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Speaker 1: So one of the most anticipated murder cases of the

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Speaker 1: year has begun in the Auckland High Court today with

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Speaker 1: surprising and eye opening detail. Philip Polkinghorn, a successful eye surgeon,

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Speaker 1: has been accused of strangling his wife and making it

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Speaker 1: look like suicide today in the court. Pauline Hanner, his wife,

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Speaker 1: was found dead in the couple's Remuere home on Easter

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Speaker 1: Monday back in twenty twenty one. Chelsea Daniels is covering

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Speaker 1: the trial for US and joins us now, good afternoon, Chelsea,

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Speaker 1: So tell us how the day begin Well.

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Speaker 2: Andrew Polkinghorn started the trial today with guilty please to

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Speaker 2: possession of methan fetamine and possession of a methan fetamine pipe.

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Speaker 2: For the last two years the charges were not allowed

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Speaker 2: to be reported, but suppression lapsed with that admission of guilt.

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Speaker 2: The guilty please leave just one charge remaining for the

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Speaker 2: six week trial and that's.

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Speaker 1: Murder, all right. So what does the crown allege actually

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Speaker 1: happened to Pauline Well.

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Speaker 2: First, Alicia McLintock, the Crown prosecutor, went through what happened

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Speaker 2: that weekend. Pauline Hannah did a series of things that

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Speaker 2: were just so normal for her. She took pride in

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Speaker 2: her work and also took pride in her appearance, but

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Speaker 2: there was one aspect of her life that was troubling.

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Speaker 3: He was spending large amounts of money on sex workers

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Speaker 3: and engaging and a number of extramarital encounters and relationships.

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Speaker 3: He had a problematic myth amphetamine habit. He was spending

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Speaker 3: marital finances in many ways that benefited only himself.

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Speaker 2: The Crown says it'll prove that Polkinghorn's claim that his

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Speaker 2: wife took her own life as false and that he

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Speaker 2: actually staged the scene. Mcclintoc told the court of the

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Speaker 2: way Hannah was found by paramedics, details about a rope

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Speaker 2: and a belt that were found in the house.

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Speaker 4: Round allegs evident in this case will show the rope

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Speaker 4: was too loosely tied to have sufficient tension to kill

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Speaker 4: miss Hannah, and simply too long.

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Speaker 2: The Crown alleges a struggle took place, given Hannah had

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Speaker 2: injuries to her nose, scalp and bruises on her arm,

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Speaker 2: marks on the left side of her back, and Polkinghort

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Speaker 2: had a fresh cut on his forehead that he couldn't explain. Meanwhile,

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Speaker 2: defense lawyer Ron Mansfield is adamant Hannah took her own life.

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Speaker 5: This is a case where the Crown know that there

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Speaker 5: is no pathology to support its theory of a homicide.

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Speaker 5: The Crown knows that there is no evidence of an

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Speaker 5: argument that evening. The Crown knows that there is no

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Speaker 5: evidence of any methamphetamine use by Dr Poalbingporn that night.

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Speaker 5: The Crown knows that there is no evidence of any

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Speaker 5: arguing disagreement or an assault lead alone a fatal assault.

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Speaker 1: So he did plead guilty though to possession of myth

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Speaker 1: and a pipe. So how much myth was found around

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Speaker 1: the house?

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Speaker 5: Yeah?

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Speaker 2: Police found thirty seven point seven grams of meth dotted

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Speaker 2: all around the house in the master bedroom, bathrooms, and study.

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Speaker 2: A meth pipe, meth and a lighter was found in

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Speaker 2: the main bedroom where Polkinghorn slept. Hannah had slept in

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Speaker 2: another bedroom the night before her death. And Hannah appears

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Speaker 2: to have also been grappling with doctor Polkinghorn's meth habits.

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Speaker 2: Apparently she searched privately on the Internet prior to his death.

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Speaker 2: What sensation does p give you? For instance, what does

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Speaker 2: a pea pipe look like? These searches were made just

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Speaker 2: three months before her death. The searchers suggest an ignorance

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Speaker 2: about drug use. The Crown says, all right.

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Speaker 1: Let's talk about this. This other character in this tale,

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Speaker 1: and her name is Madisone Eshton, and she's actually featured

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Speaker 1: in social pages being pictured with the poking corn who

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Speaker 1: is medicine Eshton. And will she take the stand?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, so she is a Sydney sex worker Polkinghorn had

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Speaker 2: been seeing before Hannah's death. She will take the stand.

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Speaker 2: Later in the trial, McClintock said Hannah admitted to friends

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Speaker 2: that she had actually joined the pair in a threesome

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Speaker 2: reluctantly in Australia, but would then become concerned with her

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Speaker 2: husband's obsession with group sex, she said. She said he

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Speaker 2: had been living a double life with Ashton before his

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Speaker 2: wife died and even afterwards, and he apparently deleted WhatsApp

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Speaker 2: messages with Ashton after her death and asked her to

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Speaker 2: do the same.

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Speaker 1: All right, And they've also heard and I think we've

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Speaker 1: heard it on our news. But let's play this again.

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Speaker 1: This is the one one one call that Philip Polkinghorn

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Speaker 1: made on the night, isn't it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, we heard that in court. Take a listen.

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Speaker 5: You there, I'm here. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Now she's did.

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Speaker 2: Okay, So so tell it. Why do you believe that

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Speaker 2: you need part?

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Speaker 3: So?

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Speaker 5: Why do you believe that she's dead?

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Speaker 1: Because I can't do a punk on the dodge of

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Speaker 1: and she's blue, she's cold.

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Speaker 2: So the trial is continuing in the High Court at Auckland, all.

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Speaker 1: Right, and Chelsea Daniels will be covering it right the

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Speaker 1: way through. We'll have more coverage from Chelsea on the trial.

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Speaker 1: You can also listen to the podcast that we're making

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Speaker 1: about this trial. It is called Accused the Poking Horn Trial.

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Speaker 1: You'll find it on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Speaker 5: For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to

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Speaker 5: news talks it'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow

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Speaker 5: the podcast on iHeartRadio