Speaker 1: Kyoda. I'm Chelsea Daniels and from the team behind the
Speaker 1: front page The New Zealand Herald's daily news podcast, This
Speaker 1: is Accused The Polkinghorn Trial. Over the next six weeks,
Speaker 1: in conjunction with our usual daily podcasts, will 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: a home visit, a parade of ex colleagues, and an
Speaker 1: explanation as to why Pauline Hannah's niece recorded a family conversation.
Speaker 1: The trial of Philip Polkinghorn has entered its third week.
Speaker 1: He's accused of murdering his wife, but maintains she took
Speaker 1: her own life. The jury called a little early to
Speaker 1: court on day ten ahead of a visit to the
Speaker 1: Polkinghorn home in Remuera. Justice Graham Lang explained how the
Speaker 1: morning would work before they set off. Journalists aren't allowed
Speaker 1: inside for house visits like this, but they are allowed
Speaker 1: to watch from the scene and photograph the judge and
Speaker 1: lawyers from the street, though not the jury. I spoke
Speaker 1: with The Herald's Craig Captain, who was there. Can you
Speaker 1: tell me, Craig where you are at the moment.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm at the Rema home of the jury has
Speaker 2: been transported to hear of your bus today to do
Speaker 2: a site visit, which is pretty rare in our trials
Speaker 2: in New Zealand.
Speaker 1: What are the rules around the site visit.
Speaker 2: Well, they want to be very careful not to have
Speaker 2: this sort of testimony while in the house, so joris
Speaker 2: are allowed to talk themselves. They've been accompanied by police officer,
Speaker 2: but he's not allowed to answer questions or really give
Speaker 2: it to or he's just going to be standing a
Speaker 2: little bit out of distance so that they can talk
Speaker 2: amongst themselves. The judge also said this is probably common sense,
Speaker 2: but no going through drawers or closets because this is
Speaker 2: still a private home that's being used.
Speaker 1: What was the process like this morning? So they met
Speaker 1: at the court room.
Speaker 2: Yes, the Jewels showed up a little early today, fortre
Speaker 2: minutes early, and if the judge just gave them a
Speaker 2: very quick rundown of what they would be doing, and
Speaker 2: he suggested they bring the evidence with them that had
Speaker 2: the layout of the house and he's kind of told
Speaker 2: them what the order was going to be of how
Speaker 2: they will walk through the house to emphasize that it's
Speaker 2: not either to gain new evidence so much as just
Speaker 2: to be able to visualize the layout of the house
Speaker 2: so that they can contemplate the case better.
Speaker 1: And what's it like being there? I suppose media aren't
Speaker 1: allowed in and so is everyone just kind of outside?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I got to say, it's a little strange. We
Speaker 2: are all standing around as the media, lawyers, police officers,
Speaker 2: and of course the jury and the judge all kind
Speaker 2: of ly about in this lushighborhood, and the of the
Speaker 2: residents with a little confused by a presence, which makes sense,
Speaker 2: but I guess that happens. We're going to all with
Speaker 2: a big case that attracts.
Speaker 1: About the media and have a lot of them decided
Speaker 1: to walk their dogs this morning at this specific time.
Speaker 2: I don't have sent a scout of how many people
Speaker 2: walk their dogs, and rema and how often it does
Speaker 2: seem to be quite a bit just pausis sect Sorry
Speaker 2: apologies for that. Jury was walking by the alley where
Speaker 2: I was standing.
Speaker 1: So have they finished?
Speaker 2: Yeah, the jury have just finished, and now Brian Vicki
Speaker 2: is leading another single flow line of lawyers and the
Speaker 2: judge into the house. He's with Alicia McClintock, who was
Speaker 2: his replacement as consolicitor, and then the defense lawyers, including
Speaker 2: Ron Mansfield, are also in the line along with Judge.
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us, Craig.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no problem, have a good one.
Speaker 1: Whenever a witness is called to the stand, they have
Speaker 1: a choice whether or not they want to be filmed
Speaker 1: or recorded. It's completely up to them. For example, on
Speaker 1: day nine, the final witness was Donna Baker, a work
Speaker 1: friend of Pauline's, and she didn't want to be recorded,
Speaker 1: but we can report what she said. They both worked
Speaker 1: at Middlemoor Hospital in the years before Pauline's death. Baker
Speaker 1: spoke highly of Pauline, saying she was larger than life,
Speaker 1: worked hard, and had high standards. Baker recalled having a
Speaker 1: drink with Pauline where she discussed her embarrassment at Philip
Speaker 1: failing to turn up for a family holiday at their
Speaker 1: batch at rings Beach in the Commandel Hannah was forced
Speaker 1: to lie and say he was at a work conference.
Speaker 1: Baker remembered. Pauline then asked her what it was like
Speaker 1: to be a single woman of a certain age. She
Speaker 1: said to me, she wasn't happy in her marriage and
Speaker 1: hadn't been for a long time. Baker remembered so. On
Speaker 1: day ten, once the jury was back in the courtroom,
Speaker 1: several witnesses chose not to be re coded, so we
Speaker 1: can't play the audio of their testimony. First to take
Speaker 1: to the stand was Claire Thompson. She'd known Pauline Hannah
Speaker 1: for at least a decade. Thompson worked at Health Source
Speaker 1: with her. She said her friend and colleague was a
Speaker 1: high achiever, always immaculately dressed. She mentions the story Hannah
Speaker 1: had also told Donna Baker about having to lie to
Speaker 1: his children about why he didn't turn up for a
Speaker 1: family Christmas at their Corimandel batch. Thompson remembers Hannah had
Speaker 1: entered her office one day in late twenty twenty distraught.
Speaker 1: She was worried her husband was seeing someone romantically in Northland.
Speaker 1: She feared he was siphoning money away ahead of divorcing her.
Speaker 1: She said she was tearful, upset, which was unlike her.
Speaker 1: When Hannah was paid, she told her work friend about
Speaker 1: two thousand to two thousand, five hundred dollars was disappearing
Speaker 1: from her account. Pauline had once confided in the witness
Speaker 1: about going through Philip's laptop and finding a photo with
Speaker 1: him and another woman. They spoke about the possibility of
Speaker 1: hiring a private investigator. They had dinner at an Italian
Speaker 1: restaurant on the waterfront. They enjoyed a couple of glasses
Speaker 1: of wine. Hannah confided in her about how Philip was
Speaker 1: demanding sexually. She said he was now demanding sex in
Speaker 1: the morning. She said she didn't want to be by
Speaker 1: herself in her sixties. She was in high spirits. The
Speaker 1: dinner ended with a hug. On cross examination, Ron Mansfield
Speaker 1: asks whether she was aware of the group sex in Sydney.
Speaker 1: Was she where Hannah sometimes saw sex workers on her own,
Speaker 1: He asked she wasn't. He referred to Hannah's work emails,
Speaker 1: including some cent at about two am, six am and
Speaker 1: seven am on the same day. Was this usual? He
Speaker 1: read out more times two am, four am, five am.
Speaker 1: Thompson said she would occasionally send emails at that time
Speaker 1: if she'd remembered something and couldn't sleep. Pauline Hanna's friend
Speaker 1: Margaret White, was called to the stand. She too didn't
Speaker 1: want to be filmed or recorded. She started working with
Speaker 1: Hannah about two thousand and four at Counties Monaco, DHB.
Speaker 1: In the two to three years before Hannah's death, they
Speaker 1: were working closely together. She knew her very very well,
Speaker 1: she said. White said her work friend was amazing, bright, capable, determined,
Speaker 1: absolutely reliable. Most of the time she's known Hannah, she'd
Speaker 1: always talked about her husband's infidelity. About a year or
Speaker 1: so before her death, she messaged White to say, sorry,
Speaker 1: I can't work on it tonight. Philip's become beastly. More
Speaker 1: texts between the pair were read out White's voice breaking.
Speaker 1: Mansfield later asked her whether she was aware Hannah had
Speaker 1: participated in group sex with Polkinghorn on at least one
Speaker 1: occasion in Australia. Yes, says White. She drunk a bottle
Speaker 1: of wine and just went along with it. She said, certainly,
Speaker 1: there was no suggestion that she was a willing participant.
Speaker 1: She wasn't into it, asks Mansfield. Of course not, said White,
Speaker 1: her longtime work friend. I thought that she deserved better
Speaker 1: for coverage of other news happening around New Zealand and
Speaker 1: the world, including the state of the country's biggest city.
Speaker 1: Listen to the front page The Herald's Daily News podcast
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts. Week three began with Pauline's
Speaker 1: niece Rose Hannah on the stand.
Speaker 3: She's the one.
Speaker 1: Responsible for the recording of a family dinner we heard
Speaker 1: on day nine, known as the Longlands recording. So why
Speaker 1: did she record that family dinner conversation? On the day
Speaker 1: of the recording, Pauline had gone to Hawk's Bay to
Speaker 1: catalog her mother's items and artworks. Rose was helping, writing
Speaker 1: down all the eye items on her laptop. Later in
Speaker 1: the day, she says, the family began talking about the
Speaker 1: items again, but Rose didn't have her laptop handy, so
Speaker 1: she hit record on her phone. The jury didn't hear
Speaker 1: the talk about all the items, only from the point
Speaker 1: when the conversation quickly turned. Once the conversation subsided into
Speaker 1: Christmas plans, we heard Pauline invite Rose to family dinner
Speaker 1: in Auckland. The Crowns. Brian Dicky asked Rose whether she
Speaker 1: went to that Christmas in Auckland.
Speaker 3: No, I've got it. There's an email somewhere that I
Speaker 3: was shown last week that I provided, and it's Pauline
Speaker 3: basically saying that she doesn't want me to stay in
Speaker 3: the house and she wants me to instead be in
Speaker 3: a hotel, and that Philip had become I rate that
Speaker 3: she had made Christmas dinner into an event by inviting me,
Speaker 3: so I didn't attend Auckland. I was only coming up
Speaker 3: for her, and I didn't want to make trouble by
Speaker 3: b here.
Speaker 4: Was that the email there that you were talking about? Yes,
Speaker 4: you provided that to the police.
Speaker 3: Yes, yep, she said, PJP on the ceiling with four
Speaker 3: exclamation points, and I don't want you to experience that.
Speaker 3: So would you mind if I find you somewhere lovely
Speaker 3: to stay Saturday night that is close by love youp
Speaker 3: with lots of crosses?
Speaker 4: Did you take her up on that offer of putting
Speaker 4: you up somewhere.
Speaker 5: No.
Speaker 3: I called her and I said that if it's going
Speaker 3: to make things difficult for her, then I just won't
Speaker 3: come up.
Speaker 1: Rose had dinner with Pauline in August twenty twenty, where
Speaker 1: the idea of contacting a divorce attorney came up. They
Speaker 1: also discussed Pauline looking into hiring a private investigator.
Speaker 3: She said that during the early stages of the pandemic,
Speaker 3: she was signing documents all day every day, and Philip
Speaker 3: had passed her things to sign, and she was crying,
Speaker 3: saying that she'd been incredibly naive and trusting and was
Speaker 3: worried that she had no money her name anymore. Why
Speaker 3: was she worried about that, she explained, because he had
Speaker 3: explained to her, Philip being he that it was easier
Speaker 3: to invest the money with a single signature required, so
Speaker 3: he had signed it over over the assets into his
Speaker 3: name so that he could then invest it easier, and
Speaker 3: she had trusted him, so she didn't think that she
Speaker 3: had any money in her name.
Speaker 1: Rose said her aunt was terrified. She was worried she
Speaker 1: couldn't afford to leave her husband because she didn't have
Speaker 1: any money to her name. The couple sold a pappatoy
Speaker 1: toy property, which was in Pauline's name, for about a
Speaker 1: million dollars, but the money was in Polkinghorn's name so
Speaker 1: he could invest it for her. Pauline asked Rose to
Speaker 1: help her find a divorce lawyer in Auckland. Dicky and
Speaker 1: Rose discussed a message Pauline sent her after the conversation
Speaker 1: captured in the Longlands, recording.
Speaker 3: Yes I don't feel good about today or sharing some
Speaker 3: of Philip's foibles with you. He will come right. I
Speaker 3: can't say how much I want to get rid of
Speaker 3: twenty nineteen. It has not been the most auspicious year.
Speaker 3: Thank you again, darling girl, love you so much.
Speaker 4: Pee and you've responded saying you're glad that she'd shared.
Speaker 4: That's half the battle, and I paraphrase.
Speaker 3: Yes, I can tell you don't feel good about the
Speaker 3: weekend where she could just go to Hastings on Saturday
Speaker 3: and spend more time with Grandee. Let me know if
Speaker 3: I can help it all. Keep in touch, lots of love, Rosie.
Speaker 1: On cross examination, defense lawyer Ron Mansfield asks Rose about
Speaker 1: whether she was aware of the issues happening at Auckland
Speaker 1: I more about Christmas in twenty nineteen, and how she'd
Speaker 1: learned of her aunt's death. She told the court it
Speaker 1: just didn't make sense, Hope.
Speaker 4: This.
Speaker 3: Terrible question.
Speaker 4: But had you had experience I have someone close to
Speaker 4: you having taken their life by suicide before. No, you
Speaker 4: just thought that didn't seem like the Auntie Pauline I knew.
Speaker 3: Correct, Especially that method that was mentioned to me, it
Speaker 3: wouldn't have been doesn't make sense.
Speaker 4: And that's hanging correct, and that's all you've been told.
Speaker 1: Yes, Mansfield asked Rose about her communication with John and
Speaker 1: Victoria Riordan. Victoria goes by Pheasant. They were family friends
Speaker 1: of the Hannahs. They were always at family dinners, birthdays
Speaker 1: and events. Rose spoke to them over the phone, and
Speaker 1: she still remembers Pheasant screaming down the line in disbelief.
Speaker 4: You tell them we, presumably you and your dad, don't
Speaker 4: believe that Pauline has committed suicide.
Speaker 3: It was days later Pheasant called me because all I'd
Speaker 3: managed to get through to her the night before was
Speaker 3: that Pauline was dead, that she'd taken her own life.
Speaker 3: And then the next morning she called me and said,
Speaker 3: it doesn't make sense.
Speaker 4: So it was out the seventh then, yes, yeah, that
Speaker 4: makes sense.
Speaker 3: I remember sitting out on in the sun saying I
Speaker 3: don't think it makes sense.
Speaker 4: Either, And that's what you say back right, yes. And
Speaker 4: that's because just what you've told us, you didn't think
Speaker 4: that Auntie Pauline might be someone that would contemplating and
Speaker 4: take your life, let alone by way of a fullhand,
Speaker 4: correct Anstein. And it seems that the Roydens, when they
Speaker 4: had their conversation with you, seemed to share the same view.
Speaker 3: They were relieved that it wasn't just their thinking.
Speaker 1: The Crown called Paul Adrian's to the stand, a hairdresser
Speaker 1: who knew Polkinghorn by a mutual friend, Lee Peterson. It
Speaker 1: was good friends with Peterson meeting her about seven years ago.
Speaker 1: Paul told the court polking Horn would pay Lee to
Speaker 1: have sex. She was a prostitute. He said. He confirmed
Speaker 1: he met his client through their respective relationships with Lee.
Speaker 1: Sarah Prentice worked with Hannah in the health sector. She'd
Speaker 1: been alongside her off and on for about ten years.
Speaker 1: She was proud of everything she was doing. Sarah said
Speaker 1: she worked incredibly long hours. On the Wednesday after her death,
Speaker 1: Hannah was set to open a new vaccination center in
Speaker 1: South Auckland. The trial earlier heard she was looking forward
Speaker 1: to this opening. Prentice is the latest in a parade
Speaker 1: of co workers. They all say similar things, that Pauline
Speaker 1: was hard working, an effective manager, and always immaculately turned out.
Speaker 1: They included Elsa Claire, a former chief executive of the
Speaker 1: Auckland DHB. She was also part of the COVID vaccination
Speaker 1: program and said Hannah ran the procurement and logistics for
Speaker 1: the centers. She would often see her in twenty twenty one,
Speaker 1: and they worked closely together. She was very hard working,
Speaker 1: she said of Pauline, it felt like she was thriving
Speaker 1: in that environment. Sharon Alabastro had much the same view
Speaker 1: of Pauline's work ethic. Alabastro was a pro project manager
Speaker 1: at Health Source and involved in supporting dhb's She knew
Speaker 1: Hannah from March twenty twenty.
Speaker 5: In June or July of twenty twenty, I reported directly
Speaker 5: to Pauline Hannah. She was a lovely person. I had
Speaker 5: a very good working relationship with her.
Speaker 1: She was impressed at the cool and composed manner in
Speaker 1: which Hannah carried herself. If Hannah saw her working late,
Speaker 1: she'd tell her to go home and be with her family.
Speaker 1: She was meant to see Hannah at the Manyideua Mariah
Speaker 1: Vaccination Center on April fifth, the day Hannah died. She
Speaker 1: found out she died on her way there. On cross examination,
Speaker 1: Ron Mansfield asked her about their work hours. Were they long?
Speaker 4: You've told the police there an average of one hundred
Speaker 4: hours a week was pretty accurate.
Speaker 5: There were days, especially in the weekdays they were long,
Speaker 5: and then parts of weekend that we have to work.
Speaker 3: Still yes, but.
Speaker 4: In total for a weekundred hours.
Speaker 2: Was it that right?
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: They'd both be on their phones and laptops at home
Speaker 1: as well, working hard to make sure the vaccine rollout
Speaker 1: went as smoothly as possible. They looked out for each other,
Speaker 1: they knew how much pressure they were under. Mansfield at
Speaker 1: length went through email after email sent between the witness
Speaker 1: and Hannah and others to hammer home his point that
Speaker 1: they worked all hours of the day. Sorry that this
Speaker 1: is a bit onerous, he tells the witness. At one point,
Speaker 1: I feel a bit fatigued myself now, he said. The
Speaker 1: trail continues tomorrow. You can listen to episodes of Accused
Speaker 1: the Polkinghorn Trial through the Front Page podcast feed or
Speaker 1: find it on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1: This series is presented and produced by me Chelsea Daniels,
Speaker 1: with producer Ethan Seles and sound engineer Patti Fox. Additional
Speaker 1: reporting from the Heralds Craig Captan and George Block, and
Speaker 1: for more coverage of the polking Horn Trial, head to
Speaker 1: Nsidherld dot co dot nz
Speaker 5: Mm hmm