WEBVTT - Inside the defence's closing statement: What they say happened to Pauline Hanna 0:00:07.480 --> 0:00:10.680 Hilda. I'm Chelsea Daniels and from the team behind the 0:00:10.720 --> 0:00:15.080 front page. The New Zealand Herald's daily news podcast, This 0:00:15.480 --> 0:00:20.360 is Accused the Polkinghorn Trial. Over a series of weeks. 0:00:20.400 --> 0:00:24.080 In conjunction with our usual daily episodes, we'll be bringing 0:00:24.120 --> 0:00:26.880 you regular coverage as one of the most high profile 0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:29.960 trials of the year makes its way through the High 0:00:30.040 --> 0:00:35.000 Court at Auckland. A warning, this podcast contains disturbing content. 0:00:38.479 --> 0:00:42.919 Philip Polkinghorn is accused of murdering his wife, Pauline Hannah, 0:00:42.920 --> 0:00:46.280 who was found dead on April fifth, twenty twenty one. 0:00:46.840 --> 0:00:53.440 He maintains she took her own life. Week eight of 0:00:53.479 --> 0:00:57.200 the trial began with the Crown delivering their closing statement. 0:00:57.720 --> 0:00:59.880 Now it's the defense's turn. 0:01:00.800 --> 0:01:05.920 Your honor, mister Foreman and members of your jury. What 0:01:06.920 --> 0:01:15.520 a final insult. The final insult doctor Pulkinghorn faces from 0:01:15.720 --> 0:01:17.240 five April. 0:01:16.880 --> 0:01:22.560 Twenty twenty one through to the day's date has just 0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:24.199 been made. 0:01:26.720 --> 0:01:31.959 It suggested that he's blamed her, his own wife, for 0:01:32.120 --> 0:01:41.400 her death. He's described as the master manipulator. The first 0:01:41.840 --> 0:01:46.080 insult he faced was when the police attended at his 0:01:46.160 --> 0:01:51.720 address on five April twenty twenty one, when they walk 0:01:51.800 --> 0:01:55.320 through that door with our open mind, they would have 0:01:55.440 --> 0:02:00.920 us believe, and I think we can accept. And then 0:02:01.120 --> 0:02:04.400 very quickly saw the rope in the way in which 0:02:04.400 --> 0:02:08.520 it was left by doctor Polkinghorn and gave it what 0:02:08.560 --> 0:02:16.040 they describe as the tension check, and from there his 0:02:16.200 --> 0:02:22.079 property and he was treated in a way that he 0:02:22.320 --> 0:02:26.440 was alleged to have been involved. 0:02:27.480 --> 0:02:28.800 In his wife's own death. 0:02:29.480 --> 0:02:34.160 And so began the defense's closing argument, as given by 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:38.440 defense lawyer Ron Mansfield. He said, it has been a 0:02:38.520 --> 0:02:42.360 long process leading up to the trial when Philip Polkinghorn 0:02:42.840 --> 0:02:46.440 finally had the chance to show the evidence that vindicates 0:02:46.480 --> 0:02:51.440 his position. Mansfield said his client wanted to help police 0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:55.200 with his interview because he considered that was the right 0:02:55.240 --> 0:02:58.720 thing to do. It was an insult because what lay 0:02:58.800 --> 0:03:02.720 behind that was the suspicion they never informed him of 0:03:03.200 --> 0:03:06.239 or gave him the opportunity to respond to then and there, 0:03:06.760 --> 0:03:11.760 Mansfield said, despite grieving the death of his wife, Polkinghorn 0:03:11.840 --> 0:03:14.960 agreed to be interviewed at the scene when he detailed 0:03:15.040 --> 0:03:17.840 quite consistently what happened that morning. 0:03:18.240 --> 0:03:22.680 A master manipulator need not have done so, but he 0:03:22.760 --> 0:03:25.840 did so in the state that he was in in 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:31.720 between taking messages, making calls, letting people know, as anyone 0:03:31.720 --> 0:03:36.200 of us would like the dignity to do, to let 0:03:36.240 --> 0:03:43.280 people know who loved Pauline off her passing, to allow 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:47.600 people to comfort you as you might when you suffer 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:53.400 such a loss. But nonetheless, during that interview, we know 0:03:53.560 --> 0:03:57.960 this attention check took place, and we know things switched 0:03:59.120 --> 0:04:03.480 from open mind and being objective by the attending police 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:08.760 officers to a focus now on establishing what they were 0:04:08.840 --> 0:04:17.120 quickly coming to think was a potential homicide, despite any 0:04:17.440 --> 0:04:22.200 objective evidence that might allow that assessment to be made. 0:04:23.000 --> 0:04:26.880 They came into that address expecting a full suspension hanging, 0:04:27.040 --> 0:04:30.480 said Mansfield, and failed to turn their mind to an 0:04:30.520 --> 0:04:36.160 incomplete or partial suspension hanging. He said ambulance officers did 0:04:36.200 --> 0:04:40.279 not harbor suspicions, no doubt, because of their more robust 0:04:40.400 --> 0:04:44.760 and informed experience with these type of hangings. He said, 0:04:44.800 --> 0:04:48.520 he can understand the detective going upstairs and pulling on 0:04:48.560 --> 0:04:51.520 the rope and thinking it's odd, but there's no record 0:04:51.680 --> 0:04:52.560 of that moment. 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:58.039 Wasn't doctor Polkinghorn being asked to assist the police, It 0:04:58.240 --> 0:05:01.200 was the fact that they failed to tell him that 0:05:01.240 --> 0:05:06.000 they considered the situation to be suspicious and that he 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:10.640 might be a suspect for his own wife's death. Not 0:05:10.760 --> 0:05:14.440 providing him with an opportunity to explain what he had 0:05:14.520 --> 0:05:17.719 done and how he had done it by perhaps showing 0:05:17.760 --> 0:05:23.360 them but without touching anything, just lured him to the 0:05:23.360 --> 0:05:28.360 police station, albeit under a false pretense that they wanted 0:05:28.360 --> 0:05:33.280 an interview, not from a grieving husband who might find 0:05:33.320 --> 0:05:37.599 it cathartic to sit there and talk about his wife 0:05:37.640 --> 0:05:40.679 and what he had found in the way in which 0:05:40.800 --> 0:05:44.440 it appeared during the course of the interview he found it, 0:05:45.400 --> 0:05:51.400 but treating him like a suspect for his own wife's death. 0:05:52.640 --> 0:05:56.760 Mansfield said that Polkinghorn had no idea during his lengthy 0:05:56.800 --> 0:06:01.320 police interview that an asound, forensic team and a photographer 0:06:01.600 --> 0:06:05.800 had been set loose in his house. Mansfield says it 0:06:05.920 --> 0:06:09.120 was another insult given he had been speaking with the 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:13.720 police openly and honestly to find his home was being 0:06:13.839 --> 0:06:18.200 violated and he was being treated as a suspect. On 0:06:18.279 --> 0:06:22.919 the deleted WhatsApp messages, Mansfield said that came after the 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:28.000 revelation to Polkinghorn that he was being treated as a suspect. 0:06:27.600 --> 0:06:28.719 And will come back to that. 0:06:29.000 --> 0:06:33.280 But when you think about the timing of that, and 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:36.960 given the level of suspicion he is now facing and 0:06:37.120 --> 0:06:42.240 the focus of the police investigation, why would he Why 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:45.560 would he want the police to learn of something that 0:06:45.760 --> 0:06:49.400 was private and always had been as far as he 0:06:49.480 --> 0:06:54.400 was aware, private between him and his wife in relation 0:06:54.600 --> 0:06:59.480 to what they or what he got up to by 0:06:59.560 --> 0:07:06.200 way of sexual relations outside of their union. It is 0:07:06.760 --> 0:07:13.120 entirely understandable at that point why he might seek to 0:07:13.200 --> 0:07:18.680 delete or remove WhatsApp messages that revealed something which was 0:07:18.880 --> 0:07:24.680 intimate and potentially embarrassing, and certainly something that would damage 0:07:25.080 --> 0:07:27.200 both of their reputations. 0:07:28.120 --> 0:07:31.640 Mansfield said. The police sealed off the Upland Road home 0:07:32.000 --> 0:07:36.440 from April fifth to April sixteen. Hannah's funeral was in 0:07:36.600 --> 0:07:41.600 April fifteen, and Polkinghorn had to investigate purchasing new clothes 0:07:41.680 --> 0:07:43.920 for fear he wouldn't be able to get any of 0:07:43.960 --> 0:07:48.560 her personal effects from the address. Hannah's autopsy happened on 0:07:48.640 --> 0:07:53.720 April six but Polkinghorn wasn't advised of its outcome or 0:07:53.800 --> 0:07:57.440 given any access to either a briefing or a report. 0:07:57.680 --> 0:08:03.040 Mansfield said Polkinghorn reached out to another pathologist because he 0:08:03.200 --> 0:08:06.280 was concerned and couldn't understand what was going on. 0:08:07.000 --> 0:08:11.920 Further in soul, not treating him as a loved one, 0:08:12.920 --> 0:08:16.760 not treating him with any respect, and giving him any 0:08:16.840 --> 0:08:20.920 information in relation to the autopsy. And what would the 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:26.120 harm have been to share that information with him, To 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:32.240 share the information that she had died, albeit doctor Keisha 0:08:33.480 --> 0:08:38.000 would have us accept by net compression as if that 0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:43.520 was the only pathology outcome that could be given. What 0:08:43.559 --> 0:08:47.120 would have been the harm to confirm to him that 0:08:47.200 --> 0:08:51.840 what he had found and seen was entirely consistent with 0:08:51.960 --> 0:08:56.120 the pathology that was revealed through the autopsy. 0:08:56.840 --> 0:09:00.360 Polkinghorn then asked to have his own pathologist you the 0:09:00.400 --> 0:09:03.120 position via a second autopsy. 0:09:04.520 --> 0:09:07.760 Why if he had known that he had taken his 0:09:08.400 --> 0:09:12.920 wife's life by way of a homicide, why would he 0:09:13.000 --> 0:09:18.000 involve a pathologists to conduct a second autopsy. 0:09:19.280 --> 0:09:19.920 What he was. 0:09:19.840 --> 0:09:24.640 Seeking to do was just learn why this was being 0:09:24.679 --> 0:09:31.040 treated as suspicious and why he was being treated as 0:09:31.080 --> 0:09:32.360 the suspect. 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:37.360 Mansfield said. Tongues were wagging around Remuerra because of the 0:09:37.400 --> 0:09:40.920 presence of the police, and soon the press was onto 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:43.960 it and people soon came to know the death was 0:09:44.000 --> 0:09:45.960 being treated as suspicious. 0:09:46.360 --> 0:09:50.360 When this became public that the death was being treated 0:09:50.360 --> 0:09:56.800 as suspicious and he was the suspect, then everyone around 0:09:56.880 --> 0:10:02.760 him starts to shut down, treats him differently, and he 0:10:02.840 --> 0:10:08.319 becomes isolated. As a matter of common sense, that's how 0:10:08.440 --> 0:10:10.520 you might react if. 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:13.000 You were told by an authority to whom. 0:10:12.960 --> 0:10:16.520 You thought you could place some reliance on for being 0:10:16.559 --> 0:10:21.520 objective and only relying on evidence, that if someone was 0:10:21.559 --> 0:10:25.560 being treated as a suspect, there must be something to it, 0:10:27.000 --> 0:10:34.040 and that changes everybody's attitude other than those really close 0:10:34.120 --> 0:10:40.520 to him, and that knew better everybody else's attitude towards him. 0:10:41.120 --> 0:10:45.280 What further insult could there be other than being accused, 0:10:45.480 --> 0:10:48.600 as he was now of being the suspect, But for 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:52.920 it to be effectively leaked in this way through the media, 0:10:53.080 --> 0:10:59.839 so that everybody friends and family became aware of this 0:11:00.040 --> 0:11:05.679 allegation and hence reacted and treated him differently. 0:11:06.400 --> 0:11:09.880 Mansfield said it made people think differently when it eventually 0:11:09.960 --> 0:11:13.520 came time for them to be interviewed by police. Things 0:11:13.559 --> 0:11:16.760 that might have otherwise been duly explained or seen as 0:11:16.840 --> 0:11:20.480 drunken banter that they didn't place much weight on then 0:11:20.559 --> 0:11:25.600 became quite important. Mansfield said, is not asking the jury 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:29.000 to ignore the evidence from Hannah's family or close friends, 0:11:29.480 --> 0:11:34.120 but to consider how their mind's attitudes and experiences were 0:11:34.120 --> 0:11:37.800 informed by the fact that Polkinghorn was suspected by police 0:11:38.160 --> 0:11:42.960 of killing his wife. Mansfield says, a legitimate issue with 0:11:43.000 --> 0:11:46.959 a contact lens, for example, became him dragging her away 0:11:46.960 --> 0:11:50.760 from a party. Mansfield said, and as just one example 0:11:50.800 --> 0:11:54.280 of how people's views changed in a flick of a switch. 0:11:55.800 --> 0:11:59.439 Then there's the reality he is on his own. The 0:11:59.480 --> 0:12:03.080 only person who was engaging with him was Madison Ashton, 0:12:03.600 --> 0:12:06.080 with whom he had been in a relationship with for 0:12:06.160 --> 0:12:10.920 six years since twenty fifteen. Mansfield asked for the jury 0:12:11.000 --> 0:12:12.800 to consider the context. 0:12:13.559 --> 0:12:18.800 Firstly, as a result of this and police investigation and 0:12:18.880 --> 0:12:21.920 the way in which they are conducting it, he has 0:12:22.000 --> 0:12:23.839 become entirely isolated. 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:26.319 He is not getting. 0:12:26.040 --> 0:12:29.960 Support other than from his sister Ruth, with whom he 0:12:30.040 --> 0:12:33.040 is needing to stay during the period. 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:35.480 Of time that this address is out of bounds. 0:12:37.240 --> 0:12:41.640 All others have been informed of the police suspicion, either 0:12:41.640 --> 0:12:45.480 by the media or had been told or. 0:12:45.400 --> 0:12:46.319 By word of mouth. 0:12:47.440 --> 0:12:50.280 The only person, and a person he has known for 0:12:50.400 --> 0:12:54.280 five or six years as has his wife is reaching 0:12:54.280 --> 0:12:59.359 out and communicating with him, And yeah, there's sexual discussion 0:12:59.480 --> 0:13:05.080 and sexual engagement within that entirely consistent with the nature 0:13:05.120 --> 0:13:09.800 of their relationship for that entiret period from twenty fifteen, 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:14.560 that entire period that both he and Pauline have known 0:13:15.080 --> 0:13:18.840 this woman and utilized her services and support. 0:13:19.800 --> 0:13:20.640 And I'll come back to that. 0:13:22.679 --> 0:13:26.840 And secondly, given that she's the only person that's reaching 0:13:26.880 --> 0:13:32.000 out to him, that's communicating with him, it is hardly 0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:37.880 surprising that their relationship draws close and of the kind 0:13:38.080 --> 0:13:38.439 that you. 0:13:38.440 --> 0:13:43.000 See discussed in that context, Polkinghorn's meeting with Ashton in 0:13:43.120 --> 0:13:47.280 Mount Cook Village twenty five days after Hannah's death can 0:13:47.320 --> 0:13:53.760 be understood. Mansfield said that isolation continued for sixteen months 0:13:54.080 --> 0:13:59.000 as police continued their investigation and then charged him with murder. 0:13:59.360 --> 0:14:02.480 He might have thought that was the final insult he 0:14:02.520 --> 0:14:05.600 would face and have to bear, the final insult he 0:14:05.600 --> 0:14:10.360 would need to address when it came to trial, But no, 0:14:12.240 --> 0:14:16.200 the final insult came when it was suggested that he 0:14:16.440 --> 0:14:22.320 was to be blamed for blaming his own wife for 0:14:22.520 --> 0:14:28.000 her own death. If you want to add insult to 0:14:28.200 --> 0:14:32.520 injury there you have it, and that is with the 0:14:32.600 --> 0:14:37.800 Crown knowing full well that the forensic material in this 0:14:38.000 --> 0:14:44.240 case does answer this case for you. It provides the 0:14:44.400 --> 0:14:49.640 complete answer and it always has it has provided the 0:14:49.840 --> 0:14:57.560 complete answer from the sixth of April, the date that 0:14:57.600 --> 0:15:01.320 the autopsy was conducted and the report was given. 0:15:02.200 --> 0:15:05.640 Mansfield said that the pathology and what was found at 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:11.040 the house provides the complete answer that Tanner sadly died 0:15:11.120 --> 0:15:15.200 by a partial or incomplete hanging. When you look at 0:15:15.240 --> 0:15:20.800 the scene fairly, it was entirely consistent with Polkinghorn's police interview. 0:15:21.000 --> 0:15:22.160 He said, the. 0:15:22.080 --> 0:15:27.520 Answer has always been in the pathology. The answer is 0:15:27.640 --> 0:15:33.960 still in the pathology. The problem is the answer doesn't 0:15:34.200 --> 0:15:40.240 justify the way in which doctor Polkinghorn was treated. The 0:15:40.280 --> 0:15:45.120 answer doesn't justify how long his address was under the 0:15:45.160 --> 0:15:48.600 control of the police so that they could search it 0:15:48.640 --> 0:15:50.560 in the way that they did. 0:15:51.360 --> 0:15:52.800 The answer doesn't. 0:15:52.480 --> 0:15:56.360 Justify the very long way he had to wait until 0:15:56.400 --> 0:15:59.240 he found out that he was going to be accused 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:06.720 of his wife's death, and it justified or answer why 0:16:06.760 --> 0:16:11.840 we're here today. So they had to seek to justify 0:16:11.920 --> 0:16:16.160 it through some other means by seeking to build a 0:16:16.280 --> 0:16:21.840 motive for a crime. That has simply not been conducted, 0:16:24.280 --> 0:16:29.880 a murder that has not been committed, And that is why, 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:34.600 and that is the only reason why. The absence of 0:16:35.040 --> 0:16:39.840 pathology that helps him, the absence of forensic evidence from 0:16:40.000 --> 0:16:44.120 the scene, the absence of any other evidence that you 0:16:44.200 --> 0:16:50.560 would ordinarily find associated with a homicide. That is why 0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:58.040 we have been here weeks touring through potential motives for 0:16:58.120 --> 0:17:02.720 a crime that has not been committed, For a murder 0:17:03.000 --> 0:17:04.359 that has not occurred. 0:17:05.520 --> 0:17:06.480 He has needed to. 0:17:07.880 --> 0:17:13.159 Effectively take over and prosecute as if he needed to 0:17:13.400 --> 0:17:18.960 establish that his wife died by way of suicide, even 0:17:19.119 --> 0:17:24.600 though he has no onus or burden to prove anything. 0:17:25.040 --> 0:17:29.400 And that you might think is entirely consistent with an 0:17:29.400 --> 0:17:34.840 innocent man who finally gets an opportunity to establish his 0:17:34.920 --> 0:17:40.359 innocence before our community, some of which has already condemned 0:17:40.440 --> 0:17:45.359 him before having heard any evidence. This has been a 0:17:45.400 --> 0:17:51.160 trial prosecuted by emotion, and where the victim is logic. 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:54.720 A trial run by emotion. 0:17:54.920 --> 0:18:00.600 Allows our murder mystery fantasies to run wild. And what 0:18:00.640 --> 0:18:04.280 a blockbuster by learn of friends closing address was to 0:18:04.440 --> 0:18:11.240 you our own very own modern day murder mystery. 0:18:12.840 --> 0:18:15.639 It was like a binge of every murder. 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:21.080 She wrote, all in one session, by our own, our 0:18:21.200 --> 0:18:28.520 very own Angela Lansbury presenting, or I suppose more correctly 0:18:28.600 --> 0:18:34.440 put she was presenting the script written by the police. 0:18:35.359 --> 0:18:35.800 The murder. 0:18:35.880 --> 0:18:41.679 The police wrote the murder they started writing immediately after 0:18:42.240 --> 0:18:43.240 the tension check. 0:18:44.560 --> 0:18:48.560 Mansfield said, of the four pathologists heard in the case, 0:18:49.080 --> 0:18:53.560 only two had potential examples of this phantom theory of 0:18:53.600 --> 0:18:58.359 a potential death by way of homicidal strangulation but leaving 0:18:58.560 --> 0:18:59.800 no injury at all. 0:19:00.359 --> 0:19:04.359 Is this where we are to see this particular case 0:19:04.440 --> 0:19:09.040 falling to be that exception, to be that phantom, to 0:19:09.160 --> 0:19:13.639 be that case where despite the absence of any expected 0:19:13.800 --> 0:19:21.879 injury from a homicidal strangulation, there is none. 0:19:22.359 --> 0:19:24.560 We have unmarked the phantom. 0:19:24.280 --> 0:19:27.680 Folks apparently, and it's doctor Polkinghorn. 0:19:28.320 --> 0:19:31.800 It's a phantom murder that none of the four pathologists 0:19:31.880 --> 0:19:36.760 had been able to confirm themselves, Mansfield said. In Polkinghorn, 0:19:36.840 --> 0:19:40.879 without any training in martial arts, without being a big 0:19:41.119 --> 0:19:45.320 or strong man, while yes he did brag about his fitness, 0:19:45.920 --> 0:19:49.399 managed to kill his wife without leaving any of the 0:19:49.520 --> 0:19:50.920 telltale signs. 0:19:51.800 --> 0:19:59.359 It sounds absurd because it is it sounds unachievable because. 0:19:59.000 --> 0:20:02.480 It is if that is the way this case is 0:20:02.560 --> 0:20:08.600 being prosecuted based on this theory, this phantom that potentially exists, 0:20:09.400 --> 0:20:13.400 that tells you a great deal, said Mansfield. He said 0:20:13.400 --> 0:20:17.400 that the pathology is evidence based, and the two defense 0:20:17.480 --> 0:20:21.520 pathologists said they would have reported this death by way 0:20:21.560 --> 0:20:24.479 of hanging, and there's no need to leave it open. 0:20:25.400 --> 0:20:29.000 In cases of a strangling of an intimate partner, the 0:20:29.040 --> 0:20:32.880 red mist comes down and the assailants don't care about 0:20:32.920 --> 0:20:37.040 if they're leaving injury. But there are none on Hannah's neck, 0:20:37.880 --> 0:20:41.000 which you'd expect in a partial or a complete hanging. 0:20:42.480 --> 0:20:45.040 There were no injuries on Hannah from her fighting for 0:20:45.080 --> 0:20:48.480 her life, none of the scratches or bruises that can 0:20:48.520 --> 0:20:51.560 occur as she fought back and trying to release the 0:20:51.560 --> 0:21:00.720 pressure for coverage of other news events in New Zealand. 0:21:01.000 --> 0:21:04.600 Listen to the front page The Herald's daily News podcast 0:21:04.960 --> 0:21:11.920 wherever you get your podcasts onto the injury to Polkinghorn's head. 0:21:12.400 --> 0:21:15.159 If that injury was left by Hannah, there was no 0:21:15.320 --> 0:21:19.400 signs in her nails, nor in her three rings. It's 0:21:19.440 --> 0:21:23.560 an injury. Polkinghorn didn't even know he had Mansfield said. 0:21:23.920 --> 0:21:26.000 And you might think, as a matter of logic, if 0:21:26.000 --> 0:21:30.000 he had been involved in an altercation with her where 0:21:30.040 --> 0:21:33.880 there was some form of struggle and he sustained any 0:21:34.000 --> 0:21:37.960 form of injury, then he would know and might seek 0:21:38.200 --> 0:21:42.840 to attend to that that he might have an explanation 0:21:43.200 --> 0:21:47.879 for it, given he's the master manipulator when he's asked 0:21:47.920 --> 0:21:51.439 about it, as he was at the scene by the 0:21:51.520 --> 0:21:54.920 attending ambulance and by the police. 0:21:56.040 --> 0:21:59.680 The other injuries to Hannah's body, like her nose, her back, 0:21:59.760 --> 0:22:02.560 her bruises on her arm, could not be shown to 0:22:02.560 --> 0:22:07.040 be consistent with any assault or altercation that might occur 0:22:07.160 --> 0:22:11.600 between two people in a homicidal strangulation. Mansfield said. 0:22:11.760 --> 0:22:16.399 The crowns say you should use your logic and consider 0:22:16.480 --> 0:22:21.679 them as consistent with an assault, because the Crown has to. 0:22:21.640 --> 0:22:26.080 Doesn't it point to some form of injury of an assault, 0:22:26.240 --> 0:22:29.960 even though on the evidence it's not there. 0:22:31.359 --> 0:22:34.719 Because the Crown wants you to accept. 0:22:35.280 --> 0:22:41.720 Its emotional plea that this was a homicidal strangulation which must, 0:22:42.080 --> 0:22:46.720 by its varying nature, have incurred some struggle at some 0:22:47.000 --> 0:22:51.879 time for some length, and the Crown, once it realized 0:22:52.119 --> 0:22:56.320 that the absence of those kinds of injuries was a 0:22:56.359 --> 0:23:00.359 real problem for its case. And despite the proferet or 0:23:00.400 --> 0:23:06.320 advice you have had from four pathologists tells you that 0:23:06.560 --> 0:23:12.960 logically you should consider these injuries as consistent with an assault, 0:23:14.400 --> 0:23:16.800 entirely contrary with. 0:23:16.880 --> 0:23:20.960 The evidence that you have heard in this trial. That's 0:23:21.000 --> 0:23:21.840 not logic. 0:23:23.359 --> 0:23:29.400 That's the crown and you going rogue if you agree 0:23:29.840 --> 0:23:31.119 with that kind of approach. 0:23:32.280 --> 0:23:36.120 Blood pulling in her legs and the disappearing belt mark 0:23:36.320 --> 0:23:41.119 also fit with her death being a suicide, Mansfield said. Next, 0:23:41.280 --> 0:23:44.480 the defense lawyer told the jury he'd take them through 0:23:44.520 --> 0:23:48.919 the relationship between husband and wife and the use of math. 0:23:49.920 --> 0:23:56.720 It's murder, one oh one. For there to be a murder, 0:23:56.720 --> 0:24:00.959 their first must be a culpable homicide. And we've already 0:24:00.960 --> 0:24:05.879 discussed whether on the forensic evidence you have before you, 0:24:06.880 --> 0:24:13.560 a case where a culpable homicide, so a strangulation, homicidal 0:24:13.600 --> 0:24:20.679 strangulation has been established, and it hasn't. Every good murder 0:24:20.720 --> 0:24:26.600 mystery starts at that point. Someone dies, usually in the 0:24:26.640 --> 0:24:31.720 first five minutes, and usually the death is obvious, as 0:24:31.800 --> 0:24:36.120 is the cause. The real issue is looking for who 0:24:36.240 --> 0:24:42.080 might be the perpetrator of it. Here we can't even 0:24:42.119 --> 0:24:46.960 start from that position. But a lot of time in 0:24:47.000 --> 0:24:52.439 this trial has been invested in creating the villain that 0:24:52.560 --> 0:24:55.160 every murder mystery requires. 0:24:56.359 --> 0:25:00.800 Mansfield said that Alicia McClintock's framing of Polkinghorn as the 0:25:00.840 --> 0:25:06.000 master manipulator is designed to turn the jury off his client. 0:25:06.960 --> 0:25:10.680 He said that the Crown solicitor has attributed an arrogance 0:25:10.720 --> 0:25:13.800 to Polkinghorn not born out by the evidence. 0:25:14.480 --> 0:25:17.480 None of us would want to be exposed as the 0:25:17.520 --> 0:25:21.200 two individuals the subject of this prosecution have ended up 0:25:21.520 --> 0:25:26.240 being exposed, but no one more so than doctor Polkinghorn. 0:25:27.480 --> 0:25:32.320 His entire lifestyle has been laid bare. I would say, 0:25:32.359 --> 0:25:39.240 unnecessarily before you simply to create the villain that the 0:25:39.280 --> 0:25:41.080 Crown want you to see him as. 0:25:42.200 --> 0:25:46.160 Mansfield said, Polkinghorn had a number of faults and some 0:25:46.200 --> 0:25:49.680 members of the jury may see his traits or conduct 0:25:50.040 --> 0:25:53.440 as something they might not like in a friend or partner. 0:25:53.840 --> 0:25:58.879 But this is not a court of morals. That includes 0:25:59.119 --> 0:26:03.400 not judging his meth use or his use of sex workers. 0:26:04.119 --> 0:26:08.120 Mansfield said the evidence shows that Hannah was involved at 0:26:08.160 --> 0:26:12.720 the outset of the relationship between Polkinghorn and Ashton in 0:26:12.760 --> 0:26:16.240 twenty fifteen, and spoke of his use of sex workers 0:26:16.280 --> 0:26:19.879 in the Longlands recording where she was less concerned about 0:26:19.920 --> 0:26:22.960 sex workers and more that her husband was seeing a 0:26:23.000 --> 0:26:27.000 woman in Auckland. Mansfield asked the jury not to put 0:26:27.000 --> 0:26:30.320 their values on other people, and this is how Hannah 0:26:30.359 --> 0:26:34.360 and Polkinghorn chose to live their life, and she made 0:26:34.440 --> 0:26:39.359 her own choices in twenty nineteen around those relationships. He 0:26:39.480 --> 0:26:44.560 said that Hannah was independent, intelligent, and earning an incredibly 0:26:44.560 --> 0:26:47.879 good salary and would have been entitled to her share 0:26:48.080 --> 0:26:51.679 of around ten point five million dollars worth of assets 0:26:52.040 --> 0:26:55.720 if they separated. Mansfield said it would have been divided 0:26:55.760 --> 0:26:59.040 between the two of them. He said messages from the 0:26:59.160 --> 0:27:02.120 end of twenty two twenty and early twenty twenty one 0:27:02.720 --> 0:27:06.520 show that Hannah and Polkinghorn still loved and supported each 0:27:06.600 --> 0:27:10.800 other despite how they operated their relationship, and there's no 0:27:10.920 --> 0:27:15.320 evidence Polkinghorn wanted to run off with Ashton. That might 0:27:15.359 --> 0:27:20.040 have changed after Hannah's death when he was isolated and desperate. 0:27:20.760 --> 0:27:24.320 There were clear tensions behind some of the things Hannah said, 0:27:24.840 --> 0:27:28.160 such as the dispute at Auckland die but Hannah made 0:27:28.160 --> 0:27:30.879 it clear to her family that she was not physically 0:27:31.000 --> 0:27:37.240 battered despite Polkinghorn being beastly. Mansfield said he can't comment 0:27:37.359 --> 0:27:40.280 on the recollections of the readings of a dinner with Hannah, 0:27:40.600 --> 0:27:44.520 in which she allegedly described Polkinghorn attempting to strangle her. 0:27:44.680 --> 0:27:47.679 No, I'm not going to suggest that Physic and John 0:27:48.240 --> 0:27:49.480 read and are liars. 0:27:50.480 --> 0:27:51.280 But I am going to. 0:27:51.240 --> 0:27:53.840 Sedest that you need to look with Kia at what 0:27:53.920 --> 0:27:57.919 they say when you contrast that against what she was 0:27:57.960 --> 0:28:03.160 clearly saying to her own Bruce and Rose at Longlands. 0:28:03.800 --> 0:28:07.800 I'm not physically bettered, i am not abused. I am safe, Darling, 0:28:08.240 --> 0:28:12.119 Please think I am safe. I'm not a scapegoat or 0:28:12.160 --> 0:28:12.800 a door mare. 0:28:13.840 --> 0:28:18.240 There is absolutely no other evidence of physical violence in 0:28:18.280 --> 0:28:22.480 Hannah and Polkinghorn's relationship. He said. To go from no 0:28:22.720 --> 0:28:27.760 violence to controlling and violence doesn't fit comfortably with what 0:28:27.840 --> 0:28:33.080 others report of their relationship, Mansfield said. Onto auckland I 0:28:33.200 --> 0:28:37.840 and the issues there, Mansfield said Polkinghorn's anger was not 0:28:37.960 --> 0:28:41.520 about money, but about getting less than two doctors who 0:28:41.560 --> 0:28:45.600 had left acrimoniously despite him being a founder of the clinic. 0:28:46.440 --> 0:28:50.520 Onto the mathe Use, Mansfield said Crown witness Dr Emma 0:28:50.600 --> 0:28:54.480 Schwartz's evidence was that people who use myth might be 0:28:54.600 --> 0:28:59.280 prone to increased violence, but she made it clear it 0:28:59.360 --> 0:29:02.760 wasn't a risk for everyone who used math or even 0:29:02.840 --> 0:29:06.320 those with a meth use disorder. It would be hard 0:29:06.360 --> 0:29:10.440 to understand why polking Horn would resort to violence when 0:29:10.440 --> 0:29:14.120 it hadn't been a signature of their relationship, says Mansfield. 0:29:14.520 --> 0:29:17.720 And you might just see that from the basic stats 0:29:18.000 --> 0:29:23.720 that exist within our community regarding methamphetamine use. It's everywhere. 0:29:24.880 --> 0:29:29.080 And if everyone who used methamphetamine and the kind of 0:29:29.120 --> 0:29:33.800 way that we know doctor Polkinghorn used methamphetamin became violent 0:29:34.440 --> 0:29:39.160 or became homicidal all of a sudden, then our courts 0:29:39.200 --> 0:29:42.680 would be even fuller than they are, and considerably so. 0:29:43.680 --> 0:29:47.160 Thirty seven point seven grams of math may have been 0:29:47.240 --> 0:29:51.640 found at the Upland Road home, but Mansfield said there's 0:29:51.720 --> 0:29:56.280 no evidence of Polkinghorn's meth use and that just represents 0:29:56.400 --> 0:30:00.840 how much had been bought at one time. Mansfield said 0:30:00.960 --> 0:30:05.040 there's no evidence of Polkinghorn having turned agitated because of 0:30:05.120 --> 0:30:09.400 meth use, with only one reprimand at Auckland Eye for 0:30:09.520 --> 0:30:14.880