker 3: Some things out. It doesn't have to be a mental 267 00:18:45,480 --> 00:18:47,000 Speaker 3: health issue. 268 00:18:47,320 --> 00:18:51,560 Speaker 1: McClintock said Hannah was sad but philosophical about her mother's 269 00:18:51,600 --> 00:18:54,399 Speaker 1: death and had come to terms with it. Hannah was 270 00:18:54,440 --> 00:18:58,080 Speaker 1: also on prozac for twenty years and took a standard dose. 271 00:18:58,359 --> 00:19:01,119 Speaker 1: Her GP had said she was well maintained on that 272 00:19:01,240 --> 00:19:06,000 Speaker 1: medicine and stable. McClintock said, she's not suggesting the medications 273 00:19:06,040 --> 00:19:08,919 Speaker 1: she was on can't have a negative effect. The question 274 00:19:09,160 --> 00:19:12,560 Speaker 1: is did it. She had been on her medications for 275 00:19:12,600 --> 00:19:15,720 Speaker 1: a decade or more, and the evidence is the jurymine 276 00:19:16,000 --> 00:19:18,680 Speaker 1: a weight loss drug seemed to be helping her state 277 00:19:18,720 --> 00:19:22,360 Speaker 1: of mind. McClintock said Hannah had sought help to reduce 278 00:19:22,400 --> 00:19:25,480 Speaker 1: her alcohol intake in the years before her death, but 279 00:19:25,560 --> 00:19:29,440 Speaker 1: it seemed that Polkinghorn would taunt her with it at times. 280 00:19:29,840 --> 00:19:32,359 Speaker 1: Her blood alcohol limit at the time of death was 281 00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:36,560 Speaker 1: below the legal limit. McClintock says Hannah did not attempt 282 00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:41,120 Speaker 1: suicide between nineteen ninety and nineteen ninety two, as alleged 283 00:19:41,160 --> 00:19:43,760 Speaker 1: by her sister Tracy Hannah in evidence. 284 00:19:44,119 --> 00:19:48,400 Speaker 2: Pauline Hannah's medical records were traversed over hours of cross examination. 285 00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:53,359 Speaker 2: There is no medical evidence to support what Tracy Hann said. 286 00:19:54,520 --> 00:19:58,000 Speaker 2: Here were no marks on her list at all. Topsy 287 00:19:59,320 --> 00:20:02,440 Speaker 2: It is not something this supposed. 288 00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:06,639 Speaker 3: Attempt that anyone who was truly closed to. 289 00:20:06,720 --> 00:20:11,760 Speaker 2: Pauline Hannah was told on Tracy Hannah's own evidence. This 290 00:20:12,040 --> 00:20:16,920 Speaker 2: was both a great shocking piece of information, and yet 291 00:20:17,920 --> 00:20:20,399 Speaker 2: she also told you she kept it buried in the 292 00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:24,760 Speaker 2: recesses of her memory for something close to thirty years. 293 00:20:25,800 --> 00:20:30,760 Speaker 2: I can't explain Tracy Hannah's motivation to say what she 294 00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:35,480 Speaker 2: did about Pauline Hannah, and I need not prove the 295 00:20:35,520 --> 00:20:39,320 Speaker 2: crowd need not prove why she did. But I suggest 296 00:20:39,359 --> 00:20:44,040 Speaker 2: you can safely put that evidence from her to one side. 297 00:20:44,520 --> 00:20:49,800 Speaker 2: Whether it's driven by jealousy of Pauline, by some sort 298 00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:54,879 Speaker 2: of odd fascination with doctor Paulkinghorn, by a wish to 299 00:20:54,920 --> 00:20:59,120 Speaker 2: be a center of attention, who knows, but I suggested 300 00:20:59,119 --> 00:21:01,080 Speaker 2: it is unsafe to rely upon. 301 00:21:01,720 --> 00:21:05,080 Speaker 1: It is clear she had suicidal thoughts in twenty nineteen. 302 00:21:05,520 --> 00:21:08,200 Speaker 1: The call to the crisis team shows her mother was 303 00:21:08,240 --> 00:21:11,560 Speaker 1: in hospital and her husband had abandoned her at Christmas. 304 00:21:12,000 --> 00:21:15,080 Speaker 1: Her thoughts, though, were not of hanging, they were of 305 00:21:15,160 --> 00:21:18,680 Speaker 1: driving into a lorry, and she didn't get past those 306 00:21:18,760 --> 00:21:23,440 Speaker 1: invasive thoughts, saying she was too scared and loved her family. 307 00:21:23,560 --> 00:21:28,119 Speaker 1: McClintock says she suggested a comment Hannah made about chucking 308 00:21:28,200 --> 00:21:31,359 Speaker 1: herself off a bridge in the long Lands recording was 309 00:21:31,440 --> 00:21:36,080 Speaker 1: not serious. Hannah had significant protective factors in her life, 310 00:21:36,160 --> 00:21:39,040 Speaker 1: namely her family, so it's important to look at what 311 00:21:39,200 --> 00:21:43,280 Speaker 1: she did when she had those invasive thoughts like reaching 312 00:21:43,320 --> 00:21:47,040 Speaker 1: out to her GP. But she was also married to 313 00:21:47,119 --> 00:21:51,720 Speaker 1: the complex personality of Polkinghorn. He was both her great 314 00:21:51,800 --> 00:21:56,320 Speaker 1: love and her greatest vulnerability. McClintock said it was a. 315 00:21:56,400 --> 00:22:00,720 Speaker 2: Husband who she joined for sexual experiences with others to 316 00:22:00,840 --> 00:22:03,840 Speaker 2: please him, and the last evidence of that is in 317 00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:08,760 Speaker 2: twenty sixteen. Consistent with that, she describes group sex and 318 00:22:08,840 --> 00:22:13,000 Speaker 2: the Longlands recording as something she used to do. He 319 00:22:13,119 --> 00:22:16,919 Speaker 2: was the husband who she called an angry, angry man 320 00:22:16,960 --> 00:22:19,959 Speaker 2: in that Longlands recording when things didn't go his way. 321 00:22:20,200 --> 00:22:23,960 Speaker 2: The husband who knew she knew would have sex with 322 00:22:24,080 --> 00:22:27,679 Speaker 2: sex workers in Sydney, but who she didn't want doing 323 00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:31,560 Speaker 2: so on her patch, and she said that she was 324 00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:35,560 Speaker 2: clear about that. The husband who expected sex from her 325 00:22:35,640 --> 00:22:37,440 Speaker 2: every day and. 326 00:22:37,400 --> 00:22:39,399 Speaker 3: Would go into her bedroom demanding it. 327 00:22:40,080 --> 00:22:44,600 Speaker 1: McClintock said Polkinghorn was a husband who criticized her, blamed her, 328 00:22:44,880 --> 00:22:47,600 Speaker 1: told her not to wear body suits, and picked at 329 00:22:47,640 --> 00:22:51,240 Speaker 1: her about benign things. This was seen by her friend 330 00:22:51,359 --> 00:22:54,560 Speaker 1: John read In and there's evidence of Hannah drafting three 331 00:22:54,760 --> 00:22:57,600 Speaker 1: versions of the pleading letter she was to SND in 332 00:22:57,640 --> 00:22:59,080 Speaker 1: reply to her husband. 333 00:22:59,359 --> 00:23:05,280 Speaker 2: He was the husband who had strangled her and threatened 334 00:23:05,320 --> 00:23:10,560 Speaker 2: her that he could do it anytime. He was the husband, though, 335 00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:15,280 Speaker 2: that she loved despite all of it. The crowd does 336 00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:19,080 Speaker 2: not and has not, contested that she loved him. 337 00:23:19,320 --> 00:23:23,640 Speaker 3: It's clear that she loved him for all as many. 338 00:23:23,480 --> 00:23:28,760 Speaker 2: Facts, she loved him. She loved him dearly. She kept 339 00:23:28,760 --> 00:23:34,240 Speaker 2: trying to better herself to make him happy. The great 340 00:23:34,480 --> 00:23:38,080 Speaker 2: tragedy of all of those is that her love for 341 00:23:38,160 --> 00:23:41,760 Speaker 2: doctor Polkinghorn ultimately cost her her life. 342 00:23:42,040 --> 00:23:45,600 Speaker 3: But as it happened in his hand, not at her. 343 00:23:46,800 --> 00:23:49,960 Speaker 1: There were eleven witnesses who all said, as far as 344 00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:54,120 Speaker 1: they were concerned, Hannah was fulfilled and had purpose through 345 00:23:54,160 --> 00:23:57,760 Speaker 1: her work and her grandchildren. It's only after death that 346 00:23:57,840 --> 00:24:02,119 Speaker 1: Polkinghorn started to talk about her dress, McClintock said. And 347 00:24:02,200 --> 00:24:04,840 Speaker 1: while there's a note in only a third or a 348 00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:09,280 Speaker 1: quarter of cases, McClintock said, the evidence shows Hannah left 349 00:24:09,440 --> 00:24:13,479 Speaker 1: notes about everything. Her pattern was to reach out and 350 00:24:13,640 --> 00:24:16,800 Speaker 1: write down. If she was in pain, she would write 351 00:24:16,800 --> 00:24:20,320 Speaker 1: to herself or write to family to just get it out. 352 00:24:20,280 --> 00:24:23,280 Speaker 2: Because her pattern was to reach out and write down 353 00:24:24,080 --> 00:24:26,880 Speaker 2: she was in pain, that's what she would do. 354 00:24:27,840 --> 00:24:30,920 Speaker 3: She spoke about her pain when she was in pain, 355 00:24:31,280 --> 00:24:33,560 Speaker 3: even to herself, emailed herself. 356 00:24:34,240 --> 00:24:37,960 Speaker 2: She got it out, including when she was feeling low 357 00:24:38,640 --> 00:24:42,199 Speaker 2: April twenty twenty email to herself May twenty twenty email 358 00:24:42,240 --> 00:24:43,680 Speaker 2: to family about being bullied. 359 00:24:43,720 --> 00:24:45,720 Speaker 3: She wrote it down, She got it out. 360 00:24:46,440 --> 00:24:49,679 Speaker 2: She wrote her feelings down all the time, or contacted 361 00:24:49,800 --> 00:24:52,680 Speaker 2: people and spoke to them about it. 362 00:24:53,040 --> 00:24:56,679 Speaker 3: And yet she heeled herself and left no note. And 363 00:24:56,720 --> 00:24:59,480 Speaker 3: I simply say for her, that. 364 00:24:59,400 --> 00:25:03,120 Speaker 1: Doesn't Hannah searched for things all the time, but there's 365 00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:07,639 Speaker 1: no evidence she researched suicide methods before her death, which 366 00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:10,600 Speaker 1: suggests that she had to know how to take her 367 00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:13,920 Speaker 1: own life and the way the defense is alleged. Plus, 368 00:25:14,080 --> 00:25:16,520 Speaker 1: why would she have chosen to hang herself when there 369 00:25:16,520 --> 00:25:18,640 Speaker 1: were a number of drugs in the house she could 370 00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:22,600 Speaker 1: have taken instead, McClintock asked. And then there's the location 371 00:25:22,800 --> 00:25:25,199 Speaker 1: of where her alleged hanging took place. 372 00:25:25,600 --> 00:25:26,280 Speaker 3: This is in the. 373 00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:30,800 Speaker 2: Front doorway, in the most public part of the house, 374 00:25:31,080 --> 00:25:35,040 Speaker 2: where she will be seen by whoever enters that doorway. Immediately, 375 00:25:36,040 --> 00:25:39,359 Speaker 2: which she could have been saved from Darwin life. The 376 00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:44,040 Speaker 2: door's class, as was its panel beside the door, does 377 00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:47,480 Speaker 2: it jel Given everything you know about who, how consumed 378 00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:50,600 Speaker 2: she was about appearance, about. 379 00:25:50,280 --> 00:25:53,960 Speaker 3: Others, who would find who? There? 380 00:25:55,359 --> 00:26:00,560 Speaker 2: Statistics don't tell you the answer with this, Well would she. 381 00:26:01,960 --> 00:26:07,360 Speaker 3: Do in what stated? Because she's naked. 382 00:26:07,920 --> 00:26:12,280 Speaker 2: But for that dressing gown in the most public part 383 00:26:12,359 --> 00:26:17,400 Speaker 2: of the house, naked under a loose dressing gow, this 384 00:26:17,720 --> 00:26:25,159 Speaker 2: hugely proud, immaculate woman impulsively decided to leave this world 385 00:26:25,320 --> 00:26:26,440 Speaker 2: pretty much naked. 386 00:26:27,119 --> 00:26:31,360 Speaker 1: McClintock then talked about what may have happened after Hannah 387 00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:35,000 Speaker 1: sent an email to Polkinghorn at ten forty six pm, 388 00:26:35,400 --> 00:26:39,359 Speaker 1: the last piece of written communications she made. We know 389 00:26:39,520 --> 00:26:42,520 Speaker 1: that she plugged her phone in at some point. Then, 390 00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:45,960 Speaker 1: if you followed the suicide narrative, Hannah got up at 391 00:26:45,960 --> 00:26:48,480 Speaker 1: some point in the night despite the high levels of 392 00:26:48,560 --> 00:26:52,000 Speaker 1: zoppoclone in her system, but she didn't touch her phone 393 00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:55,240 Speaker 1: or her laptop. She also didn't go to the toilet, 394 00:26:55,359 --> 00:26:58,919 Speaker 1: despite having a full bladder when she died. Instead, she 395 00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:01,720 Speaker 1: made a mess of a room, stripped just the top 396 00:27:01,760 --> 00:27:04,480 Speaker 1: sheet off the bed, and took off the pillowcases, which 397 00:27:04,480 --> 00:27:07,840 Speaker 1: appeared to have vanished. Hannah then went naked apart from 398 00:27:07,840 --> 00:27:10,639 Speaker 1: her robe to get the rope, but we don't know 399 00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:14,080 Speaker 1: exactly where from if it's still in the ute. She 400 00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:18,560 Speaker 1: went outside, full bladder in her robe, hair and makeup, 401 00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:23,360 Speaker 1: undone across the street to get it. Polking Horn had 402 00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:26,800 Speaker 1: said he'd sealed the ends of the rope the day before, 403 00:27:26,880 --> 00:27:29,879 Speaker 1: but the rope had been cut between the sealed ends, 404 00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:34,000 Speaker 1: so continuing that narrative, Hannah would have had to cut 405 00:27:34,040 --> 00:27:37,320 Speaker 1: the rope but then hidden the cutting implement in her 406 00:27:37,359 --> 00:27:41,280 Speaker 1: disinhibited state. She then would have had to truss one 407 00:27:41,359 --> 00:27:44,320 Speaker 1: bit of rope to the balustrade without any search on 408 00:27:44,359 --> 00:27:47,239 Speaker 1: her phone and laptop before moving a chair into the 409 00:27:47,280 --> 00:27:51,840 Speaker 1: hallway or without noise or lights. She also fetched a 410 00:27:51,960 --> 00:27:55,200 Speaker 1: leather belt to attach to the rope, despite her robe 411 00:27:55,280 --> 00:27:57,679 Speaker 1: having a belt. She would have done all of this 412 00:27:57,960 --> 00:28:01,159 Speaker 1: without being noticed by polkinghorn On, who we know was 413 00:28:01,280 --> 00:28:05,399 Speaker 1: using his laptop until around two forty four am. The 414 00:28:05,520 --> 00:28:10,320 Speaker 1: rope used was also unnecessarily long and from a needlessly 415 00:28:10,520 --> 00:28:13,520 Speaker 1: high point in the house, and did not have enough 416 00:28:13,560 --> 00:28:18,520 Speaker 1: tension when found by police. McClintock said on pathology. McLintock 417 00:28:18,600 --> 00:28:21,200 Speaker 1: said that it only takes us so far. The Crown 418 00:28:21,240 --> 00:28:26,000 Speaker 1: pathologists ruled that Hannah died of net compression. The defense 419 00:28:26,040 --> 00:28:29,680 Speaker 1: pathologists said they would expect Hannah to have suffered many 420 00:28:29,800 --> 00:28:33,520 Speaker 1: more injuries if she'd been strangled, but McClintock said the 421 00:28:33,520 --> 00:28:37,800 Speaker 1: pathologists acknowledged the minority of cases where there are no 422 00:28:38,280 --> 00:28:42,320 Speaker 1: or limited injuries are where there's a good reason, such 423 00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:45,440 Speaker 1: as a self sedated victim or an assailant who knows 424 00:28:45,480 --> 00:28:49,680 Speaker 1: what they're doing. McClintock said, various injuries on Hannah's body, 425 00:28:50,080 --> 00:28:54,080 Speaker 1: to her nose, her temple, her arms weren't present on 426 00:28:54,240 --> 00:28:55,240 Speaker 1: April fourth. 427 00:28:55,640 --> 00:28:56,440 Speaker 3: It really just a. 428 00:28:56,440 --> 00:28:59,960 Speaker 2: Case of stopping, I suggested, thinking logically about the life, 429 00:29:00,920 --> 00:29:03,960 Speaker 2: because no matter how much you'll urge to discard all 430 00:29:03,960 --> 00:29:07,280 Speaker 2: of these injuries because of the view that there should 431 00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:10,880 Speaker 2: have been more, which I'll come to, it's actually much 432 00:29:10,920 --> 00:29:13,440 Speaker 2: more straightforward and you just stop and think about it, 433 00:29:13,480 --> 00:29:17,920 Speaker 2: because what are the chances that she has both become 434 00:29:18,080 --> 00:29:22,040 Speaker 2: suicidal and had this bumpy old time that's injured her 435 00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:23,600 Speaker 2: in all of these different. 436 00:29:23,280 --> 00:29:27,200 Speaker 1: Ways, And there's a fourth injury, an abrasion to her 437 00:29:27,360 --> 00:29:31,920 Speaker 1: back that McClintock says, is a bit more equivocal. It's 438 00:29:31,960 --> 00:29:36,040 Speaker 1: the only injury the two Crown pathologists both said could 439 00:29:36,080 --> 00:29:39,760 Speaker 1: have been made after death. You need to consider all 440 00:29:39,800 --> 00:29:45,200 Speaker 1: the injuries together, McClintock said, again, the answers here lie 441 00:29:45,280 --> 00:29:50,280 Speaker 1: outside the pathology. Hannah had no evident injuries on April fourth, 442 00:29:50,720 --> 00:29:55,000 Speaker 1: but here she is dead on April fifth with those injuries. 443 00:29:56,040 --> 00:29:59,800 Speaker 1: McClintock then moved on to the evidence supporting Hannah being 444 00:29:59,800 --> 00:30:01,280 Speaker 1: of victim of murder. 445 00:30:01,480 --> 00:30:06,320 Speaker 2: The single most significant piece of evidence in this trial, 446 00:30:07,040 --> 00:30:13,200 Speaker 2: I suggest, is that doctor Pulpinghorn had tried to strangle 447 00:30:13,520 --> 00:30:21,320 Speaker 2: Pauline Hannah before she told her best friends the Reddins 448 00:30:21,360 --> 00:30:26,840 Speaker 2: about it in January twenty twenty twenty five. 449 00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:29,440 Speaker 3: January twenty twenty. 450 00:30:30,200 --> 00:30:36,920 Speaker 2: She was dead from net compression within thirteen months of 451 00:30:36,960 --> 00:30:43,000 Speaker 2: that disclosure. That she told her friends that he had 452 00:30:43,040 --> 00:30:46,760 Speaker 2: done that. That's one of the few pieces of evidence 453 00:30:47,640 --> 00:30:49,280 Speaker 2: that's not been contested before you. 454 00:30:50,720 --> 00:30:51,920 Speaker 3: So she did tell him that. 455 00:30:53,160 --> 00:30:57,400 Speaker 2: There was a challenge to the Reddin's memory around what 456 00:30:57,520 --> 00:31:03,040 Speaker 2: she said in the Leader and after and whether it 457 00:31:03,160 --> 00:31:07,280 Speaker 2: was spoken of her gig, but there was no challenge 458 00:31:07,880 --> 00:31:10,760 Speaker 2: none to the fact that she said that he had 459 00:31:10,760 --> 00:31:15,200 Speaker 2: done it, and to the fact that she demonstrated that he. 460 00:31:15,200 --> 00:31:15,640 Speaker 3: Had done it. 461 00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:22,040 Speaker 1: Pheasant Readon said, Hannah became agitated and described that Polkinghorn 462 00:31:22,160 --> 00:31:25,240 Speaker 1: had done this to her before the witness gestured with 463 00:31:25,320 --> 00:31:30,840 Speaker 1: her hands to her throat. McClintock said, Pheasant's husband, John Ridon, said, 464 00:31:30,960 --> 00:31:34,400 Speaker 1: during a dinner in twenty twenty, what she was telling 465 00:31:34,440 --> 00:31:38,160 Speaker 1: them became more and more serious before she placed her 466 00:31:38,240 --> 00:31:42,000 Speaker 1: hands on her throat. After this, she said nothing for 467 00:31:42,080 --> 00:31:46,240 Speaker 1: maybe five seconds, Riddon said, before saying he tried to 468 00:31:46,280 --> 00:31:50,320 Speaker 1: strangle me. When Hannah had defended Polkinghorn multiple times in 469 00:31:50,360 --> 00:31:53,440 Speaker 1: the past, why would she have lied about this as 470 00:31:53,520 --> 00:31:58,440 Speaker 1: the defense suggested, McClintock asked. Doctor Christopher Milroy, one of 471 00:31:58,440 --> 00:32:03,080 Speaker 1: the defense pathologists, acknowledged that while rare, it was possible 472 00:32:03,160 --> 00:32:06,360 Speaker 1: to strangle someone without leaving significant injuries. 473 00:32:06,720 --> 00:32:12,920 Speaker 2: Non fatal strangulation common feature of violence against women, a 474 00:32:13,040 --> 00:32:17,240 Speaker 2: key marker for the escalation of domestic violence. Dr Molroy 475 00:32:17,880 --> 00:32:22,080 Speaker 2: accepted that said, almost all of the strangulation cases he 476 00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:25,520 Speaker 2: has dealt with clinically involved a male perpetrator and a 477 00:32:25,520 --> 00:32:29,560 Speaker 2: female victim, so this is something just to be set 478 00:32:29,680 --> 00:32:32,960 Speaker 2: against all of this talk of suicide risk factors and 479 00:32:33,120 --> 00:32:38,440 Speaker 2: suicide indicators that the experts spoke of at length. Indicators 480 00:32:38,480 --> 00:32:42,640 Speaker 2: don't decide cases. You know, the facts decide cases. But 481 00:32:42,720 --> 00:32:45,280 Speaker 2: if we're going to get into looking at suicide indicators, 482 00:32:45,280 --> 00:32:46,680 Speaker 2: you have to look at this tone. 483 00:32:46,960 --> 00:32:50,480 Speaker 1: She told the jury they should look at Polkinghorn's behavior, 484 00:32:50,840 --> 00:32:54,680 Speaker 1: and I told one friend Philip has become beastly, that 485 00:32:54,800 --> 00:32:58,440 Speaker 1: he was an angry man. She warned her niece not 486 00:32:58,560 --> 00:33:01,480 Speaker 1: to stay with them over Chris and asked her step 487 00:33:01,600 --> 00:33:04,840 Speaker 1: children not to repeat things back to him. Back to 488 00:33:04,920 --> 00:33:10,080 Speaker 1: Hannah's injuries, McClintock said, they are not nonspecific when viewed 489 00:33:10,120 --> 00:33:12,719 Speaker 1: through a lens of control and aggression. 490 00:33:13,040 --> 00:33:20,040 Speaker 2: Either she's been surprised in the ensuing struggle, she's been 491 00:33:20,720 --> 00:33:32,280 Speaker 2: struck and punched and gripped and strangled, or what there's 492 00:33:32,320 --> 00:33:40,160 Speaker 2: an argument during which she's been struck and punched and 493 00:33:40,200 --> 00:33:46,560 Speaker 2: gripped and strangle. You don't need to prove which there 494 00:33:46,640 --> 00:33:51,600 Speaker 2: isn't a camera in that role. This is about connecting 495 00:33:51,920 --> 00:33:57,440 Speaker 2: everything together, so it's really important not to get trapped 496 00:33:57,480 --> 00:33:59,880 Speaker 2: into isolating bits of evidence. 497 00:34:00,600 --> 00:34:03,920 Speaker 1: The crown doesn't have to prove what type of strangulation 498 00:34:04,200 --> 00:34:08,320 Speaker 1: was used, McClintock said. In a criminal trial, the exact 499 00:34:08,480 --> 00:34:11,920 Speaker 1: mechanism of death does not need to be proven, but 500 00:34:12,360 --> 00:34:15,040 Speaker 1: you do need to be sure the neck compression was 501 00:34:15,200 --> 00:34:19,479 Speaker 1: caused by Polkinghorn and not Hannah hanging herself she told 502 00:34:19,480 --> 00:34:23,360 Speaker 1: the jury. McClintock said that the jury should also remember 503 00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:27,120 Speaker 1: that Polkinghorn is a doctor and would have been avoiding 504 00:34:27,200 --> 00:34:30,640 Speaker 1: making it look like he killed his wife. The Crown 505 00:34:30,880 --> 00:34:35,600 Speaker 1: must prove two things that Polkinghorn killed Hannah, and at 506 00:34:35,600 --> 00:34:38,880 Speaker 1: the time he did that he either intended to kill 507 00:34:38,920 --> 00:34:42,520 Speaker 1: her or was reckless as to whether his actions would 508 00:34:42,640 --> 00:34:46,400 Speaker 1: kill her. While the Crown does not need to prove motive, 509 00:34:46,920 --> 00:34:49,160 Speaker 1: it's helpful to look at what was going on in 510 00:34:49,200 --> 00:34:53,960 Speaker 1: their relationship. The evidence shows that Hannah knew Polkinghorn had 511 00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:57,960 Speaker 1: sex with prostitutes, and she may have joined in in 512 00:34:58,120 --> 00:35:01,719 Speaker 1: years past to please him, but she didn't enjoy it 513 00:35:02,160 --> 00:35:05,480 Speaker 1: and wasn't happy about his infidelity, and there is no 514 00:35:05,640 --> 00:35:09,160 Speaker 1: evidence of it being an open relationship. In April twenty 515 00:35:09,239 --> 00:35:13,040 Speaker 1: twenty one, it's unclear why he didn't leave her, and 516 00:35:13,080 --> 00:35:17,360 Speaker 1: the reasons could have been anything from arrogance to appearances 517 00:35:17,400 --> 00:35:20,879 Speaker 1: to money. McClintock said, while Hannah was scared, he had 518 00:35:20,880 --> 00:35:23,719 Speaker 1: a big shot lawyers on his side, and that she 519 00:35:23,760 --> 00:35:26,279 Speaker 1: wouldn't have any money in her name anymore if she 520 00:35:26,400 --> 00:35:30,400 Speaker 1: left him. There were also concerns about finances, to the 521 00:35:30,400 --> 00:35:33,400 Speaker 1: point that Hannah opened a personal loan account right on 522 00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:37,320 Speaker 1: the cusp of her death. McClintock said, we must add 523 00:35:37,480 --> 00:35:40,120 Speaker 1: to all of this that Hannah was a woman whose 524 00:35:40,239 --> 00:35:41,640 Speaker 1: husband was on math. 525 00:35:42,080 --> 00:35:43,200 Speaker 3: He's preoccupied. 526 00:35:44,120 --> 00:35:46,919 Speaker 2: It's some level with each of these things as well 527 00:35:47,680 --> 00:35:51,040 Speaker 2: other women, money, meth. 528 00:35:52,719 --> 00:35:58,480 Speaker 3: The real problem in his mind that supports this is why. 529 00:36:00,160 --> 00:36:04,000 Speaker 2: So whether he decided to end it having watched videos 530 00:36:04,040 --> 00:36:11,040 Speaker 2: that night for Madison, Ashton smoked myth and surprised his wife. 531 00:36:11,520 --> 00:36:15,799 Speaker 2: Whether they argued and he strangled her during that both. 532 00:36:15,520 --> 00:36:16,839 Speaker 3: Are available. 533 00:36:24,719 --> 00:36:29,480 Speaker 1: Alsia McClintock turned to Polkingcorn's life in the eighteen months 534 00:36:29,560 --> 00:36:31,080 Speaker 1: before his wife's death. 535 00:36:31,239 --> 00:36:35,279 Speaker 2: There's three aspects to who he had become on the 536 00:36:35,400 --> 00:36:39,000 Speaker 2: night of four April. His behavior had changed. He had 537 00:36:39,040 --> 00:36:44,880 Speaker 2: become increasingly angry and agitated. That might tie to his 538 00:36:45,040 --> 00:36:46,040 Speaker 2: use of myth fetomene. 539 00:36:47,120 --> 00:36:51,239 Speaker 3: He's obsessed with medicine Ashton. He thinks he's setting up 540 00:36:51,280 --> 00:36:53,879 Speaker 3: a life with her. It's clear in his. 541 00:36:53,920 --> 00:37:00,680 Speaker 2: Messages that that's what he thinks. He's hemorrhaging money and 542 00:37:00,880 --> 00:37:07,960 Speaker 2: money was an issue he's preoccupied with. So again, any 543 00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:14,120 Speaker 2: one or more of these support the inference the logical 544 00:37:14,239 --> 00:37:19,200 Speaker 2: conclusion that these two argued about something at night, or 545 00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:23,880 Speaker 2: these issues boiled over for doctor Pulkinghorn that night and 546 00:37:23,960 --> 00:37:26,400 Speaker 2: his decision to strangle his wife. 547 00:37:26,440 --> 00:37:29,719 Speaker 1: Many people picked up on the fact he was acting differently, 548 00:37:30,280 --> 00:37:34,040 Speaker 1: including being more irritable at work and disclosing his meth 549 00:37:34,160 --> 00:37:37,439 Speaker 1: us to colleagues. At the same time, He's going through 550 00:37:37,480 --> 00:37:41,320 Speaker 1: the cash and has been controlling of and abusive too 551 00:37:41,560 --> 00:37:45,040 Speaker 1: his wife, and had an ever developing relationship with the 552 00:37:45,080 --> 00:37:49,120 Speaker 1: Madison Ashton. The suggestion he's not responsible for the meth 553 00:37:49,200 --> 00:37:54,120 Speaker 1: in the toilet adjoining Hannah's room is just silly, McClintock said. 554 00:37:54,560 --> 00:37:58,160 Speaker 1: Polkinghorn had also tried to blame the meth pipe found 555 00:37:58,160 --> 00:38:03,640 Speaker 1: at auckland I on others. Unusual behavior and aggression are 556 00:38:03,680 --> 00:38:07,040 Speaker 1: symptoms of meth use, as we heard from an expert witness, 557 00:38:07,200 --> 00:38:10,839 Speaker 1: doctor Emma Schwartz, and it is also associated with an 558 00:38:10,960 --> 00:38:15,520 Speaker 1: increased libido. Hannah had complained to friends about him wanting 559 00:38:15,600 --> 00:38:21,120 Speaker 1: sex every day, calling him a sex fiend. Schwartz also 560 00:38:21,280 --> 00:38:25,760 Speaker 1: testified that meth use is associated with an increased risk 561 00:38:25,880 --> 00:38:26,680 Speaker 1: of violence. 562 00:38:26,960 --> 00:38:31,480 Speaker 2: Being an older, wealthy, privileged man does not make him. 563 00:38:31,360 --> 00:38:34,799 Speaker 3: I muse on the effect of. 564 00:38:36,280 --> 00:38:40,680 Speaker 1: On to Madison Ashton, McClintock said that Polkinghorn is emotionally 565 00:38:40,840 --> 00:38:44,960 Speaker 1: and financially fully invested in Ashton at the time of 566 00:38:45,000 --> 00:38:48,839 Speaker 1: Hannah's death. It doesn't matter what Ashton's true intentions were 567 00:38:49,440 --> 00:38:53,040 Speaker 1: or whether she was genuine or not genuine. McClintock says, 568 00:38:53,680 --> 00:38:56,520 Speaker 1: it's about what he thought and what he wanted. 569 00:38:56,800 --> 00:39:01,560 Speaker 3: This dream life that he had Madison Ashton could. 570 00:39:01,360 --> 00:39:04,760 Speaker 2: Not be reconciled with the life he had at home 571 00:39:05,120 --> 00:39:07,080 Speaker 2: with Pauline Hannah. 572 00:39:07,480 --> 00:39:10,160 Speaker 3: Cracks were starting to show She's. 573 00:39:09,960 --> 00:39:14,080 Speaker 2: Worried, Pauling Hannah's worried. She's being worried throughout twenty twenty. 574 00:39:14,200 --> 00:39:19,560 Speaker 2: You know that something's got to get and the tensions 575 00:39:19,640 --> 00:39:24,080 Speaker 2: between these two and the collision of these two worlds. 576 00:39:24,360 --> 00:39:28,200 Speaker 1: Evidence shows he was a man spending hundreds of thousands 577 00:39:28,239 --> 00:39:32,279 Speaker 1: of dollars on sex workers and drugs to try and 578 00:39:32,360 --> 00:39:35,080 Speaker 1: keep his second life away from Hannah. 579 00:39:35,200 --> 00:39:38,960 Speaker 3: When you draw that together, there's one person in this marriage, 580 00:39:39,280 --> 00:39:42,920 Speaker 3: Miss Hannah, who actually had her life pretty together at 581 00:39:42,920 --> 00:39:47,560 Speaker 3: this point despite her struggles, but she was busy. 582 00:39:48,360 --> 00:39:50,640 Speaker 2: She had struggles with her husband, but she's busy and 583 00:39:50,680 --> 00:39:53,839 Speaker 2: pretty together despite all of it. She turns up dead 584 00:39:54,960 --> 00:39:59,080 Speaker 2: under a sheet the bottom of the stairs, totally out 585 00:39:59,120 --> 00:40:01,480 Speaker 2: of the blue and a shock to all of those 586 00:40:01,960 --> 00:40:02,680 Speaker 2: close to her. 587 00:40:03,120 --> 00:40:06,840 Speaker 1: Onto the night itself, McClintock said that Polkinghorn lied to 588 00:40:06,920 --> 00:40:09,960 Speaker 1: police about going to bed at ten pm on April fourth, 589 00:40:10,080 --> 00:40:13,960 Speaker 1: with data showing his phone active after that, including him 590 00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:17,520 Speaker 1: putting it on airplane mode between one eleven am and 591 00:40:17,640 --> 00:40:20,680 Speaker 1: eight oh six am. He still used his phone during 592 00:40:20,719 --> 00:40:24,759 Speaker 1: that time. There is photo and video app usage through 593 00:40:24,800 --> 00:40:28,520 Speaker 1: to eight oh five am, two minutes before he calls 594 00:40:28,640 --> 00:40:29,439 Speaker 1: one one one. 595 00:40:29,880 --> 00:40:34,960 Speaker 3: He is active for much of this night. And the 596 00:40:35,040 --> 00:40:37,600 Speaker 3: point is he had plenty of time to kill her. 597 00:40:38,800 --> 00:40:46,040 Speaker 2: Whether it's between eleven sixteen and one team one window 598 00:40:46,840 --> 00:40:50,200 Speaker 2: two forty four and six forty six another one now, 599 00:40:50,760 --> 00:40:51,640 Speaker 2: no one can say. 600 00:40:52,560 --> 00:40:54,000 Speaker 3: The point is is clenty. 601 00:40:53,719 --> 00:40:59,240 Speaker 2: Of time and either of those windows, plenty of time 602 00:40:59,280 --> 00:41:04,840 Speaker 2: to get himself in a state about Madison Aston message 603 00:41:04,920 --> 00:41:10,520 Speaker 2: her or her message him, plenty of time have a 604 00:41:10,640 --> 00:41:16,800 Speaker 2: toot on his meth pipe, plenty of time to either 605 00:41:16,880 --> 00:41:17,759 Speaker 2: surprise his. 606 00:41:17,760 --> 00:41:22,440 Speaker 3: Wife in her bedroom or argue with her and strangle 607 00:41:22,560 --> 00:41:24,640 Speaker 3: her there somewhere else. 608 00:41:25,480 --> 00:41:29,560 Speaker 2: Don't have to be sure about where upstairs bedroom does 609 00:41:29,600 --> 00:41:34,480 Speaker 2: seem the most likely place. Plenty of time for his 610 00:41:34,600 --> 00:41:37,719 Speaker 2: wife to at least leave one. 611 00:41:37,600 --> 00:41:43,120 Speaker 3: Mark on him as she tried to fight back that 612 00:41:43,320 --> 00:41:44,720 Speaker 3: cut to his head. 613 00:41:45,680 --> 00:41:49,760 Speaker 2: That cut he simply couldn't and didn't explain in either 614 00:41:49,800 --> 00:41:55,480 Speaker 2: his first written statement to the police or his police interview. 615 00:41:56,480 --> 00:41:59,720 Speaker 2: Noticed by all the first responders. 616 00:41:59,200 --> 00:42:03,160 Speaker 1: Are photos sent to Madison Ashton on April fourth shows 617 00:42:03,160 --> 00:42:06,560 Speaker 1: Polkinghorn didn't have a mark then, and there's also meth 618 00:42:06,640 --> 00:42:10,600 Speaker 1: traces in Hannah's toilet that puts him in the room 619 00:42:10,920 --> 00:42:14,759 Speaker 1: and he doesn't want that. McClintock said, he knows what 620 00:42:14,840 --> 00:42:18,200 Speaker 1: happened when he went in then he killed his what. 621 00:42:20,440 --> 00:42:24,279 Speaker 2: He desperately doesn't want to be put in that room. 622 00:42:25,360 --> 00:42:28,120 Speaker 1: On his own account, polking Horn was going to the 623 00:42:28,160 --> 00:42:33,040 Speaker 1: gym twice a week with personal trainer Barry Payne. McClintock 624 00:42:33,120 --> 00:42:36,880 Speaker 1: said he could have carried Hannah down the stairs. There's 625 00:42:36,920 --> 00:42:40,880 Speaker 1: also an important detail suggesting she was brought down the 626 00:42:40,920 --> 00:42:45,640 Speaker 1: stairs she's covered in a sheet when first responders arrive, 627 00:42:46,320 --> 00:42:49,439 Speaker 1: and a sheet is also missing from the bed where 628 00:42:49,480 --> 00:42:53,799 Speaker 1: she slept. The sheet was on top of her under 629 00:42:53,840 --> 00:42:58,480 Speaker 1: the duvet. No sheet was mentioned in the interview. McClintock 630 00:42:58,600 --> 00:43:03,399 Speaker 1: said Polking had ample time to stage the scene as 631 00:43:03,440 --> 00:43:07,319 Speaker 1: a hanging and would not have used surgical knots as 632 00:43:07,360 --> 00:43:12,680 Speaker 1: the defense suggested. McClintock said, we must prove Pauline Hannah 633 00:43:12,719 --> 00:43:16,560 Speaker 1: was killed by him and with murderous intent. 634 00:43:16,880 --> 00:43:20,640 Speaker 3: That's what we must prove every nuance in the evidence. 635 00:43:20,719 --> 00:43:23,520 Speaker 3: We need not prove he had. 636 00:43:23,320 --> 00:43:25,520 Speaker 2: Time to do all of the things I've gone through. 637 00:43:25,560 --> 00:43:28,200 Speaker 2: But at the same time, as I referred to yesterday, there. 638 00:43:28,160 --> 00:43:31,200 Speaker 3: Was a time limit on him here. There was a 639 00:43:31,280 --> 00:43:32,799 Speaker 3: pt session booked. 640 00:43:32,520 --> 00:43:36,520 Speaker 2: In with Barry at nine am that morning. Pauline had 641 00:43:36,680 --> 00:43:40,879 Speaker 2: arranged to go first. She had a work meeting as 642 00:43:40,880 --> 00:43:44,080 Speaker 2: well afterwards, so he knows alarm bells are going to 643 00:43:44,080 --> 00:43:49,520 Speaker 2: be ringing if she is not with Barry at nine am. 644 00:43:49,800 --> 00:43:52,959 Speaker 1: He had also been so active that night he never 645 00:43:53,040 --> 00:43:58,440 Speaker 1: plugged his phone in. McClintock said, by comparison, Hannah's phone 646 00:43:58,600 --> 00:44:03,240 Speaker 1: was not used after ten seven pm on April fourth, 647 00:44:03,880 --> 00:44:08,480 Speaker 1: and the defense's suggestion that she drafted two messages overnight 648 00:44:08,920 --> 00:44:14,000 Speaker 1: are a complete red herring. In comparison, Polkinghorn's phone was 649 00:44:14,080 --> 00:44:15,680 Speaker 1: active throughout the night. 650 00:44:16,080 --> 00:44:21,680 Speaker 2: Something has happened between them that night. Whether he is high, 651 00:44:21,920 --> 00:44:25,280 Speaker 2: low strung out on meth, we can't know which. 652 00:44:26,719 --> 00:44:28,840 Speaker 3: But the drug does its. 653 00:44:28,680 --> 00:44:32,359 Speaker 2: Effects continued after the period of intoxication. 654 00:44:32,520 --> 00:44:34,879 Speaker 3: Doctor Schwartz told you that, so. 655 00:44:34,800 --> 00:44:38,240 Speaker 2: Its ability to play a role in aggression and behavior 656 00:44:38,800 --> 00:44:44,200 Speaker 2: remains regardless of its precisely when he may have taken it. 657 00:44:45,120 --> 00:44:49,120 Speaker 2: In simple terms, his wife has died on a night 658 00:44:49,400 --> 00:44:53,319 Speaker 2: when it is clear he is awake much of that night, 659 00:44:54,680 --> 00:44:58,880 Speaker 2: and he has inexplicably hit his phone on airplane mind 660 00:45:00,160 --> 00:45:03,759 Speaker 2: and he has had time to do all of these things. 661 00:45:04,360 --> 00:45:07,760 Speaker 1: There was a time limit, and Polkinghorn did not tidy 662 00:45:07,840 --> 00:45:12,360 Speaker 1: the upstairs room or flush the toilet. McClintock said he 663 00:45:12,440 --> 00:45:15,040 Speaker 1: did not expect the police to go all through his 664 00:45:15,160 --> 00:45:20,600 Speaker 1: house over an eleven day scene examination. Onto Polkinghorn's interview, 665 00:45:21,800 --> 00:45:22,080 Speaker 1: to do. 666 00:45:22,000 --> 00:45:27,640 Speaker 2: You think there's an interview was unusual, weird even I'm 667 00:45:27,640 --> 00:45:31,080 Speaker 2: not seeking and saying that to promote the idea that 668 00:45:31,120 --> 00:45:35,600 Speaker 2: there's one way to behave or one way to grief, 669 00:45:36,400 --> 00:45:44,880 Speaker 2: But it's an incredible mixture self centeredness, jokingess, relaxed presentation, 670 00:45:46,360 --> 00:45:50,440 Speaker 2: and mixed at times with an almost episode of what 671 00:45:51,120 --> 00:45:51,759 Speaker 2: appears on. 672 00:45:51,680 --> 00:45:52,800 Speaker 3: Its face to be acting. 673 00:45:52,920 --> 00:45:55,319 Speaker 2: It breaks down in grief and then bounces back and 674 00:45:55,360 --> 00:45:57,200 Speaker 2: starts talking again. 675 00:45:57,760 --> 00:46:02,400 Speaker 1: McClintock said the interview is three hours of Polkinghorn trying 676 00:46:02,440 --> 00:46:06,359 Speaker 1: to distract from the scene. But when his pinned down 677 00:46:06,440 --> 00:46:10,160 Speaker 1: on the fact the rope is tied halfway up that balustrade, 678 00:46:10,440 --> 00:46:11,880 Speaker 1: his demeanor changed. 679 00:46:12,440 --> 00:46:16,520 Speaker 2: His willingness to talk changes at that point in time 680 00:46:17,200 --> 00:46:21,480 Speaker 2: when he realizes this photograph that's been pointed out to him, 681 00:46:22,160 --> 00:46:24,239 Speaker 2: what he's been saying doesn't seem to be right. 682 00:46:24,680 --> 00:46:27,399 Speaker 3: Everything changes. He's been called out. 683 00:46:28,400 --> 00:46:32,239 Speaker 2: So I suggest that much of that interview is a 684 00:46:32,280 --> 00:46:34,680 Speaker 2: complete deflection from the truth. 685 00:46:35,640 --> 00:46:39,880 Speaker 1: McClintock then returned to the scene and said she left 686 00:46:39,920 --> 00:46:45,319 Speaker 1: it last deliberately to help the jury understand Polkinghorn's willingness 687 00:46:45,360 --> 00:46:48,200 Speaker 1: to manipulate people and evidence. 688 00:46:49,320 --> 00:46:54,760 Speaker 2: The interview was a deflection because the scene that those 689 00:46:54,800 --> 00:47:01,560 Speaker 2: first responders went to that morning was a deception. Pauline 690 00:47:01,600 --> 00:47:05,360 Speaker 2: Hannah had not committed suicide, and the scene the police 691 00:47:05,520 --> 00:47:08,440 Speaker 2: were looking at and that's why it didn't make sense. 692 00:47:10,000 --> 00:47:11,839 Speaker 3: If she had, it should have. 693 00:47:11,840 --> 00:47:16,680 Speaker 2: Been obvious that she had, but it wasn't obvious. You've 694 00:47:16,680 --> 00:47:21,560 Speaker 2: got police forensic scientists combing through it, struggling to make 695 00:47:21,640 --> 00:47:26,160 Speaker 2: sense of it because it didn't make sense. Police officers 696 00:47:26,160 --> 00:47:33,000 Speaker 2: who were there Sadly, they attend suicide scenes and took 697 00:47:33,000 --> 00:47:36,560 Speaker 2: one look at that right satan i over said they 698 00:47:36,640 --> 00:47:38,160 Speaker 2: loved odd so. 699 00:47:38,080 --> 00:47:41,600 Speaker 3: He tested it. We know whatever, it didn't stack up. 700 00:47:42,520 --> 00:47:46,040 Speaker 1: The very first piece of evidence the jury heard, the 701 00:47:46,080 --> 00:47:49,360 Speaker 1: one one one call was at eight o seven am 702 00:47:49,480 --> 00:47:54,239 Speaker 1: when Polkinghorn said he'd found his wife. McClintock said that 703 00:47:54,360 --> 00:47:58,480 Speaker 1: from the point the operator told Polkinghorn to cut Hannah down, 704 00:47:59,120 --> 00:48:01,399 Speaker 1: he would have had to remove her from the chair 705 00:48:01,480 --> 00:48:05,320 Speaker 1: she was sitting on and undo the ropes and belts 706 00:48:05,920 --> 00:48:08,879 Speaker 1: and then lay her down on the ground and then 707 00:48:09,080 --> 00:48:10,600 Speaker 1: check if she was breathing. 708 00:48:10,960 --> 00:48:14,279 Speaker 2: That's a lot to do, especially when he says he's 709 00:48:14,320 --> 00:48:18,520 Speaker 2: in shop. Well he would be if she committed suicide. 710 00:48:18,600 --> 00:48:23,120 Speaker 2: But that's a lot to do. Yet he managed to 711 00:48:23,120 --> 00:48:24,760 Speaker 2: do it all and about ten seconds. 712 00:48:25,280 --> 00:48:29,000 Speaker 1: Polkinghorn was also told to leave everything as you have 713 00:48:29,120 --> 00:48:33,640 Speaker 1: found it, but by the time paramedics got there, everything 714 00:48:33,760 --> 00:48:37,640 Speaker 1: used to facilitate her death on the supposed suicide narrative 715 00:48:38,040 --> 00:48:42,200 Speaker 1: had been moved. McClintock said. The crown case is that 716 00:48:42,280 --> 00:48:47,120 Speaker 1: the scene was staged. An unexplained piece of rope was 717 00:48:47,120 --> 00:48:51,000 Speaker 1: on the stairs towards the garage, untoasted bread was in 718 00:48:51,040 --> 00:48:55,120 Speaker 1: the toaster. Polkinghorn took the belt, wrapped it around in 719 00:48:55,200 --> 00:48:59,120 Speaker 1: his hands, put it in the kitchen. There's also blood 720 00:48:59,160 --> 00:49:02,759 Speaker 1: between her left to index and middle fingers, but no 721 00:49:02,960 --> 00:49:07,760 Speaker 1: injury to her fingers, which McClintock says doesn't make sense 722 00:49:07,880 --> 00:49:11,160 Speaker 1: to have come from the bleeding in Hannah's ear. She 723 00:49:11,239 --> 00:49:14,759 Speaker 1: said that Polkinghorn couldn't explain the rope, such as why 724 00:49:14,800 --> 00:49:17,760 Speaker 1: there was such a long tail where it was tied, 725 00:49:18,200 --> 00:49:20,520 Speaker 1: and why there was a piece on the lower stairs. 726 00:49:21,840 --> 00:49:25,160 Speaker 1: Why did Polkinghorn loosen the rope at the top of 727 00:49:25,200 --> 00:49:29,480 Speaker 1: the balustrade. He told police it looked awful hanging there, 728 00:49:30,040 --> 00:49:33,920 Speaker 1: but when police arrived it was still hanging. He didn't 729 00:49:33,920 --> 00:49:37,680 Speaker 1: expect to be interrogated like he was, the prosecutor said, 730 00:49:38,120 --> 00:49:42,640 Speaker 1: and his explanations around the ropes don't add up. As 731 00:49:42,680 --> 00:49:45,920 Speaker 1: for Hannah's room upstairs, where Hannah slept the night before 732 00:49:46,480 --> 00:49:49,400 Speaker 1: McLintock said, it doesn't make sense for Hannah to have 733 00:49:49,480 --> 00:49:51,719 Speaker 1: gone to bed with her room in the state it 734 00:49:51,800 --> 00:49:55,320 Speaker 1: was in. The breakfast scene in the kitchen was a facade, 735 00:49:55,520 --> 00:49:58,800 Speaker 1: she said, and there is an odd collection of items 736 00:49:58,840 --> 00:50:04,319 Speaker 1: in the washing machine, including an acrylic toenail math traces 737 00:50:04,360 --> 00:50:08,319 Speaker 1: and the toilet placed polkinghorn in Hannah's bad room. 738 00:50:08,719 --> 00:50:11,400 Speaker 2: So bringing all of that together, nothing is in place 739 00:50:11,440 --> 00:50:14,560 Speaker 2: that there's this scene that should have been in place if. 740 00:50:14,520 --> 00:50:16,080 Speaker 3: It was the suicide. 741 00:50:16,440 --> 00:50:20,480 Speaker 2: You can't treat this scene as having any sort of validity. 742 00:50:21,680 --> 00:50:25,560 Speaker 3: It's been wholly interfed with police. 743 00:50:25,200 --> 00:50:30,080 Speaker 2: Spent eleven days there because it had no integrity trying 744 00:50:30,120 --> 00:50:30,960 Speaker 2: to find out. 745 00:50:30,880 --> 00:50:31,719 Speaker 3: What was going on. 746 00:50:32,000 --> 00:50:34,120 Speaker 2: It's a big house as well, a lot of rooms. 747 00:50:34,920 --> 00:50:38,640 Speaker 2: They're doing their jobs, they're being thorough. They're trying to 748 00:50:38,719 --> 00:50:42,319 Speaker 2: understand why this is said to be a suicide, and 749 00:50:42,440 --> 00:50:44,120 Speaker 2: yet everything. 750 00:50:43,680 --> 00:50:45,600 Speaker 3: About it is out of kilter. 751 00:50:46,880 --> 00:50:51,360 Speaker 2: They're trying to figure out what happened because the disease 752 00:50:51,520 --> 00:50:58,600 Speaker 2: husband couldn't give them any meaningful insight into what happened. 753 00:50:58,239 --> 00:50:59,080 Speaker 3: In their house. 754 00:51:00,040 --> 00:51:03,319 Speaker 1: McClintock said, there's no one way for the jury to 755 00:51:03,360 --> 00:51:07,280 Speaker 1: approach this, but she asks them to put aside sympathy 756 00:51:07,480 --> 00:51:12,280 Speaker 1: and prejudice and analyze the critical issue. Has the Crown 757 00:51:12,520 --> 00:51:17,200 Speaker 1: proven to you that this was murder? She said that 758 00:51:17,320 --> 00:51:21,840 Speaker 1: the evidence is there from the prior strangulation evidence thirteen 759 00:51:21,920 --> 00:51:25,799 Speaker 1: months prior to the faked blood to his duck duck 760 00:51:25,960 --> 00:51:29,440 Speaker 1: go search, as well as the tensions in their marriage 761 00:51:29,840 --> 00:51:33,000 Speaker 1: and Polkinghorn's growing attachment to Madison Ashton. 762 00:51:33,840 --> 00:51:38,520 Speaker 2: He had the intelligence to do it, He had the arrogance, 763 00:51:39,160 --> 00:51:40,759 Speaker 2: the drivers, the. 764 00:51:40,840 --> 00:51:42,720 Speaker 3: Myth fuelled current. 765 00:51:44,480 --> 00:51:49,839 Speaker 2: His relationship with Pauline Henner was done. He had detached 766 00:51:50,239 --> 00:51:55,400 Speaker 2: from that life. He blamed Pauline Hanner in life for 767 00:51:55,480 --> 00:52:00,919 Speaker 2: a lot see it me, Lisa, He wrote her. It 768 00:52:01,000 --> 00:52:06,680 Speaker 2: is the final insult to her to blame her for 769 00:52:06,800 --> 00:52:10,799 Speaker 2: her own death. I suggest, members of the jury that 770 00:52:10,880 --> 00:52:14,880 Speaker 2: the evidence that you have heard proves the life that 771 00:52:14,960 --> 00:52:19,799 Speaker 2: doctor Polkinghorn told when he rut one one one and 772 00:52:19,880 --> 00:52:23,319 Speaker 2: said that she had home himself. I suggest you can 773 00:52:23,480 --> 00:52:26,920 Speaker 2: safely be sure on this evidence that he's guilty of murder. 774 00:52:34,080 --> 00:52:37,440 Speaker 1: You can listen to episodes of Accused the Polkinghorn Trial 775 00:52:37,800 --> 00:52:40,799 Speaker 1: through the Front Page podcast feed or find it on 776 00:52:40,920 --> 00:52:45,520 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts. This series is 777 00:52:45,560 --> 00:52:50,040 Speaker 1: presented and produced by me Chelsea Daniels, with producer Ethan 778 00:52:50,160 --> 00:52:54,560 Speaker 1: Seles and sound engineer Patti Fox. Additional production support by 779 00:52:54,640 --> 00:52:59,000 Speaker 1: Helen King. Additional reporting from The Heralds Craig Capitan and 780 00:52:59,080 --> 00:53:02,800 Speaker 1: George Block, and for more coverage of the Polkinghorn Trial 781 00:53:03,239 --> 00:53:05,879 Speaker 1: head to nsidherld dot co dot nz