Philip Polkinghorne murder trial live updates: Sex tape of eye surgeon and escort, Madison Ashton, found on laptop
WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT
An analysis of Auckland eye surgeon Philip Polkinghorne’s laptop has revealed several exhibits of interest from the “acute period” in the days before his wife Pauline Hanna’s death.
Crown prosecutor Brian Dickey highlighted a number of emails exchanged between Hanna and Polkinghorne regarding his draft resignation letter.
An email was also received in the acute period from Australian escort Madison Ashton regarding the delivery of furniture to Sydney. A sex tape between the pair was also found on the laptop.
Polkinghorne, 71, is accused of having strangled wife Pauline Hanna on Easter Monday 2021 before staging the scene to look like a suicide. A significant part of the Crown’s circumstantial case is that Polkinghorne might have been high on the drug when he lashed out at his wife – possibly during an argument over his substantial spending on sex workers or his “double life” with one sex worker in particular.
STORY CONTINUES AFTER LIVE BLOG
Helen Van Berkel
Court will resume at 10am tomorrow.
What Pauline Hanna told her husband
Helen Van Berkel
Here is the full text of Pauline Hanna’s 2020 email to her husband Philip Polkinghorne, just read to the court by a police constable:
"l am addressing this to 'My Darling Philip'.
You know I love you more than any other person. You are my life, along with the family we have partnered to nurture and love and create a fabulous family life. I have gone out of my way to do that and we have many, many memories, happiness (and yes sometimes unhappy times) but not outside the realms of parenthood. And now with the addition of [redacted].
I believe I have been a good daughter-in-law, sister-in-law and aunt – I believe the Polkinghorne wider family love me and I them. Now that it is largely you and me, I was of the view that we have a really exciting, vibrant time ahead for the next 30 years, doing many of the things we love together, spending more time at the Beach, being grandparents and really enjoying – together – the fruits of all that the two of us have done. I still have bucket loads of love - I think you do too.
I have read this email and reread it so many time and the devastation I feel that I appear to have let you down so badly.
I am gutted you feel you cannot talk to me – we talk most nights and have had hundreds of in-depth discussions and fun – talking about the now and the future – not always, but very frequently – and to hear now you don't feel you can do that – I don't know what to say and I don't know how it happened.
I know we have had some ugly times in the last 18 months – each time I attempt to take on board what you ask of me – I am by no means perfect and you say people don't change, that is correct but you can modify. For example I keep my car full, I keep $50 note in the passenger visor, I attempt to keep my car clean (I know it is not now), I have never been dirty but take on board your criticism about my handling of food, I have my text messages chime so I cannot miss your text, I make an effort to be on time ( sometimes I fail). I take my dishes down to the dishwasher in the morning, accumulate the washing so I am not using the washing machine overly. I don't every wear my bodysuits other than to work, I strive to make you proud of my work effort/ethic, I attempt to pre-empt your difficult days by encouraging you when you are in theatre, doing the dinner when I know you are tired, preparing the types of things I think you like.
l am sorry you don't think I should have paid for us to go to Sydney – firstly most of it was to do with "what happened when we went over there i.e. with Elle etc" – not saying anything more.
Yes you do spoil me – and THANK YOU – I didn't know that the $ were being stacked up in terms of "He" and "Hers".
Money is a big issue – you do take the lion's share of the load- but this email from you. I completely acknowledge your contribution and opportunity you have afforded the children and me.
However it reads as if I am a totally selfish person who contributes nothing financially – that is truly unfair – I do put my $4k away a month and the Hanna/Polkinghorne trust earns approx. $1k per month. I do shop for groceries, I do shop for things for the house, I do get flowers etc to make it nice.
I do buy you things – I do buy family gifts– I take and collect your drycleaning (or at least used to – you don't let me now as you put it under your own name!), I don't wear body suits, I don't pick up the glasses by their upper rim etc etc as you keep criticising me.
l am so sorry – you are everything to me and you have changed. I haven't, but clearly I have not read your signals.
If you want to make a change (i.e. Divorce) – please make it now before 31 JANUARY so that I can make arrangements – I am 62 in February and I do not have a range of options.
Right now I feel very scared, confused, sad and incredibly lonely.
(Only minor puncuation edits made for clarification.)
What Polkinghorne wrote to Hanna
Helen Van Berkel
Dearest Pauline, I have felt increasing devoid in the last few months from our relationship. I feel, rightly or wrongly that I am a spectator rather than a participant. My words seem to me continually either ignored or misinterpreted, to the extent I can no longer tell you of my aspirations, goals for the future, what I want to do, what I want us to consider. If I tell you something in confidence, I am fearful that you will mention it to another and that shall I say be used against me. I will not go into those numerous examples particularly relating to my election to the Auckland Eye Board.
But on more simple day to day stuff, I don't know how you will respond to an invite to sit in the library, how tired I might be, or concerns about one activity or the other. It seems to me you don't give me a chance to tell you something without you finishing my sentence, telling me you are more tired, or stating something as you leave the room, knowing I can't hear what you say.
More recently I feel any comment I make is answered with a barb. I am concerned you don't really listen to me. You don't want to know what I really think. I have tried on numerous occasions to discuss this with you, but inevitably it is after 9pm when you come back with a response that is usually negative. When I request a time which is less disruptive to me you invariably state you are not a morning person, ignoring the obvious that I don't want to discuss contentious issues after 8pm.
I believe I have continually tried to support you, your career, your material wants but don't feel you have any great interest in my opinion. I find often when I express my views you mount arguments against me e.g. wanting to put an offer on the Metropolis.
Then, just yesterday was the birthday for Graham in Whangarei; when we agreed you would find the location ?? Whangarei or Auckland, and then what time. Before I knew it you told Jude we are coming. When I asked why you would state that; you said initially you thought I wanted to go, later you said it was because you thought we had to go. Well I have tried getting Air NZ flights and a charter from Whitianga, but I cant. I will leave you to tell Jude I cant come, of course I wouldn't stop you from going.
In recent months I have acted increasingly to protect myself, I have as you may have noted. I have developed strategies to lessen my anxiety e.g. ordering an uber; when we agree I should order a taxi/uber to go home should you then change your mind, decide to delay your departure for whatever reason, I have now got an agreement/understanding when the ride arrives I will go and you can make your own way home. The same applies for catching an aircraft. I will meet you on the plane.
For many years you have asked what I want for Christmas and my stock answer has been to not ask me to borrow money from me. But in 2019, not only was that ignored but you went and got an overdraft as well. 2019 as you know was a difficult financial year for me because of the changes Ak Eye imposed in the taxes, my income reduced to approximately twice your salary. But right up until last week you were stating I hadn't taken you to Australia as much as in previous years. My response was in 25 years you have never taken me to Australia, ever! But then you have also stated you spent, I cant remember the figure you quoted, but in excess of 25K for the Europe trip earlier in 2019. I dont know how that figure came about but if you remember Liz contributed $10K to the airfare so to spend $2,500 a day seems a bit unfathomable as I certainly paid for a number of meals, the car rental, and the hotel in Paris.
In 25 years I don't think you have ever paid for the rates, water bill, insurance etc either at Upland Rd or Rings Beach, or your car for that matter. Bills that I left for you e.g. the Institute of Directors went unpaid and tragically lead to your membership being cancelled continue to pay the insurance on your car and organize the servicing and pay the speedingand parking fines. I think it was only 2 months ago I succeeded in getting your Middlemore parking payments automatically deducted from your salary instead of me paying your account.
Again, as I have said numerous times, I don't want to lend you money, I don't want to take money out of your account next "Wednesday", I have other demands on my time and as happened at the end of November there wasn't enough money in your account to re-imburse me anyway. Yes, your contempt of money does annoy me, even stating your flights are free beggar's belief knowing it is the use my "airmiles" that is paying for those Nights, dare I say denying me a discounted flight. I have come to the recognition, belatedly that you are not going to change. I know by now the cycle of how we relate to each other, the verbal gymnastics, the overstepping of the boundaries, the barbs, and then the declaration of love, only to reboot the same pathway a week or month later.
My options it seems are dead simple; either accept my lot or move on, apart. To help me, yes me, I have enrolled in a 3-day course called "Moving on or Up", starting tonight in Auckland. I am leaving in a few minutes and I am sorry I haven't prepared everything at the Beach.
I don't know what the outcome of this retreat will be but to be frank without some sort of insight I am sure I will not be able to continue. If there is a pill to make it easier, don't worry I would take the bottle!!
(Reprinted with only minor punctuation tweaks.)
Helen Van Berkel
Polkinghorne said he had enrolled in a three-day retreat in Auckland called "moving on, or up" and intended to return to the Rings Beach bach in the Coromandel on December 27.
"I don't know where the bucket load of love went but there you have it."
This letter was sent when Polkinghorne apparently went missing around Christmas 2019, sparking Hanna to become despondent and forcing her to lie to her family.
Justice Lang ends proceedings early for the day.
Helen Van Berkel
Palmer is reading an email from Polkinghorne to Hanna in which he says he feels his words are increasingly ignored.
"If I tell you something in confidence, I am fearful you will mention it to another," Polkinghorne said.
He said he feels his wife doesn't give him a chance to say what he wants and took aim at her for not listening to him.
Polkinghorne said he did not want to discuss contentious issues after 8pm.
He said he had developed strategies to lessen his anxiety, including travelling separately to the airport.
For many years, Polkinghorne said, he had been asked what he wanted for Christmas and he had said he just didn't want her to ask for money. He went on to criticise her for not paying the rates at either their Remuera home or Coromandel bach and complained about paying her speeding and parking fines.
Polkinghorne told her he didn't want to lend her money and her "contempt for money" irritated him.
"I have come to the recognition belatedly that you are not going to change."
Helen Van Berkel
Another email from Hanna to Polkinghorne's son said: "I am so sorry I have been so remote".
"My life is insane and I do not know what day it is sometimes."
She said she reluctantly took the role as head of logistics for the Covid vaccine rollouts and thought her husband would be proud.
She was finding things "incredibly difficult and lonely", she told her son-in-law.
Hanna told husband she was 'scared, incredibly lonely'
Helen Van Berkel
"I don't wear my bodysuits other than to work," Hanna wrote to her husband.
"I'm sorry you don't think I should have paid for us to go to Sydney," she said.
"I didn't know that the money was being stacked in terms of he and hers," she wrote.
The letter, read by Palmer, appears to be in response to a message from Polkinghorne alleging she contributed nothing financially. It sheds new light on the state of their marriage and Polkinghorne's demands of her.
It shows he criticised her "for picking glasses up by their rims".
"I am so sorry," she said.
"If you want to make a change, i.e. divorce, please make it now before 31 January so I can make arrangements."
The letter goes on to say she feels very scared, sad and "incredibly lonely".
Helen Van Berkel
Another email from Hanna discussed an Otago High Country four-wheel-drive trip scheduled for the weekend following Easter, and taking out travel insurance for the trip.
Hanna died on Easter Monday.
The trial heard earlier she was looking forward to the trip, according to a friend of hers.
Hanna had also sent herself an email, Palmer says. It had a document called "Philip.docx" attached, which appeared to be a letter addressed to Philip.
I am addressing this to my darling Philip, the letter said.
It told Polkinghorne she believed they had a "really exciting, vibrant" time ahead for the next year ahead.
"I still have a bucket load of love. I think you do too," she said.
Palmer quotes from the letter: "I know we have had some ugly times in the last 18 months".
The letter said she "took on board your criticism about my handling of food".
Helen Van Berkel
Palmer says police found a general catch-up email from Hanna to Polkinghorne's son Ben and his wife Bridget, in which there is a reference to Hanna's husband "PJP" and says he is "making progress" on his anger issues, the trial hears.
Such catch-up emails were common as Ben and Bridget live in the UK.
Hanna tells them things are not great at Auckland Eye and the chair – not Polkinghorne – had to resign because he was having an affair with the charge nurse, she wrote. She feared they could lose up to $1 million.
In another email, she says "Philip is going to tell me all the things that are wrong with me".
In one email, Ben expresses his support to Hanna.
Another email shows "Taine's bedroom" made up.
The photograph is useful because it shows the usual state of the upstairs bedroom. This was the guest bedroom that the Crown says was in a state of some disarray when police arrived on April 5, with an ottoman tipped over and bedding removed.
Helen Van Berkel
In another Google search, Hanna looked for private investigators in Auckland.
Police found an inquiry from Hanna's Middlemore address saying she'd like to make an appointment to see someone about an infidelity investigation. There was an exchange of emails with the private investigator about a meeting or phone call in July 2020.
But the trial heard earlier they never met or had the call.
Hanna's Google search: 'How do you keep sane when your husband is having an affair?'
Helen Van Berkel
In October 2020, Hanna Googled: "how do you keep sane when your husband is having an affair".
On October 28, another search for www.heysigmund.com/infidelity was about how to heal from infidelity.
Her search, "how to cope when things go wrong" was dated June 4, 2019.
Palmer says Hanna also searched on the Psychology Today website for an article about narcissists and how they hurt people.
Another search was "why do people trample over me". On October 6, 2020, she accessed the newcomers page of the Alcoholics Anonymous website.
At 9pm on October 28, she looked at an article about the surprising ways men express their love.
Helen Van Berkel
Court has resumed with Constable Madeleine Palmer clarifying a part of her evidence earlier.
She says she found a July 2020 Word document in Hanna's computer showing Hanna was being replaced by Ruth Hughes as a shareholder in Auckland Eye.
"It appears she was aware and accepted this change," says Palmer.
The evidence now moves to Google searches on Hanna's computer.
Key points from the afternoon
Helen Van Berkel
While we wait for court to resume, here some key points of the afternoon session of evidence from Constable Madeleine Palmer, who examined a clone of Polkinghorne and Hanna's laptops.
- Polkinghorne and his wife were emailing about his resignation letter from Auckland Eye on the evening of April 4. He reported her dead on the morning of April 5, telling a 111 call-taker she'd hanged herself.
- The morning of April 4, he viewed a video of Madison Ashton, and the day before searched NZ Escort websites in the early hours. Polkinghorne and Aussie escort Ashton, who received $106,000 in internet banking transfers in the years prior from Polkinghorne, also exchanged emails about the delivery of furniture to Sydney in the days before Hanna died, the court heard.
- Police found a confidentiality document dated 2018 between Ashton and Polkinghorne, and a loan agreement indicating he was going to lend her money. He also bought her a washing machine, according to a receipt police found.
- Palmer said they found several videos of Ashton on the laptop. In one, she and Polkinghorne were engaged in sexual activity, the jury heard.
Helen Van Berkel
Justice Lang calls an afternoon break.
The court will resume at 3.40pm, and will look at Hanna's Google searches.
Helen Van Berkel
It was found upstairs in the master bedroom at Upland Rd and Palmer says she again looked at the "acute period" of April 3-5 and also created categories for documents relating to health and wellness or those relating to Polkinghorne.
The laptop was last used at 10.48pm on April 4, the night before Hanna was reported dead at about 8am Easter Monday.
At 10.46pm, she sent Polkinghorne an email with the subject line "does this work", which followed an earlier email. Both had the draft resignation letter attached.
Earlier, she sent or received various work-related emails.
Helen Van Berkel
The 36th document is a BNZ statement Polkinghorne created in 2020 and last accessed on April 4, 2021, Palmer says. The trial had not previously heard he had a BNZ account, only ANZ and ASB accounts.
A letter police found confirms he gifted £80,000 ($170,000) to his son Ben to buy a home in the UK.
A PDF document showing their life insurance reveals Polkinghorne and Hanna had life insurance to the value of $30,000 each.
Police also found a letter written by Hanna to Polkinghorne, traversing her life and their relationship, Palmer says.
Nothing more is said on this letter just yet.
Police also found images of Hanna.
Now Palmer moves on to Hanna's laptop, also found in the Polkinghorne home.
Helen Van Berkel
Palmer now canvasses various trust and financial documents relating to the sale of a Papatoetoe rental property.
Another document shows Polkinghorne purchased a new 2017 Mercedes C43 sedan – the white car with licence plate RETINA regularly seen arriving at Alaria's Northcote Pt apartment. He paid it off in instalments.
Helen Van Berkel
Another video showed Polkinghorne lying in bed and Ashton walking around unclothed, dating from early 2020.
Another item is a screen grab of Christine McQueen's Twitter page; McQueen being an Ashton alias.
Palmer says police found another document showing a loan agreement between Polkinghorne and Ashton, which he'd signed as the lender.
Another document shows he bought Ashton a washing machine in Sydney.
Several other documents were various versions of the Auckland Eye shareholder agreement.
A PDF document showed an arbitrated mediation between the two Auckland Eye shareholders who the trial heard earlier left the clinic in acrimonious circumstances in 2019. The document shows they were paid out $650,000 each.
Police found a March 4, 2021 email between board chair Mark Conelly and Polkinghorne discussing his resignation plans.
A resignation letter document found on the laptop was created on March 31, 2021 and last accessed April 4, 2021. This relates to the email conversation on the evening of April 4, the night before Polkinghorne reported Hanna dead, Palmer confirms.
Police found Madison Ashton and Polkinghorne's sex tape
Helen Van Berkel
There were also various videos on his computer, including one showing Polkinghorne engaging in sexual activity with Madison Ashton, Palmer says. Others showed the escort in various states of undress.
Polkinghorne forwarded document to Madison Ashton showing his wife was removed as a shareholder in Auckland Eye
Helen Van Berkel
Another document showed 2019 emails between two Polkinghorne-controlled accounts with screenshots from the escorts website "Punter Planet" of the profile of Christine McQueen, an alias of Madison Ashton, Palmer said.
Another document is a financial outline of a Lasik corrective eye surgery for Madison Ashton, which was scheduled to be completed.
A PDF copy of the Auckland Eye shareholders agreement was also found on the computer. It showed Pauline Hanna was removed as a shareholder as of 2020, Palmer says, and it had been emailed to Madison Ashton.
Polkinghorne and Ashton had confidentiality agreement
Helen Van Berkel
Polkinghorne did not create the loan document, which was made on another device, but he was the last person to alter or edit it.
A Word document is a confidentiality agreement between Aussie escort Madison Ashton and Polkinghorne, created on November 4, 2018.
Another document was a home loan application completed by Ashton, dated February 2021, and emailed to Polkinghorne.
Another home loan application related to a refinancing of more than $400,000 for a home loan. It followed initial approval of a home loan application in early 2021.
Helen Van Berkel
Another document found on the laptop was for a loan agreement from Polkinghorne to Ashton for $90,688 for six months from December 1, 2018.
Helen Van Berkel
Palmer refers to a screenshot found on the laptop of a screenshot showing 2019 messages with Alaria, indicating an ongoing relationship, Palmer says.
Other documents on his laptop appeared to show the eye surgeon had a heavy involvement in the Church St property where Alaria lived, the constable says.
The documents included insurance coverage for her Melrose Court block of units, and documents about its ongoing management and upkeep.
Another document showed a consultation request for Madison Ashton to a doctor in Australia. It resulted from a referral from Polkinghorne where he mentioned her symptoms to the doctor and requested a test of some kind, Palmer explains.
Helen Van Berkel
It appeared Alaria was in some form of relationship with Polkinghorne, Palmer says.
Mansfield shakes his head and looks poised to object, but Palmer moves on, talking about further emails and documents about a cross-lease arrangement for Alaria's unit in Church St, Northcote Point.
Helen Van Berkel
One of the goals is to avoid a slew of drugs, including meth and cocaine.
A document addressed to the ASB provided two bank accounts and outlined details of the "AP Trust". It appeared to relate to an Updated Trustee Document, outlining changes of trustees to the Alaria Family Trust.
Alaria, aka Rachel, lived in Northchote and is one of the sex workers to whom Polkinghorne paid large sums of money. Neighbours saw him regularly visiting her apartment bearing gifts.
What was found on Polkinghorne's computer
Helen Van Berkel
Palmer describes images found on Polkinghorne's laptop.
"They are screengrabs of a mobile website with instructions for making a glass pipe for methamphetamine consumption using a lightbulb," the constable says.
The images were created in 2019.
Another image is of a large green pipe with a clear bowl.
Another document, also created in 2019, outlines health and wellness goals up to 2040.
Helen Van Berkel
One of the goals is to avoid a slew of drugs including meth and cocaine.
A document addressed to the ASB provided two bank accounts and outlined details of the "AP Trust". It appeared to relate to an Updated Trustee Document, outlining changes of trustees to the Alaria Family Trust.
Alaria, aka Rachel, lived in Northchote and is one of the sex workers to whom Polkinghorne paid large sums of money. Neighbours saw him regularly visiting her apartment bearing gifts.
Polkinghorne and Aussie escort emailed about delivering furniture to Sydney in days before wife's death, trial hears
Helen Van Berkel
Prosecutor Brian Dickey refers Constable Madeleine Palmer to a summary of "highlight documents" she viewed during her analysis of Polkinghorne's laptop and asks about items of interest from the "acute period": the days before Hanna's death.
Within that time, the main focus was the last use of the laptop, which was 10.59pm on April 4.
From 10pm to 11pm, Hanna and Polkinghorne exchanged a number of emails about his draft resignation letter.
The laptop was in frequent use during the acute period, including early on April 4, and at 2.48am on April 3 for "NZ Escorts" and the following minutes spent viewing the "New Zealand Girls" website.
It was also used to view a video of Madison Ashton, which was last accessed about 8am on April 4.
An email was also received in the acute period from Ashton about the delivery of furniture to Sydney.
Further emails were exchanged between the pair.
Helen Van Berkel
Palmer used search terms to find items of interest, among other methods, and the resulting report was about 1200 pages long.
Helen Van Berkel
Palmer explains she looked at April 3, 4 and 5, when Polkinghorne reported Hanna dead.
She says she categorised files as financial, documents about romantic/extramarital liaisons, drug-related material and anything related to Hanna.
She reviewed each file type and tagged each file or communication so she could categorise it.
Helen Van Berkel
Palmer is currently in detective training but was part of the tactical crime unit attached to Operation Kian in 2021, the inquiry into Hanna's death.
She was tasked with examining a digital clone of a Macbook Pro found in an upstairs office at the Upland Rd, Remuera home of Phillip Polkinghorne and Pauline Hanna.
The laptop appeared to belong to Polkinghorne, she says in response to questioning from prosecutor Brian Dickey.
She used software called Axiom Examine to look at the clone. The software shows files and data and when they were created on the computer.
Police expert reveals contents of Polkinghorne's laptop
Helen Van Berkel
The trial has resumed after lunch and the Crown has called Constable Madeleine Palmer.
What the jury has heard so far today
Vera Alves
When the trial resumes at 2pm, the prosecution will call a new witness. The jury has not been told who that will be.
While we wait for court to resume, here's a recap of what the jury heard from psychiatrist and addiction specialist Dr Emma Schwarcz, the clinical director of Cads (Community Alcohol and Drug Service).
- Meth is a hugely powerful stimulant, well above cocaine, lasting for between four to eight hours. It causes disinhibition, euphoria and increased excitement and focus. Some heavy users stay awake for days at a time: Schwarcz was aware of one user going 21 days without sleep. Use tends to reduce the production of dopamine, meaning worse and worse lows, comedowns or crashes among users. It can take years for the brain to recover from meth use, associated with decreased grey matter, she said.
- Various studies showed an increased risk of violence and aggression from meth use. One overseas study showed a threefold increase in violence among meth users, rising to tenfold for heavy users. Another, the Christchurch Health and Development Study looking at people born in 1977, showed people were twice as likely to commit intimate partner violence when they were using meth.
- In cross-examination, Mansfield asked her about the prevalence of meth use. She repeatedly said it was about 1.1% to 1.3% nationally and accused the media of sensationalising the prevalence of meth use in the community. Shortly after, she said the Christchurch 1977 study showed 28% off the more than 1200 involved had used meth at least once.
The trial looks set for an early finish today, after resuming at 2pm.
Vera Alves
Crown prosecutor Alysha McClintock has some re-examination questions for psychiatrist Dr Emma Schwarcz, asking if older, educated and employed people are somehow immune from the violence that can be associated with meth.
"Certainly not," Schwarcz says.
Meth has a greater link to violence because of its profound effect on the brain, she says.
Mansfield is back on his feet again.
He asks if people in the reports say the effects wear off in four to eight hours. In terms of the subjective effect of being under the influence, that's right, she says. But the effects can last longer for depressed effects, like psychosis. There were also the longer-term effects.
Justice Lang is taking the lunch adjournment. The judge needs to finish early today so tells the jury we'll be coming back at the earlier time of 2pm.
Defence cross-examines expert witness on meth usage
Vera Alves
Crown prosecutor Alysha McClintock ends the evidence-in-chief. Defence lawyer Ron Mansfield begins his cross-examination of the witness, psychiatrist and addiction expert Dr Emma Schwarcz.
She agrees she's here as an objective, expert witness.
Schwarcz agrees the adverse impacts of meth depend on the dose of the drug and the regularity of its use.
Mansfield asks if there's two accepted categories of user: the recreational user and someone with a use disorder.
Schwarcz says she would need to look at how much addiction factor the user showed.
Mansfield asks if the second group, those said to have a meth use disorder, or MAUD, is that the group of people tested or studied?
Yes, Schwarcz says that's fair. But Schwarcz adds that surveys of frontline staff like paramedics or police might not distinguish between the type of user.
Schwarcz agrees she does not see people where they or others around them are not negatively affected by the meth use.
But she pushes back on Mansfield's suggestion they might suffer no adverse affects from recreational use.
Just because they didn't come to Cads, it didn't mean they weren't having some of the symptoms of a meth use disorder, she says.
Mansfield asks if people who infrequently use the drug usually don't have the negative effects.
Schwarcz says she sees a skewed population of people who have been told they need to change or who want to change.
Schwarcz says quite a few people who come to treatment are compelled to come there "for one reason or another".
Using meth is like using any controlled drug, says Mansfield, there's the pleasurable period and the down or low?
Schwarcz agrees, saying there are plenty of people out there who use meth in what they believe to be a recreational way that isn't causing any problems.
Mansfield asks if those who go on to use violence also have other factors worthy of mention, that might not be present for others, such as early use of meth.
Schwarcz agrees early use increases the risk of violence or aggression compared with people who come to meth later in life.
Mansfield says those with an absence of education or low education might also be more prone to violence.
"That's true," says Schwarcz.
And, says Mansfield, those who use meth with other drugs like alcohol might be more prone to violence?
Schwarcz says alcohol and tobacco use, particularly with meth, shows there's a higher risk of a subject going on to use violence.
Pre-existing impulsivity, Schwarcz says, also has a link to a higher propensity to violence.
Mansfield asks if an individual exposed to violence in childhood with a meth use disorder might be more predisposed to violence or aggression. Schwarcz says it might do but she isn't sure if she has enough information.
The absence of employment has also been identified as a factor in increased aggression or violence? Mansfield asks.
Schwarcz says some of these things have an association but maybe not a directionality or causality.
Schwarcz says meth use isn't particularly common at a population level, and there are many people in the pre-disposed groups Mansfield has mentioned who don't become violent.
"There is a higher rate of conduct disorder, for example, in the studies where they're looking at methamphetamine use disorder," Schwarcz says.
Mansfield is referring to a report showing 0.5% of the global population were estimated to have used amphetamines in 2019, with meth being most common in East Asia and South East Asia.
He says that's "quite a swag" of the global population using meth.
Mansfield now refers to wastewater drug testing results from New Zealand. He has brought copies of the study and hands one to the witness via a registrar.
The wastewater drug testing for January to March of 2024 said meth, MDMA and cocaine were all detected in quantities sufficient to make meaningful conclusions, says Mansfield, reading from the report.
It says meth use across sample sites increased in Q1 2024, averaging an estimated 17.5kg per week. This was above the amount consumed over the previous four quarters.
Mansfield refers to another page in the report, looking at Auckland. It shows the average weekly drug use by district sites in grams. Auckland has about 9200g of meth being consumed weekly on average.
Mansfield says it shows that meth, at least at a recreational level, is used widely in Auckland.
Schwarcz says her understanding is the population prevalence of meth use is 1.1% to 1.3%.
The amount also didn't show how many people were using, Schwarcz says.
It could also show meth dumped into wastewater, she adds.
Asked if there is a significant use of meth in Auckland, Schwarcz says she doesn't know that, and reiterates the 1.1% to 1.3% meth use rate.
But the Christchurch study of people showed a little over 20% of people had tried meth at some stage, Schwarcz adds.
She says the media sensationalises the prevalence of meth use in the community, and it's less than media would have us believe.
"I think it's everywhere in the media but it doesn't reflect, necessarily, prevalence."
After accusing the media of sensationalising the prevalence of meth use, Schwarcz then mentions again the Christchurch study showing 28% of the about 1200 people in the cohort had tried meth at least once.
The cross-examination ends.
Kiwi study says meth users twice as likely to assault partner, trial hears
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Aggression and hostility can also be a byproduct of meth use, the jury hears.
Crown prosecutor Alysha McClintock asks what research shows about the association between meth and aggression.
"We can say that most people who use methamphetamine are not violent," psychiatrist and addiction expert Emma Schwarcz says.
Violence is not an inevitable byproduct of meth use, Schwarcz says.
There is a link between aggression and meth use across a range of studies, though there are dispute about how the studies were controlled and their sample sizes, she adds.
What is the association? asks McClintock.
Schwarcz refers to a couple of studies.
One conducted in 2014 looked at violence and aggression for people that used meth over time, thereby controlling for their past background, she says.
What they found was that at times the subjects were using more meth there was more violence in that time period.
There was a tenfold increase risk of violence when they were using heavily, she said, and threefold for milder use.
Another study, Schwarcz said, is a Kiwi study. The Christchurch Health and Development Study looking at people born in 1977, about 1200 of them. It looked at their substance use and gave a good understanding of early life experiences and their effects.
That study found for those who had used meth, there was a 2.5x increased risk of perpetrating violence, and a 2.1x risk of intimate partner violence.
The study tried to rule out or control for the contribution of the subject's early life or adolescent environment.
To recap the start of this trial, Polkinghorne admitted two charges covering meth and a meth pipe found in his home. A friend and colleague said he had admitted using meth and had urged her to try it.
McClintock asks about whether recreational use can also cause aggression.
Schwarcz says they had studied people who had a meth use disorder, rather than recreational use. But she adds there is a dose-response relationship, so within quite a few studies, they divided the groups into people who use 1-15 days per month or more. They had found an increased relationship with the higher use and greater degrees of aggression, Schwarcz says. This was the Christchurch Health and Development Study.
For the heavier users, the risk of violence increased to more than four-fold.
Is the aggression only when people are intoxicated with meth? asks McClintock.
Schwarcz says there was definitely an increase when intoxicated, but most of the studies are longer-term and don't ask about intoxication specifically.
Earlier age of onset of meth use is more associated with aggression and violence, Schwarcz says.
She adds there's less of an association with people who start taking it later in life, though there hasn't been too much research on that.
The older a person is the less likely they are to perpetrate violence, Schwarcz says, though it again depended on dose and duration of meth use.
McClintock takes the witness to the conclusions she's reached in her evidence to try and distill this complex period of testimony for the jury.
She wrote in her brief of evidence that a wide range of adverse effects can result, though some can experience no affects.
But, she says, methamphetamine can in its own right account for psychosis, aggression and violence, even controlling for other factors like upbringing.
Crystal meth, she says, is a highly potent and addictive drug. And people who use meth are more likely to develop a substance use disorder and become disconnected from their family and make them disconnected from their norms and morals.
That further results in an unravelling in their life, causing shame, sadness and blame and causing further use of the drug. She again says meth can cause aggression.
Expert continues to detail effects of meth use
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Crown prosecutor Alysha McClintock, leading her evidence-in-chief, asks psychiatrist and addiction specialist Dr Emma Schwarcz to go back to define terms.
Pre-synaptic = before the synapse. That is where dopamine is stored. It refers to anything that happens before the release of all these neurotransmitters.
Serotonin = a chemical used to communicate in the brain, along with noradrenaline and dopamine. They all affect different parts of the brain and have different pathways in different areas.
Meth hijacks the pathways for serotonin, noradrenaline and dopamine and causes a release of all three.
"Anything you get pleasure from is dopamine release," Schwarcz says.
Monoamine or monoaminergic refers to the chemical structure of the three neurotransmitters. It has an aromatic ring and an amine ring. The point being meth looks like dopamine, serotonin and noradrenaline, Schwarcz says.
Hypodopaminergic refers to a low dopamine level.
Hyperdopaminergic is the reverse.
McClintock asks about how to assess whether someone is dependent on methamphetamine.
Tolerance is one of 11 factors they look for from a psychiatrist to determine if someone has a use disorder, Schwarcz says.
Two or three factors is a mild use disorder, four to five is moderate. Six and above is severe.
"So after a while, you need more and more to get the same effect because of what the receptors are doing," Schwarcz says.
Withdrawal factors are another symptom. With meth, it's the "low", the hypodopaminergic, they're fatigued, tired, flat, they sleep and eat, feel lethargic cognitively, they also don't get any joy or pleasure out of what they normally would. The opposite of being on meth. After a binge, Schwarcz says they are often sleep-deprived. She's aware of a case who stayed up for 21 days on meth.
McClintock asks how long withdrawal symptoms in a crash last.
Schwarcz says that depends on the dose and how long the person has been dependant. It may last a few hours for someone if they've tried a low dose, but it can last for much longer for someone with a meth use disorder, days and days at a time, she explains.
Schwarcz says people talk about using in points. That's a point of a gram: 1/10th of a gram. People classically use a point at a time, then they'll use again when the effects are wearing off.
"I think that's the most commonly used amount," she says.
Another factor, prompts McClintock, is the salience of the drug in a person's life.
Schwarcz agrees and says salience reflects the importance that the drug has in a person's life.
As an activity becomes more important, it becomes more salient and starts to eclipse other things.
Schwarcz says they look for people reducing the amount of leisure, social or work engagements they might do when they assess for a substance use disorder.
"They're spending increasing amounts of the day using, thinking about it or looking for it," she says.
Another factor in dependence is control, specifically impaired control.
Schwarcz says this means they continue to use despite medical or psychological problems or its effect on their work or family life.
McClintock asks about the impact of taking alcohol with meth.
Schwarcz says again that's user-dependent. Both of the drugs impair the prefrontal cortex, the front of the frontal lobe or "the bit that makes us human".
The prefrontal cortex provides the ability to reason and think through whether something is a good idea or not.
Both booze and meth have a disinhibiting effect but as a depressant and stimulant, they have different effects on mood.
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Proceedings are about to resume with more fast-paced meth evidence from psychiatrist and addiction specialist Dr Emma Schwarcz.
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On to recreational use of meth. How is that defined? asks Crown prosecutor Alysha McClintock.
It's got mixed definitions, psychiatrist Emma Schwarcz says. People who have recreational use of meth don't come and see them at Cads.
Even once or twice a month could be recreational.
When people are starting to use weekly, it's less recreational, Schwarcz says.
Is recreational use linked to harm? McClintock asks.
Schwarcz says that's very individual. Someone who uses recreationally could have harm even from their first dose. If the dose is too high, they could find themselves hospitalised with toxicity, panic, agitation and cardiac symptoms.
But other high uses might not initially experience any harms at all, she says.
Toxicity, she explains, is when the dose is so great the person experiences significant adverse psychological or physical symptoms. They can experience stroke, coma or death.
What about binge using? asks McClintock.
"Often that binge pattern is repeated use over a short period of time," Schwarcz says.
People have gone for days at a time without sleeping and continuing to use, she explains, many, many days.
It's defined as continuing to use when the effects wear off to extract as much dopamine as possible out of that pre-synaptic neuron. The most comes out at first dose but as you keep using, there's less of the happy hormone available and the user experiences "dysphoric" effects, a combination of low mood and irritability.
Then the person stops, experiences a "crash" and is left in a very depleted state with minimal dopamine or serotonin.
During the binge period, the types of behaviours that start to occur are the same as with acute use. The experience of feeling alert, awake, all of that occurs in a binge. A binge reflects the need to use again and again to maintain the high. Meanwhile, the negative effects creep in as the dopamine depletes.
In a binge, Schwarcz says, the increase in energy and focus initially often means that the user will do more of something. So they may specifically use meth to get more energy to do something. She's heard of people doing their paperwork, read or do the cleaning on meth. It'll be in quite a narrow, focused way, excluding other things, or a user can spend four hours sorting drawing pins from safety pins, Schwarcz says.
Repetitive behaviour and actions are common in the use period.
Justice Lang calls the morning adjournment. We are back in 15 minutes with more about methamphetamine from expert witness Dr Emma Schwarcz.
Court hears about effects of meth use
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How additive would you describe meth as being compared to other substances? asks Crown prosecutor Alysha McClintock.
Psychiatrist Emma Schwarcz says some people have a propensity for certain drug classes. Some like stimulants, others like depressants to slow things down.
Within the stimulant class, meth is extremely addictive.
The more dopamine released into the synapse the more addictive it is, Schwarcz says.
But it affects different people in different ways, she adds.
People in bad shape or with co-existing substance use disorders or with mental issues are also affected differently by meth, the trial hears.
Schwarcz says some people use meth and do not get the same effects at all as someone else.
There is significant individual variation in how meth affects people.
On to the huge release of dopamine.
What happens over time if people continue to use the drug? asks McClintock.
Schwarcz says using once, that person might not experience much of a withdrawal or a comedown.
But if you use consistently, the dopamine is consistently depleted. It takes a while to make dopamine, she says, sometimes taking several years to replenish the pre-existing dopamine stores, as well as rectify the down-regulation that receptors undergo.
When a lot of external dopamine is introduced, the body can reduce the production of the hormone. That takes a while to come back.
"It has certainly long-lasting effects on the brain,' Schwarcz says.
People with a meth use disorder are in a constantly dopamine-depleted state, so they can't experience the normal amount of joy that they previously would, because dopamine is so closely entwined with joy, Schwarcz says.
Animal studies showed even repeated use over a short period will affect down-regulation at a receptor level. The more severe the meth use disorder, the more likely there are structural changes leading to a state of chronically reduced dopamine, the trial hears.
On to the purity of crystallised meth. People often don't know the purity, says Schwarcz.
Crystalline meth has a purity of 80% compared to powdered speed at 10%.
People instead talk about how many "points" (point bags, 0.1g of meth) they take.
Potency is related to the risk of dependence, the witness agrees.
Crown questions witness on the effects of meth use
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Auckland Crown solicitor Alysha McClintock has called psychiatrist Emma Schwarcz as an expert witness, meaning she is governed by special High Court rules and needs to act independently.
Police enlisted her to give expert advice about the effects and manifestations of meth use.
Background information she was given included the amount of meth found in Polkinghorne's Upland Rd home and where it was found, McClintock says and Schwarcz confirms.
She says she is unaware of how much meth the accused may or may not have used.
Schwarcz says meth is from the amphetamine stimulant family, which includes MDMA, dexamphetamine, MDA, MDEA and meth itself, and it's broadly a part of the stimulant class, which includes everything from cocaine to coffee.
It's a synthetically made stimulant, she says.
Meth has an additional methyl group compared to amphetamines which makes it particularly lipid soluble, so it can travel to the brain quite quickly, Schwarcz says.
It essentially hijacks pathways using neurotransmitters for dopamine, she says.
Changes to the way it was made in the 1990s, rendering it into a more crystalline form, gives it a higher degree of volatility.
As a result, it can delivered via a glass pipe or broken lightbulb.
It affects the brain in a manner of seconds, she says.
You get quite a jolt in a short period of time, she says.
"It causes this huge release, a profound release, of dopamine into the synapse," she says.
"So you've got a profound amount of dopamine in the synapse which is activating all the downstream neurons."
Chocolate gives 100 units of dopamine, cocaine gives 300 while meth provides 1200 in the synapse.
What's the synapse? asks McClintock.
Schwarcz says the brain is comprised of millions of neurons and they need to travel across gaps to move. That gap is the synapse and that's the way communication within the brain occurs.
Then they hit the receptors on the other side, which then send the signal on.
"It's the messages that make us feel, make us think, make us act," Schwarcz says.
How is meth smoked? asks McClintock.
She says the crystalline form is vaporised quite quickly when heated, which allows for rapid transmission straight through into the blood.
The person experiences the onset of meth within seconds, she says.
The time of onset with smoking it was much the same with injecting meth.
"It allows for this incredible rush, this euphoria, this high... to experience within a few seconds," she says.
That's why it's so addictive: we need dopamine to survive and to feel good, she says.
Psychiatrist and addiction specialist takes the stand
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Auckland Crown solicitor Alysha McClintock calls Emma Schwarcz to the witness box.
Schwarcz is a psychiatrist and addiction specialist.
She is currently clinical director of Cads (Community Alcohol and Drug Service).
She has a Bachelor's degree in human biology and a Bachelor of medicine and surgery. She also has postgraduate medical specialty training in psychiatry.
Schwarcz is a specialist in substance use disorders and in her role, provides advice and reports and a wide range of addiction topics, the trial hears.
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After a day and a half in the witness box across three days, police forensic accountant Margaret Skilton is free to go.
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Crown prosecutor Brian Dickey has a couple more questions.
One is about a bank statement from the account Hanna opened in December 2020 in solely her name.
Dickey asks about the type of purchases shown. It included petrol stations, pharmacies, Farro Fresh, New World Remuera, that type of expenditure.
How was it funded on its set-up? Dickey asks.
It was borrowed from ASB, police forensic accountant Margaret Skilton says.
She classified her spending as "everyday".
Dickey asks about some of the spending at Department Stores.
It relates to Smith & Caughey's and David Jones, the trial hears.
Skilton says she was unable to tell what was purchased from the department stores.
Dickey's questions are canvassing and confirming evidence she already gave to tie up a few ends and ensure everything is clear for the jury and for the record.
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On to JBWere, Polkinghorne's fund managers. He had invested over $1 million with the firm.
Police forensic accountant Margaret Skilton says about $1.2m of contributions were made over the period she looked at, and it was valued at just under $2.5m at the time of her analysis three years ago.
An email to JBWere showed Polkinghorne said the proceeds of the sale of the Hoteo Rd rental in Papatoetoe had gone into "our" share portfolio. Defence lawyer Ron Mansfield emphasises the "our". The Crown and the witness yesterday said Polkinghorne had sole control over the managed fund but Mansfield suggests it was effectively jointly theirs, after earlier emphasising she would have got half of anything anyway in a separation.
He has no further questions.
Polkinghorne's payments to sex workers detailed in court
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Defence lawyer Ron Mansfield asks if the witness has CCTV footage of any of the many cash withdrawals she said yesterday were made by Polkinghorne. Police forensic accountant Margaret Skilton says she does not, and agrees that beyond the card being linked to him, she cannot prove definitively who made the withdrawals.
On to payments to Aussie escort Madison Ashton.
Mansfield refers to a table showing about $106,130.99 to her, covering February 2019 to January 2021.
Skilton says they were direct debits.
On to another sex worker, Lee.
The payments there are from January 2016 to July 2019.
Her name was identified on the bank statements.
A payment in October 2016 was for $5000, Mansfield says.
A second payment that day was made for $300.
Were you able to trace that payment through to Lee's account? Mansfield asks.
Skilton says when they sought information to the holders of those account, it was limited to the name and date of birth of the recipient.
She says she did not look at how Lee used the money.
"Frequently it would be viewed as a step too far probably, by the court or by us," Skilton says.
Mansfield refers to payments to a woman called Jody from 2019 to 2021 from Polkinghorne's ANZ account and another business account he controls.
They include several payments of $10,000 in one day.
Skilton agrees.
She agrees it's a very large sum of money.
But she says matter-of-factly that she did not look what the woman referred to as Jody used the money for "for the reasons I stated earlier".
Mansfield asks if she knows if it was a loan or a gift and Skilton says she doesn't and can't know.
On to another sex worker, Alaria, who Polkinghorne regularly visited in Northcote, the trial heard earlier.
There were payments from January 2016 to 2019.
There were also payments to the Alaria family Trust from 2019 to 2021, totalling about $55,000.
Polkinghorne was proposed to be a trustee, the trial heard earlier.
But Skilton says she did not obtain the final trust deed to verify if he had actually come on as a trustee in the end.
She says "no" repeatedly to questions about if she knows why that family trust was set up and/or their medical or financial needs.
Mansfield is attempting to suggest the money may have been paid to help with the care of a sick family member of the recipient.
Payments could be for "provision of services" but could equally be gifts or loans, Mansfield says and Skilton agrees.
Defence brings up Polkinghorne's will
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Defence lawyer Ron Mansfield is moving on to a document he says is Polkinghorne's will.
It leaves the balance of his estate after the forgiveness of debts entirely to his wife.
Defence continues to dissect Pauline Hanna's spending
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Defence lawyer Ron Mansfield resumes his cross-examination of police forensic accountant Margaret Skilton.
We are on to Pauline Hanna's 2019 spending. Mansfield calls her Mrs Polkinghorne. The Crown and their witnesses call her Ms Hanna.
The spending covers January 10, 2019 to December 20, 2019.
It covers a little over $33,000 of spending.
Of that, there was more than $6000 on womenswear, $8781 at department stores and more than $2000 on men's and womenswear, Mansfield said.
Skilton agrees.
For the year 2020, there was just under $40,000 of spending, including more than $5000 of womenswear, $12,064 at department stores$8056 on beauty, $5669 on hair and $5933 on dry cleaning.
For the year ending April 4, 2021 "for obvious reasons" says Mansfield there was a total of $8593.
The point of all this becomes clear.
Mansfield is having the witness agree Hanna had control of, and regularly used, the joint account. He's trying to undercut her evidence that Polkinghorne controlled their finances by showing Hanna's extensive spending, including many thousands each year on clothes, dry cleaning and beauty.
Yesterday, the Crown and its accountant witness emphasised Hanna only had one account solely in her name, overdrawn by $91 at the time of her death.
Court resumes after brief delay
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Court is resuming after a brief delay – the jury had to carry their stuff over from the other jury room – they are now filing into court and Justice Graham Lang is here.
Police forensic accountant Margaret Skilton is back in the witness box and is being sworn in by a registrar.
Defence lawyer Ron Mansfield resumes his cross-examination.
Financial cross-examination to resume after sex worker payment revelations
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Welcome to the third day of the fourth week of the murder trial of Philip Polkinghorne, the Remuera eye surgeon accused of killing his wife Pauline Hanna and staging the scene to look like a suicide. His defence maintains his wife hanged herself amid mounting work and financial pressures. Evidence will resume at 10am back in Courtroom 11, its original home in the Auckland High Court.
Proceedings moved for a few days down the corridor to the more cramped Courtroom 13 because the Supreme Court was sitting in Auckland, but its five judges have now headed back to Wellington. Today’s move back to the sunnier and more spacious Courtroom 11 will be welcomed by all involved – it has more space for lawyers and media and there are 75 seats in the public gallery, which last week was at times full to capacity.
Defence lawyer Ron Mansfield KC will continue cross-examining Margaret Skilton, the police forensic accountant. She started in a bank aged 18 and spent 30 years in banking, gaining her Chartered Accountant qualification later in life and joining police as a civilian who helps the financial crime unit unpick the fiscal affairs of money launderers and fraudsters, among others. As a result, she is familiar with picking up patterns in bank statements, the court heard.
Skilton first entered the witness box on Tuesday and spent all of yesterday giving evidence on the five years of Hanna and Polkinghorne’s financial affairs from 2016 to her death in Easter 2021.
The crux of her evidence was that Polkinghorne gave six women – including three already described to the jury as sex workers – nearly $300,000. Skilton said he controlled the couple’s financial affairs but Mansfield, in cross-examination, said it was normal for one person to pay the bills and handle the admin around investments.
Here’s a summary of other evidence from Skilton:
- Polkinghorne for a time had the Northcote sex worker Alaria aka Rachel on a $500 weekly payment.
- The eye surgeon paid $106,131 directly to Australian escort Madison Ashton. She was the Australian escort the trial heard earlier was staying with Polkinghorne in the "Matariki Room" of a lodge in Mt Cook Village that police visited 25 days after Hanna's death. Polkinghorne was there with Ashton, Detectives seized Ashton's phones.
- Other women also received thousands from Polkinghorne.
- Polkinghorne's card was used for $115,000 of further cash withdrawals in Australia, when he was in New Zealand, travel records showed.
- Polkinghorne used some of the proceeds from a sale of a rental property to pay two women, including Ashton.
- Hanna's DHB salary was $5800 per fortnight.
- Over one year, Polkinghorne received $756,496.54 from his clinic Auckland Eye.
- Polkinghorne exercised control over most of their finances.
- The lion's share of the sale of the rental went to a managed fund over which Polkinghorne had sole control.
- The couple was worth $10 million, including the Remuera property worth about $5m and the Ring’s Beach bach worth nearly $2m, neither of which had a mortgage. Polkinghorne additionally held $2m in a managed fund he controlled.
- Over one year, Hanna used their joint account to spend nearly $10,000 on womenswear, $2393 on shoes, $5747 on menswear, $2788 in a department store or stores, $4495 on beauty, $5232 on hair, $2425 on skincare and $8060 on dry cleaning, Mansfield said.
- The sole account she herself controlled was overdrawn by $91 at the time of her death.
- That account, opened in 2020, showed no payments to private investigators or divorce lawyers, despite her niece saying she was looking at enlisting them as part of a possible separation.
At 10am, Mansfield is expected to continue working through Hanna’s financial affairs with the witness.
🎧 LISTEN | Accused: The Polkinghorne Trial
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🎧 LISTEN | Accused: The Polkinghorne Trial
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STORY CONTINUES
The crystalline methamphetamine that police found in Polkinghorne’s Remuera home shortly after his wife’s suspicious death is known for being especially potent and addictive, a psychiatrist specialising in addiction told jurors this morning at his ongoing murder trial.
Those who binge the drug might feel “aroused and alert and awake” at first, Dr Emma Schwarcz said, but as the binge continues the negative effects can take precedence: agitation, low mood and irritability.
“We know that violence is not an inevitable outcome of methamphetamine use,” she said. “We can say there’s a positive association... between aggression and methamphetamine use across the range of studies.”
Polkinghorne pleaded guilty at the outset of his Auckland High Court trial nearly four weeks ago to possession of the methamphetamine and a meth pipe found in the home, but he has insisted he was not responsible for his wife’s death. His lawyers have endeavoured through cross-examination of Crown witnesses to convince jurors that the case is an example of police overreach based in part on judgmental views on the couple’s open relationship lifestyle.
Hanna, the defence has argued, had suffered depression for decades and was dealing with more stress at work than ever before due to her role helping manage the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine. Her death was exactly as it initially looked, a suicide, they said.
Schwarcz explained to jurors today that users who smoke crystalline meth get a large jolt in a short period.
”It causes this huge release, a profound release, of dopamine into the synapse,” she said.
Chocolate, she explained, might stimulate 100 units of dopamine, while cocaine can result in 300 units. But meth, she said, can result in up to 1200 units. And unlike other stimulants that wear off faster, the effects of methamphetamine can last 12-17 hours, she said.
She described people who use the drug as keyed-up and wide-eyed. They can become more talkative, confident, have a higher libido, and don’t want to sleep or eat, she said, but there is significant individual variation from person to person.
People with a meth use disorder are in a constantly dopamine-depleted state, so they might not be able to experience the normal amount of joy that they previously would, Schwarcz said.
People who become dependent on the drug are less able to fulfil their normal roles, whether it be professional or family, she said, adding that long-term use has been found to be “neuro-toxic”.
“It has significant impacts on the brain in the long term,” she said, describing a reduced brain mass and other “structural changes”.
Schwartz was also asked to review some of the many studies that have been done examining the link between meth use and aggression. One 2014 study she cited found a three-fold increased risk of violence for users of the drug and a 10-fold risk for heavy users. A New Zealand study looking at 1265 people born in New Zealand found that those who used the drug were 2.4 times more likely than their peers in the study to perpetrate violence even when accounting for background and upbringing. The risk of intimate partner violence was nearly doubled, she said.
But in the same New Zealand study, 78% of users “reported no aggression or violence whatsoever”, she added.
The drug “can profoundly impact behaviour” and can cause “departing from one’s moral norms and values”, she summarised as her direct examination under Crown Solicitor Alysha McClintock finished.
During cross-examination of the expert, defence lawyer Ron Mansfield KC noted that effects of the drug can depend on the dose and how frequently one uses the drug. Schwarcz agreed.
Mansfield has suggested his client’s use of the drug was infrequent and “recreational”. The Crown, meanwhile has argued it went beyond that. The 37g of the drug found in his house would have been the equivalent of 370 “points”, or doses, McClintock said during her opening address.
The defence lawyer also suggested today that increased violence among meth users may be linked to “lower socio-economic position”, leaving it unsaid that no one would mistake his client – worth $10 million – as someone in that position. Schwarcz said she was “worried about associating lack of employment and socio-economic disadvantage” with violence on drugs, but she noted that in some studies adverse childhood experiences can play a role.
“Certainly, from clinical experiences, a wide range of people can and do perpetrate violence,” she explained, adding that it can’t be “pigeon-holed into a certain demographic group and upbringing”.
Mansfield referred to a wastewater drug testing indicating that about 9200g of meth is being consumed weekly on average in Auckland. That’s an indication, he suggested to the expert, that the drug is used widely on a recreational level. Schwarcz disagreed.
Schwarcz said her understanding is the population prevalence of meth use is 1.1% to 1.3%. But the New Zealand study referred to earlier suggests 28% of participants had tried it at least once by the time they were 35.
Jurors also heard for third and final day from forensic accountant Margaret Skilton, who works for the police financial unit.
The accountant was briefly asked by the defence to go over the nearly $300,000 in transfers from Polkinghorne’s bank accounts to six different women – three of whom have been identified as sex workers – in the five years leading up to Hanna’s death. Jurors heard about the payments in detail yesterday.
Mansfield asked Skilton if she knew if any of the payments were loans or a gift, and she acknowledged she wouldn’t have that information based on the financial records she examined. The defence lawyer noted that there was one credit in Polkinghorne’s account of $6000 from a sex worker named Alaria. He asked the expert if she knew about her family’s financial or medical needs, and she again acknowledged she didn’t.
Prosecutor Brian Dickey later returned to the Alaria payment, asking the expert how much Polkinghorne would have paid the sex worker if the $6000 noted by the defence was to be credited. The payments still amounted to $55,800, she said.
There were no bank notes indicating Polkinghorne had business relationships with any of the women, she said.
Testimony is expected to continue this afternoon when the trial resumes before Justice Graham Lang and the jury.
Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand.
The Herald will be covering the case in a daily podcast, Accused: The Polkinghorne Trial. You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, through The Front Page feed, or wherever you get your podcasts.