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Speaker 1: And I surgeon Philip Polkinhorn was found not guilty of

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Speaker 1: murdering his wife Pauline Hannah this afternoon. The jury, have

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Speaker 1: you reached a unanimous verdict, that is the one on

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Speaker 1: which all eleven of you agree on charge one, the

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Speaker 1: charge of murder. Do you find the defendant, Philip John Polkinhorn,

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Speaker 1: guilty or not guilty? Philip Polkinghorn spoke to media outside

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Speaker 1: shortly after that verdict was read. The upcoming with it

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Speaker 1: a huge turning point in our lives.

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Speaker 2: His posts has taken a massive toll on so many

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Speaker 2: of us, and now we can grieve and let Pauline

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Speaker 2: rest in peace. Now that is the best definite can

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Speaker 2: possibly give here.

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Speaker 1: Thank you. Herald journalist Michael Morrow was in the High

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Speaker 1: Court earlier to hear that it is with us now.

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Speaker 1: Hoy Michael. What was Philip Polkinghorn's reaction when that verdict

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Speaker 1: was read out.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, he stood with his head bowed, his eyes were closed.

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Speaker 2: It was quite tense in the courtroom, you know, everyone

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Speaker 2: was there, The jury all focused on the chairperson who

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Speaker 2: was reading the verdict, and the public gallery was pretty

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Speaker 2: much full when that not guilty verdict came out. There

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Speaker 2: were audible gasps from the public gallery. Some people in

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Speaker 2: the public gallery were in tears. Polkinghorn himself just stood still,

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Speaker 2: head down and was pretty much expressionless when that verdict

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Speaker 2: of not guilty was read out.

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Speaker 1: What did you make of the question that the jury

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Speaker 1: asked earlier today?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think this was really really interesting and I

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Speaker 2: think it was a massive turning point in the deliberations

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Speaker 2: for the jury. So they had been deliberating for about

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Speaker 2: ten hours. This was day two because they had a

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Speaker 2: day of leave on the Friday, and this was a

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Speaker 2: critical moment in my mind, because they came and said

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Speaker 2: to the judge that essentially they were having problems, and

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Speaker 2: what they articulated was that they were pretty much split.

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Speaker 2: They didn't know what decision to make, and they said

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Speaker 2: that most of the jurors believed that this was not

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Speaker 2: a case of suicide, but at the same time they

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Speaker 2: felt the Crown had not provided enough evidence to prove murder.

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Speaker 2: And what the judge said at that point I think

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Speaker 2: was critical, and that was that you must be sure

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Speaker 2: to convict, you must be sure to be found guilty.

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Speaker 2: You must be sure.

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Speaker 1: It has to be beyond reasonable doubts.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, it could not be a case. The judge said,

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Speaker 2: if you think it's likely murder was committed, or even

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Speaker 2: very likely, it has to be a certainty. And at

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Speaker 2: that point he directed the jury to go away. Continued deliberations.

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Speaker 2: They had some subway at lunch time, and then it

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Speaker 2: was only straight after lunch that they came back with

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Speaker 2: this not guilty verdict just around quarter past two this afternoon.

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Speaker 1: And how did Pauline Hannah's family react to this?

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Speaker 2: They came outside, bought Bruce Hannah, Pauline's brother, was visibly

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Speaker 2: upset in tears, essentially said that this was not the

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Speaker 2: right decision. At the same time, he said he felt

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Speaker 2: that the corporateceedings were fair and we needed to accept

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Speaker 2: this even though it's so disappointing, and he acknowledged how

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Speaker 2: difficult the last eight to nine weeks has been for

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Speaker 2: him and all of Pauline's other family members.

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Speaker 1: And also Madison Ashton, who was Polkinghorn's hooker mistress. She's

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Speaker 1: also reacted to the verdict.

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Speaker 2: Day yeah, she has. She actually refused to give evidence

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Speaker 2: in this trial, and she's been away on an overseas

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Speaker 2: trip visiting Morocco, London, has been in Athens, but she

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Speaker 2: has told my colleague Carolyn menye who's been speaking regularly

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Speaker 2: with her throughout this trial, that she claims Madison Ashton

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Speaker 2: claims that the police botched this murder investigation by not

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Speaker 2: taking her seriously and omitting crucial evidence she provided. She

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Speaker 2: also revealed that she had discussed getting married, buying a house,

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Speaker 2: and having children with doctor Polkinghorn. So quite a bombshell

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Speaker 2: of an interview there, that, yeah, my colleague Carolyn Menyee

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Speaker 2: has got from The Herald. However, of course she was

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Speaker 2: not in court. She was, in her own words, shaking

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Speaker 2: and shocked by the decision that the jury reached, you know,

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Speaker 2: but she didn't front up in court, has been away overseas.

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Speaker 1: Michael, Thank you, thanks very much for talking us through that.

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Speaker 1: Michael Morra, the Herald journalist who's been

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Speaker 2: In courted For more from Heather Duplessy, Allen Drive, listen

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Speaker 2: live to news talks he'd be from four pm weekdays,

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Speaker 2: or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.