Speaker 1: Kiota. I'm Chelsea Daniels and from the team behind the
Speaker 1: front page the New Zealand Herald's daily news podcast, This
Speaker 1: Is Accused the polking Horn Trial. Over the next six weeks,
Speaker 1: in conjunction with our usual daily episodes, we'll be bringing
Speaker 1: you regular coverage as one of the most high profile
Speaker 1: trials of the year makes its way through the High
Speaker 1: Court at Auckland. A warning, this podcast contains disturbing content.
Speaker 1: Was Philip Polkinghorn reasonably calm on the morning of his
Speaker 1: wife's death or just composed and trying to help? Was
Speaker 1: the injury on his forehead a scratch, a graze, scrape
Speaker 1: or a cut? How is Pauline Hannah's body found and
Speaker 1: what injuries did she have? And why by late morning,
Speaker 1: before a statement was even given, did police deem the
Speaker 1: scene suspicious. Those who first attended the scene where Pauline
Speaker 1: Hannah's body was found have given evidence On day two
Speaker 1: of the trial of the former Auckland eye surgeon accused
Speaker 1: of murdering his wife. Polkinghorn maintains she took her own life.
Speaker 1: He told police she was on antidepressants, she was stressed
Speaker 1: about her work with the then COVID vaccination roll out
Speaker 1: she was involved in overseeing. She'd been planning a holiday,
Speaker 1: a four We'll drive trip in the South Island with friends.
Speaker 1: This morning's testimony painted a picture of how Polkinghorn says
Speaker 1: he found his wife's body on the morning of April fifth,
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one, Easter Monday, and the last time he
Speaker 1: says he saw his wife alive. In his first police statement,
Speaker 1: he detailed the night before, the pair had a drink
Speaker 1: or two in their upstairs library and she cooked dinner.
Speaker 1: Wineglass with lipstick on it was seen by an officer.
Speaker 1: They watched a few episodes of New Amsterdam on Netflix
Speaker 1: together before going to bed for the night around ten pm.
Speaker 1: Hannah had organized to go to the gym the next
Speaker 1: day around nine am. They'd been sleeping in separate rooms.
Speaker 1: He got up early about seven forty five to make breakfast,
Speaker 1: tea and toast. He used another stairwell to get to
Speaker 1: the kitchen, the closest to the master bedroom he was
Speaker 1: sleeping in the night before, and after that he went
Speaker 1: to go upstairs via another staircase, and that's when he
Speaker 1: finds his wife slumped leaning forward in a chair with
Speaker 1: a belt around her neck. Paramedics have told the court
Speaker 1: it was clear Pauline Hannah was dead. She was found
Speaker 1: in the entrance way of the home, covered with a
Speaker 1: douvet and a pillow under her head. Saint John paramedic
Speaker 1: Hannah Matheson was one of the first ambulance members at
Speaker 1: the Upland Road scene. She told Brian Dickie as she
Speaker 1: was asking him questions about the morning's events, he seemed calm.
Speaker 2: Did he say anything about the patient, that he knew
Speaker 2: that she was dead?
Speaker 3: And yeah, that she was his wife?
Speaker 2: And how did he appear at this time when you
Speaker 2: were speaking with.
Speaker 4: Him reasonably calm? Wasn't crying, didn't seem distressed, was answering
Speaker 4: our questions appropriately. Yeah, gave full name and date of birth.
Speaker 4: Said that the patient had depression, but was unaware of
Speaker 4: the names of any medications that the patient took.
Speaker 2: He said the patient had depression.
Speaker 5: That he.
Speaker 2: Did he just say just that or did he say
Speaker 2: more than that to describe?
Speaker 3: But I can only recall him saying that.
Speaker 1: She heard Polkinghorn calling Hannah's workplace to tell them she
Speaker 1: wasn't going into work that day.
Speaker 2: How was he when he was on the phone talking
Speaker 2: to her?
Speaker 4: Work.
Speaker 2: Did you notice anything about that?
Speaker 4: I noticed that his demeanor change and he appeared more
Speaker 4: distressed and upset on the phone.
Speaker 2: Okay, could you tell that that was the deceased workplace
Speaker 2: by what he was saying? Or how did you form
Speaker 2: the view he was talking to her work.
Speaker 4: By saying that she couldn't come in today. I did
Speaker 4: assume that he was calling her workplace.
Speaker 1: Defense lawyer Ron Mansfield said Matheson must have deal with
Speaker 1: all kinds of states of emotion in her line of work.
Speaker 2: And I would have thought there's no ideal or standard
Speaker 2: presentation of somebody. Would that be right?
Speaker 3: That is correct? Everyone responds differently.
Speaker 2: Some people are broken down and can hardly speak, can
Speaker 2: hardly move as one extreme Yes, and then some people
Speaker 2: are composed trying to deal with the situation and try
Speaker 2: to ensure that they provide you with as much help
Speaker 2: as they can.
Speaker 3: Yes.
Speaker 1: When polking Horn was asked a question, he answered at
Speaker 1: Mansfield said, pointing out he had lost his composure during
Speaker 1: the call with his wife's workplace. Matheson mentioned spotting a
Speaker 1: graze or a scratch in the middle of Polkinghorn's forehead
Speaker 1: and said he seemed to be unaware it was there.
Speaker 1: Liam Larsen was an aut student at the time and
Speaker 1: a trainee paramedic. He too noticed the mark. Constable Andrew
Speaker 1: Roland also noticed a fresh injury on Polkinghorn's forehead and
Speaker 1: said it looked like a graze, like pretty.
Speaker 5: Much right in the center's forehead.
Speaker 2: How would you describe it.
Speaker 5: Ah, It's probably about maybe no bigger than the size
Speaker 5: of a golf ball in terms of the diameter. And
Speaker 5: it was more like a graze than like as if
Speaker 5: you know, you'd bang your head on concrete or something.
Speaker 5: Didn't look like a deep cut or anything.
Speaker 1: Polking Horn had told paramedics Hannah had a history of
Speaker 1: depression and she had a history of taking antidepressants, although
Speaker 1: he couldn't remember exactly which ones. Mansfield asked a Larson
Speaker 1: about the conversation he remembers being had with the defendant.
Speaker 2: Did he also provide some information regarding her general health?
Speaker 2: Did he say she had been stressing about her work
Speaker 2: lately and was involved heavily involved in the COVID vaccination process.
Speaker 5: I recall him saying something about the vaccination process and
Speaker 5: her work, but that's all I remember.
Speaker 2: To be fear to you if you need to check
Speaker 2: your notes or your statement. We can, or I'll just
Speaker 2: read it to you. See if this freshes your memory.
Speaker 2: He mentioned that was which I mean to take as
Speaker 2: she was stressing about her work lately and was involved
Speaker 2: in COVID vaccination process.
Speaker 1: Constable Roland was the one to take Polkinghorn's statement. He
Speaker 1: read it out to the jury.
Speaker 5: Pauline has been on and off depressed for several years.
Speaker 5: She takes some antidepressant medication. I'm not sure what it's called.
Speaker 5: She has been taking it for several years. I'm not
Speaker 5: sure she still has been taking it recently. She has
Speaker 5: also suffered from bolimia about five years ago. She has
Speaker 5: been taking weight reduction medication. Also, Pauline has been exhausted
Speaker 5: in recent times. This has been mainly from working such
Speaker 5: long hours.
Speaker 1: He's spent nearly forty minutes with him, during which Polkinghorn
Speaker 1: spoke to people on the phone and was getting messages through.
Speaker 1: Roland told the court when the defendants spoke to others
Speaker 1: on the phone telling them of his wife's death, he
Speaker 1: would become upset.
Speaker 5: Yes, this was yeah, so this was during the time
Speaker 5: that I was taking the statement off him. I can
Speaker 5: recall like one specific phone call, I think it was
Speaker 5: from his brother, and he was getting a phone call.
Speaker 5: He looked at his phone and he said, oh, this
Speaker 5: is my brother, and then he answered the call and
Speaker 5: said something like Pauline's did or my wife's did, And
Speaker 5: then I could hear crying coming from the other side
Speaker 5: of the line.
Speaker 2: How was he during this period?
Speaker 5: How was he English? So? When I was talking to him,
Speaker 5: he seemed fine, But then when he spoke about his
Speaker 5: wife to other people that like to notify them of
Speaker 5: her death, he would get quite upset.
Speaker 2: And what about him is answering of your questions or
Speaker 2: providing you with information.
Speaker 5: He was, for the most part quite fine, particularly when
Speaker 5: I can recall asking him in detail how he discovered
Speaker 5: his wife on the morning, and from memory, he didn't
Speaker 5: seem to get to emotionally. He just was sort of straight.
Speaker 3: To the point.
Speaker 1: Roland detailed the moment when Polkinghorn's sun arrived at the
Speaker 1: scene that morning.
Speaker 5: I think when his sun showed up, he I think
Speaker 5: they he gave him a hugin Philip Mister Polkinhord said
Speaker 5: that she was the love of his life, and he
Speaker 5: cried a bit there as well.
Speaker 1: After Polkinghorn finished giving his statement, he read each page
Speaker 1: and he signed them. Constable Roland handed the document over
Speaker 1: to his sergeant, CHRISCA William.
Speaker 5: Gave him all the papers and at that point Sergeant
Speaker 5: Chris had written on his hand the number one in
Speaker 5: the letter C and he showed it to me, which
Speaker 5: is basically police code for suspicious circumstances.
Speaker 1: So by late morning, officers were treating the scene as suspicious.
Speaker 1: By that time there were questions about ligature marks around
Speaker 1: Hannah's neck diamond Marx resembling a belt that Polkinghorn admitted to.
Speaker 1: Moving to the kitchen, more paramedic and officers noticed the
Speaker 1: bright orange rope hanging from a handrail and another piece
Speaker 1: coiled on the steps below. Mansfield Cross examined Sergeant Chris Giwilliam,
Speaker 1: who told the court he had been advised before Polkinghorn
Speaker 1: had finished making his initial statement that the scene was
Speaker 1: being treated as suspicious. By the end of the day,
Speaker 1: the court heard evidence from Detective Constable Brooke Everson. She
Speaker 1: was in charge of Hannah's body. Her head was tilted
Speaker 1: to the side and there was obvious markings on her
Speaker 1: neck about three centimeters in width in a criss cross pattern.
Speaker 1: On the right side to the front of her neck.
Speaker 1: There was a cut on the left side of the
Speaker 1: bridge of her nose. It was fresh, it wasn't scabbed over,
Speaker 1: and there was blood coming out of her left to ear.
Speaker 1: There was some bruising on her inner thigh. On her
Speaker 1: left hand, there was blood between her fore and middle fingers.
Speaker 1: It didn't appear to be a cut, it was just blood.
Speaker 1: Those marks on her neck were noticed by others as well.
Speaker 1: Sergeant Gwilliam told the court ligature marks were noted on
Speaker 1: her neck.
Speaker 2: He described the ligature marks as like diamond shapes, and
Speaker 2: then that clicked very quickly in your mind that that
Speaker 2: might match the belt which had been photographed and seen
Speaker 2: in the stairwell.
Speaker 3: That there was two items theyrecreped.
Speaker 2: And you then realized that that item should be secured.
Speaker 3: Then I mentioned the item that there was two items.
Speaker 3: They are correct.
Speaker 1: The belt was mentioned by Polkinghorn in his statement as
Speaker 1: being around his wife's neck. It had been noted as
Speaker 1: being on the stairs. Then Constable Danielle Gear remembered seeing
Speaker 1: it as well.
Speaker 2: And I think at one stage after you had seen
Speaker 2: Dr Popenhorn coming up the stairs curling up the belt
Speaker 2: in front of him. You were asked by the sargent
Speaker 2: where the belt was that had been on the steps. Yes,
Speaker 2: and you were able to tell him because you had
Speaker 2: seen doctor Polkinghorn with the belt that you thought he
Speaker 2: had it.
Speaker 4: Yep.
Speaker 2: Then you made an inquiry of Dr Polkinhorn during the
Speaker 2: interview with Constable Rowlands and he told you that, yes,
Speaker 2: he put the belt in the kitchen.
Speaker 3: Yes.
Speaker 1: The trial continues tomorrow. You can listen to episodes of
Speaker 1: Accused the Polkinghorn Trial through the Front Page podcast feed
Speaker 1: or find it on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1: This series is presented and produced by me Chelsea Daniels,
Speaker 1: with producer Ethan Seles and sound engineer Paddy fox And.
Speaker 1: For more coverage of the Polkinghorn Trial, head to Enzidhrold
Speaker 1: dot co dot nz