Philip Polkinghorne murder trial live updates: Defence says Pauline Hanna started typing message on phone 4am morning of death
WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT
A detective who has spent the past two days at the Philip Polkinghorne murder trial reading aloud intimate messages between the eye surgeon and an Australian sex worker misled jurors on several points, the defence counter-attacked this morning as the officer began a third day in the witness box with tense cross-examination.
Ron Mansfield KC took the offensive from the get-go as he referred back to Detective Andrew Reeve’s analysis of Pauline Hanna’s movement data from her phone. Looking at the 35 days before her death, the detective had surmised that she would wake up, on average, between 5.52am and after 7am.
But Mansfield responded with an extensive list of emails that had been sent overnight, indicating she had been up all hours in the week before her death. On April 4, the day before Polkinghorne called 111 to report her death, there were work emails sent at 12.35am, 1.31am, 1.35am, 1.37am, 1.39am, two emails at 6.08am and another at 6.12am.
“You can see that she is doing the night shift on a number of these days,” Mansfield told the witness. “Do you not think it leaves a misleading impression [about wake-up times] ... when you know damn well she was sending emails?”
The detective said the wake-up time was based on her mobile phone movement data alone.
“I realise now I should have cross-referenced them,” he acknowledged.
Polkinghorne, now 71, is accused of having fatally strangled Hanna, 63, inside their Remuera home before staging the scene to look like a suicide by hanging on Easter Monday three years ago. The Crown has suggested the surgeon was high on methamphetamine when he lashed out at his wife, possibly as she confronted him over the hundreds of thousands of dollars he had squandered on sex workers or the “double life” he was alleged to be setting up with Sydney escort Madison Ashton.
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End of the day
Helen Van Berkel
Justice Lang calls an end to proceedings for the day.
The trial will resume at 10am tomorrow with the final Crown witnesses.
Helen Van Berkel
Dickey is on to Hanna's trip to the tip, and suggests she had tied the knots to secure the items on the ute.
Did Reeves know who tied the knots? Dickey asks.
Reeves did not.
Helen Van Berkel
Dickey asks about a message from Madison Ashton to a male sex worker, Jake Ryan.
Reeves says he saw an invoice from Ryan but isn't sure about any messages.
"I thought it was under bookings actually?" prompts Dickey.
There was a date on the invoice, says Reeves. The date isn't read out.
Dickey has no further questions so the detective is free to go.
Helen Van Berkel
People are filtering from the public gallery as Dickey dives into Madison Ashton's calendar entries, asking Reeves if he saw any text messaging on the topic of "double bookings" in Sydney or otherwise. Reeves did not.
Hanna's web searches
Helen Van Berkel
Dickey returns to Hanna's searches for French novelist Emile Zola, who was accidentally asphyxiated. She later searched for asphyxia, a point seized on by Mansfield earlier.
Hanna also searched for Flaubert, Oscar Wilde, Marcel Proust and Madame Bovary. There appear to be a lot of searches of the French literature variety? the prosecutor notes.
Reeves agrees.
Hanna also searched for The Dreyfus Affair and made other searches for literature and art and the like? Dickey asks.
Reeves agrees.
Helen Van Berkel
Dickey asks about gaps between early morning emails Hanna sent in the days before her death.
Mansfield listed all the early morning emails she sent, sometimes after 2am, 3am or 4am.
Reeves says there were gaps of two or three hours between the last email she sent and the first of the morning.
On the morning of April 3, there was a gap of four-and-a-half hours, Reeves says. On April 4, the gap was six hours.
Ashton's messages
Helen Van Berkel
Dickey asks about calls and Facetime videos between Polkinghorne and Madison Ashton, noting their dates and times, in March 2021. He also references a message from Ashton to Polkinghorne about her tour dates.
Dickey has questions
Helen Van Berkel
Mansfield has finished his cross-examination of Detective Andrew Reeves.
Prosecutor Brian Dickey has some questions in reply to clarify some points.
Helen Van Berkel
Then there's a message from Ashton to Polkinghorne about a bitcoin documentary, sent on March 21, 2021.
Helen Van Berkel
A few minutes later, Hanna's phone started drafting a message to another number, a young woman whose name is suppressed.
Again Hanna drafted but did not send that message.
Reeves said he had looked at those entries on the timeline "but I didn't understand them".
Mansfield says Hanna had a relationship with the young woman, but he hasn't qualified the nature of the relationship.
Mansfield says the young woman was the daughter of a friend, who was corresponding with Hanna around this time.
One message from the young woman reads in part: "I'm so so so sorry to hear about your mum this morning I'm sure she was the most amazing loving mum ever". This is around the time of Hanna's mother's Fay's death early in 2021.
Hanna replies she'd miss her mother very much but she had lived a very good and long life of nearly 90 years.
Another message from Hanna's friend to the younger woman refers to having "loved our evening together".
On February 22, shortly after 9pm, a message from Hanna to the young woman and her mother thanks them for flowers they had sent.
The message tells the young woman she looks beautiful and a lot of women will be jealous of her, before telling her to enjoy Round the Bays.
Hanna's friend, Margaret, says "you are so lovely" and says they had both enjoyed dinner with her.
Mansfield says Hanna and the young woman, a daughter of a friend, had formed a connection.
Helen Van Berkel
The entry at 26 seconds past 4am on April 5 records Hanna starting to draft a text to Polkinghorne's phone number, suggests Mansfield.
But Reeves says he is not an IT expert and cannot confirm if Hanna used the phone or not.
Hanna had a very simple passcode on her phone, Reeves says.
Mansfield asks if the detective is trying to suggest someone else used her phone.
Reeves says he can only go by what the data tells him.
Hanna started typing a message on morning of her death
Helen Van Berkel
Mansfield draws Reeves' attention to a log entry on the timeline for Hanna's phone, for April 5, 2021, about 4am.
Is Reeves aware, asks Mansfield, that when sending an iMessage and the iPhone connects to the applicable service, it makes an entry of the starting of a message?
So, if someone is drafting a message, a log is created of the fact that a message is being typed, before it's even sent.
"That is quite a technical question and no, I was not aware of that," says Reeves.
Technical difficulties
Helen Van Berkel
As technical difficulties continue, Mansfield moves on to messages between Polkinghorne and White, a colleague and friend of Pauline Hanna who gave evidence earlier in the trial. The messages are after Hanna's death.
Helen Van Berkel
Mansfield asks if Reeves saw any notes on the notes application on Hanna's phone.
Reeves cannot confirm that, but says he probably found nothing of relevance if it was not in the log.
But Mansfield says he's not interested in whether Reeves thought it was relevant, just in whether there was anything, and asks the detective to look at his laptop.
Reeves' computer then crashes so, while waiting for it to reboot, Mansfield moves to Hanna's communications with Rose and Jake, her niece and nephew.
Helen Van Berkel
Reeves has now opened the notes app and says there are three entries but they have all been deleted.
Can he tell when they've been deleted?
Only one has a time or date, and it's January 9, 2020, Reeves says.
Mansfield says he is now onto the final topic of his marathon cross-examination of Detective Reeves.
Hanna and her mother-in-law
Helen Van Berkel
He refers to a phone call Hanna made to the defendant's mother, Mary Polkinghorne, on April 3, 2021. They spoke for 13 minutes and 42 seconds, Mansfield says.
Court resumes
Helen Van Berkel
Court has resumed for further cross-examination of Detective Andrew Reeves by Ron Mansfield KC.
Helen Van Berkel
Justice Lang calls the afternoon adjournment early to allow Reeves to review some material before more questions from Mansfield.
We will return about 3.35pm.
Helen Van Berkel
Reeves says Hanna did not appear to be terribly tech-savvy but agrees with Mansfield she was no fool.
"She was very intelligent, yes," says Reeves.
Subsequent messages to Hanna's GP, who has interim name suppression, show Hanna saying she would come to see her in the new year, after she contacted the crisis team. Reeves did not see any other messages or calls to the crisis team in his search of the device.
Helen Van Berkel
Pauline Hanna’s search history shows she was looking for information on Zola’s asphyxia death before and after she searched “asphyxia”.
Search for 'asphyxia' on Hanna's devices
Helen Van Berkel
Mansfield now moves to Hanna's devices.
One showed a search for "asphyxia", which Reeves confirms is a loss of oxygen to the brain causing death.
Reeves says he believes the search was linked to a previous search, for "Emmanuel Zola", which appeared to link to asphyxia somehow.
Mansfield clarifies it was Emile Zola and there was a related article about the French novelist dying accidentally from asphyxia from gases emitted from a stove.
Mansfield moves to communications between Hanna and a mental health crisis team around December 23-24, 2019.
Helen Van Berkel
At 8.06am, the phone's airplane mode was switched off after a failed attempt to make a call.
At 8.10am, Polkinghorne called his sister Ruth.
Mansfield asks, when the phone was on airplane mode, if Polkinghorne was from time to time looking at the photo and video app, except for one occasion when he was on his note app.
The defence lawyer says that when people can't sleep, sometimes people use apps.
Justice Lang interjects: "It's probably not within his remit, to be fair".
Mansfield then asks Reeves: "Have you ever not been able to sleep at night?
"Yes," Reeves says.
"Is it sometimes because of work pressure?" Mansfield asks.
"Nervousness, work pressure, yep," and Reeves confirms he was aware Polkinghorne was in the throes of planning his retirement.
Helen Van Berkel
At 2.16am, an email is received from an antivirus software provider.
Can Reevens explain how it was received if the phone was on airplane mode?
Reeves repeats that Wi-Fi might have been activated. There is no record of that, he says, but an IT expert might be able to help further.
Could the phone's activity log be wrong? asks Mansfield.
Unlikely, says Reeves, who adds he has never seen it before except when connecting to a car's bluetooth, where the time could be out.
Shortly after, Polkinghorne looked at photos and videos on his phone again.
At 2.44am the display goes off, and there's no activity until 6.45am, Mansfield says, and Reeves agrees.
"That usage would be consistent with someone being in bed using their phone off and on to look at photos and videos to the point where they turned their phone off?" Mansfield asks.
The data doesn't tell me if they're in bed or asleep, says Reeves.
The phone's display comes back on at 6.46am and the phone unlocks.
From 6.46am to 8.05am, Polkinghorne accessed a photo and video app.
At 7.03am to 8.05am, he turned it sideways to orient the screen to landscape.
How the iPhone was used
Helen Van Berkel
Reeves says "it just seemed odd that it happened on this night" but agrees some people switch it on overnight to prevent being disturbed by communications.
Mansfield asks if there's any suggestion, from a pedometer for example, whether the phone moved from the bedroom.
Reeves says the step tracker wasn't activated, unlike on Hanna's phone, so he couldn't tell.
Shortly after 1am, the phone's note application opened, Mansfield says, but Reeves was unable to say why.
"He makes a lot of notes in terms of passwords and reminders," Reeves says he had learned after examining Polkinghorne's phone.
From 1.19am to 1.20am on April 5, Polkinghorne accessed photos and videos. But again Reeves says we can't know which photos he looked at.
From 1.45am to 1.49am, he uses the phone again.
Phone on airplane mode
Helen Van Berkel
Reeves then says it is possible to switch on airplane mode but still use Wi-Fi.
Mansfield asks where the entry is in Reeves' timeline showing that you can use Wi-Fi when airplane mode is on.
Reeves is unclear.
Airplane mode isolates the phone from the cellular network but users can reactivate Wi-Fi or bluetooth.
Reeves says he found it odd the airplane mode was activated because it was the only time it had been done for a large amount of time, seven hours in this case.
Mansfield wonders if airplane mode was accidentally switched on, but Reeves says it takes a couple of swipes.
Helen Van Berkel
Mansfield moves on to the activity log of the Polkinghorne iPhone, which Reeves agrees shows no activity between 11.16pm and 1.10am on April 4-5.
Reeves says he found it odd WhatsApp was being used after the iPhone's airplane mode was switched on in the early hours.
Duck, Duck Go
Helen Van Berkel
Unlike Google, the search engine does not track users, the defence lawyer notes.
Reeves says searches are usually private but Polkinghorne's was recorded because he used the URL bar to make the search.
Mansfield suggests his client could have searched via the browser directly, had he wanted to ensure privacy.
Helen Van Berkel
Mansfield moves on to Polkinghorne's web searches, including on April 5, 2021 – the afternoon after his police interview on the day he reported his wife dead – for how to delete iCloud storage.
The following day, Polkinghorne searched for how to transfer iCloud material to a new laptop.
Mansfield said this was after police had seized his laptops and started their extensive scene examination at his home: Polkinghorne would have had to transfer iCloud material to a new device for work.
Mansfield now moves to the searches on search engine Duck Duck Go which, the trial heard earlier, he used to search for "leg edema after strangulation" on April 6.
But Mansfield says Polkinghorne had repeatedly used this search engine, meant to afford privacy, on other occasions.
Helen Van Berkel
To recap: the meth pipe found in Auckland Eye in October 2020 was also branded Sweet Puff, the jury heard earlier.
Pics of the pipes
Helen Van Berkel
Mansfield notes neither pipe has any branding, and Reeves agrees.
Mansfield refers the detective to an another image found on a USB taken from the Polkinghorne home, of a P pipe branded with "Sweet Puff".
Did Reeves make any inquiries about Sweet Puff meth pipes, Mansfield asks, and can he confirm the brand can be bought from an Australian supplier by direct mail?
Reeves says he found websites where the pipes are for sale and he also believes they were sold in stores in Australia.
He agrees there's nothing to stop people buying glass pipes online.
Mansfield says not only are the Sweet Puff pipes popular but they're also cheap. Reeves doesn't recall.
Helen Van Berkel
Mansfield takes Reeves to evidential material taken from Pauline Hanna and Philip Polkinghorne's devices, specifically, images where a couple of meth pipes can be seen.
Reeves earlier told the court the photo was taken on December 25, 2020. It also shows a bag underneath two pipes.
The trial heard earlier this photo was taken from Hanna's phone.
Reeves cross-examination opens afternoon session
Helen Van Berkel
Court is about to resume with more cross-examination by Ron Mansfield KC of Detective Andrew Reeves.
Trial adjourns for lunch
Vera Alves
The jury are dismissed for their lunch break. Detective Andrew Reeves' testimony resumes at 2.15pm.
Vera Alves
A couple of examples of the text messages between Polkinghorne and Hanna being shown to the jury by the defence:
January 22, 2021
Pauline: "Hi darling. How is your morning. Mine could not have got any worse if I tried!!!! F**k. MOH!!!! [Ministry of Health] Meeting at 1."
February 14, 2021 (a month and a half before her death):
Polkinghorne sent clip art of two waves making a love-heart. They wish each other a happy Valentine's Day.
Vera Alves
Many of the messages from Hanna to Polkinghorne begin "Hello big boy" or "Hello darling pie" and end with love-heart and flower emojis. They continue to discuss day-to-day activities in a pleasant manner.
On November 26, 2020, from Polkinghorne: "And yes you did look beautiful in your white suit. Pxx".
Hanna: "THANK YOU darling you have made my universe with such an endearing comment... And you are gorgeous. P."
Vera Alves
Defence lawyer Ron Mansfield sums of the messages: "So we just see consistent messaging between the two of them... showing interest in each other" and love.
Vera Alves
Further mundane messages between Polkinghorne and Hanna mention appointments with their shared personal trainer Barry Payne and buying Movenpick chocolate.
More messages show communications in June 2020 between Hanna and Polkinghorne's son Ben and his wife Bridget, who lived in the UK. They are the sort of messages you would expect from a DHB manager to her overseas children and cover Covid, lockdowns and similar. One says "did you see Ashley Bloomfield shoved under the bus by his health minister yesterday?"
Another message from Hanna offers to book them dinner at Morells (presumable Morrell Bistro & Bar in Remuera).
Polkinghorne replies and says it's his shout.
Mansfield says after this there's a continued dialog of checking in on each other and showing love and affection for each other.
Reeves queries something again.
He asks about gaps in the record numbers. Is that related to messages to other people?
Correct, says Mansfield, it's only Polkinghorne, Hanna and close family.
The messages continue to be mundane work and personal matters, all loving.
Vera Alves
The jury has returned for more cross-examination by defence lawyer Ron Mansfield of the witness, Detective Andrew Reeves.
Mansfield says he's checked with the defence's time expert, who has confirmed all the time references in the book he produced earlier need to be adjusted by two hours.
The lawyer produces yet more messages from Hanna expressing love for her husband.
"How's the morning going big boy?" another message from Hanna says, going on to say she can't wait to spend the weekend with him.
Mansfield asks if most of the messages show kiss or heart emojis or references to wishing each other a good day.
"Mostly, yes," says Reeves.
In another, Hanna says she's having a "disastrous day" as the Ministry of Health had asked to recall a whole lot of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) that she had been involved in ordering. She goes on to say it was all because someone in the Hawke's Bay District Health Board (DHB) said one of the masks "looked odd". This refers to the $20 million order of PPE.
Mansfield earlier in the trial produced an email showing Hanna expressing fear she would be linked in the media to the botched order. But one of her DHB colleagues later said she was never blamed, and the procurement error was a common thing worldwide.
What the jury heard so far this morning
Vera Alves
To recap a couple of highlights of what was an at-times tense and dramatic morning of cross-examination of Detective Andrew Reeves by defence lawyer Ron Mansfield:
Detective admitted he should have mentioned emails
- Mansfield asked the detective why he earlier told the court the phone data showed Hanna waking between 4am and 7am when her emails at times showed she was up most of the night. Did he not think, asked Mansfield, that it left a misleading impression? "When you know damn well she was sending emails through these hours?" Reeves replied: "I realise now that I should have cross-referenced them."
Detective conceded messages show 'loving' relationship
- Soon after, Mansfield took aim at the detective again, asking why he didn't mention in evidence the mundane messages between Polkinghorne and Hanna before her death. Given you were looking through her phone history, is there any reason you didn't review the messaging between Hanna and Polkinghorne before her death? asked Mansfield. Reeves said he did review the messaging. "It was uneventful," he said. Reeves said he did review the messages but "did not create a detailed report on them". "Was that because the messages did not support the police narrative?" asked Mansfield. He said they weren't relevant. Did these messages suggest a working, loving relationship? asked Mansfield. Reeves said they did, and he did not see any evidence of conflict between the pair. Mansfield asks why he did not include a review of the messaging between husband and wife or a review of her email messaging. "I reviewed the themes on Ms Hanna's phone... but not a detailed review, no."
Vera Alves
On to the morning of March 25, 2020. Polkinghorne replies to a loving check-in from his wife, saying he's at Auckland Eye "In the middle of chaos".
Hanna asks if he sorted the chaos.
Polkinghorne said he'd signed a request for $1 million and is now having lunch.
He then says the money has to come from somewhere and with work stopping at Auckland Eye, the bills still have to be paid.
Later, the couple discuss going for a walk. Then there are messages about the crazy queues at supermarkets just before the Covid-19 lockdown.
Another message has Hanna saying she's just signed a purchase order for $20m as part of her role as a health sector manager and was waiting for Pat Snedden to sign it off.
Further messages show Hanna saying she can't wait to be with him on the balcony for a drink.
On April 8, 2020, there's a message from her saying "hello darling pie" and asking how Polkinghorne is going, followed by heart and flower emojis.
His response is "mad here too, haven't had time to breathe. Good luck P xx".
More and more mundane, day-to-day and loving messages are worked through by defence lawyer Ron Mansfield as we near the morning adjournment.
He's up to May 2020 now.
Justice Graham Lang has now taken the morning break.
We will resume in 15 minutes.
Confusion over timestamps of text messages
Vera Alves
Defence lawyer Ron Mansfield moves to another message from Polkinghorne to Hanna featuring what he says is a new emoji we haven't seen yet.
It's a rat with heart emojis for eyes.
Now on to more messages, where Hanna says she's going to get her hair dyed then will take Polkinghorne out to dinner at Maple (presumably the Maple Room, an upmarket bistro in Remuera).
"They're consistently responding or messaging each other in this way, correct?" asks Mansfield.
"Correct," says Detective Andrew Reeves.
Reeves interrupts and asks if he can make a query. He is asking what the time zone is for the timestamps, given they are marked "AEDT" on the printouts.
"I'll come back to you on that," says Mansfield, revealing another defence witness.
He says the messages have been downloaded by the defence's IT expert, who is based in Australia.
Mansfield suggests it's only about an hour behind.
"I'm looking at the contents of the messages," says Mansfield.
There are murmurings now in the court.
Justice Graham Lang interjects.
"I think it's Australian Eastern Daylight Time so I would have thought it's probably two hours," says Justice Lang.
Mansfield is saying he's not relying on these for the time, but the contents.
The defence lawyer offers to provide a separate document with new time references.
Loving messages between couple shown by defence
Vera Alves
Defence lawyer Ron Mansfield produces another exhibit. It's another booklet of messages.
The messaging starts on February 21, 2020.
The messages are between Hanna and Polkinghorne. Mansfield says this is to fill in the gaps in the Crown evidence.
One says "fly well darling [several heart emojis]" from Hanna to Polkinghorne when he is heading off on a work trip.
He refers to further loving messages between the pair around this time.
Another message from Hanna to Polkinghorne wishes him good luck for a talk he was set to give on February 22, apparently at some sort of conference.
On to messages on February 25, 2020.
Hanna writes: "Hello darling I've been up since 5.20am flat, big day here and going to bed. hope you have a good flight talk to me when you can P [several heart emojis]".
His response was "goodnight my darling".
Further fond messages follow.
Mansfield continues to refer to more and more mundane but loving messages in February 2020 between Polkinghorne and Hanna.
But now one that says "do you want me in your life" or asks if he would rather leave her. The message from Hanna ends: "I don't want us to part P."
A subsequent message from Hanna apologises for the "rant", and says she had too much to drink and "I miss you and need you".
Do you think that message may have been relevant? asks Mansfield.
"Yes it is relevant," says Detective Andrew Reeves.
"As you can see there's a large booklet of messaging," he says.
"I appear to have missed that message."
Mansfield produces more and more messages replete with heart and kiss emojis between the pair.
Mansfield continues moving through the messaging from early 2020 between husband and wife. Hanna asks how her eye surgeon husband is going and he says: "consulting all day [vomit emoji]"
Further messages show the pair checking on each other and asking how they are, Reeves agrees.
No evidence of conflict between husband and wife in messages before death, detective admits
Vera Alves
Defence lawyer Ron Mansfield takes aim again, asking why Detective Andrew Reeves didn't mention in evidence the mundane messages between Polkinghorne and Hanna before her death.
Given you were looking through her phone history, is there any reason you didn't review the messaging between Hanna and Polkinghorne before her death? asks Mansfield.
Reeves says he did review the messaging.
"It was uneventful," he says.
The last message she sent was that she was coming back from the tip.
Mansfield's voice again rises to a note of indignation.
"Here you are, talking to us about the relationship between Dr Polkinghorne and two women in particular, correct?" asks Mansfield.
"Ah, between which women?" says Reeves.
Madison Ashton, says Mansfield, and Hanna.
Reeves says he did review the messages but "did not create a detailed report on them".
"Was that because the messages did not support the police narrative?"
He says they weren't relevant.
Did these messages suggest a working, loving relationship? asks Mansfield.
Reeves says they did, and he did not see any evidence of conflict between the pair.
Mansfield asks why he did not include a review of the messaging between husband and wife or a review of her email messaging
"I reviewed the themes on Ms Hanna's phone... but not a detailed review, no."
Mansfield says we've gone right back through Polkinghorne's history, back to 2015.
"Yes," says Reeves.
"You seem very interested in that?" Mansfield asks.
"I was," says Reeves.
But not in the messaging between husband and wife? Mansfield asks.
Reeves says "it was just was general day-to-day messaging".
'You know damn well': Polkinghorne's lawyer has detective admit another misleading impression in tense cross-examination
Vera Alves
On to April 4. Pauline Hanna starts emailing at 12.35am.
Detective Andrew Reeves agrees.
Defence lawyer Ron Mansfield continues reading the email times: 1.31am 1.35am etc etc towards 2am then a break until about 6am.
The email data ends at 6.12am.
Mansfield asks Reeves why, when he gave evidence yesterday, did he not mention this review of email communications the KC has just led the witness through?
The detective says he did refer to the fact there was emails.
Mansfield asks why he said a pattern of waking up between about 4.50am or 7am was apparent.
That's not correct at all, is it? asks Mansfield. "She was essentially doing the night shift, wasn't she? Do you not think it leaves a misleading impression when you know damn well she was sending emails through these hours?"
"I realise now that I should have cross-referenced them," says Reeves.
Vera Alves
Earlier, the trial heard evidence from one of Hanna's friends that she had a longstanding habit of working into the early hours, as late as 2am when studying at the University of Auckland in the early 1990s.
On to April 2.
"Here they go" says defence lawyer Ron Mansfield, listing times of emails sent after 1am, 2am, 3am, 4am, the lawyer's voice increasing in cadence and volume as he reaches 5.14am. (
More of the same ensues.
She continues working through the morning and into the afternoon.
Jurors are listening and following all of this attentively, it appears. Several are using highlighters to mark the documents they have been given as Mansfield traverses the many emails sent at all hours by Hanna.
Cross-examination focuses on times of Hanna's emails before her death
Vera Alves
On March 28, 2021, says defence lawyer Ron Mansfield, an email was sent or replied to by Hanna at 2.28am, 3.28am, 6.09am (when two were sent), and 7.06am.
Detective Andrew Reeves agrees that's right.
5.52pm "pretty solidly" all the way through to 8.45pm that evening, says Mansfield and Reeves agrees.
He continues in this vein to show late night and early morning emails in the days leading up to her death. This underlines a point he repeatedly made in earlier cross-examinations that Hanna was working very long hours in the days before her death.
On a subsequent day she sent emails at through the early hours, to 4am, then resuming at 5am and consistently throughout the morning.
Reeves agrees with Mansfield there's a lot of work related activity going on despite the phone not showing movement in that period. Mansfield thereby calls into question his findings of her regular waking times.
The defence lawyer again lists times of several sets of emails after 2am, 3am, 4am, 5am and 6am on one day shortly before her death on April 31, numbering over two dozen in the early hours. There's a gap from 6.21am to 9.57am before the emailing reveals.
Reeves emphasises several gaps in the emails. Mansfield hits back.
"Those gaps that you've referred to don't mean that's she's sitting doing nothing or maybe getting a quick cat nap, does it?"
Mansfield asks if Hanna was considering the emails in those gap or writing them. Reeves says he only knows what he can deduce from the phone activity or the timestamps of the emails.
Cross-examination resumes
Vera Alves
The jury has returned and Detective Andrew Reeves is being sworn back in.
Defence lawyer Ron Mansfield rises to his feet for more cross-examination.
Yesterday he had the detective admit the image of "rope tying instructions" he discussed in his evidence-in-chief were actually fishing knot instructions dating from 2012. They were found on a USB taken from Polkinghorne's homes.
He's back to knots.
He asks if there was any evidence of knot related searches on Hanna's phone. He says there were not.
But were you aware Hanna went to the tip on April 4 transporting items via their red ute that were secured in the ute's tray using the orange rope? Mansfield asks.
Reeves says he was.
He confirms he saw messages about her going to the tip on April 4. That's the day before Polkinghorne called police to say she'd hanged herself using the orange rope and a belt.
Reeves confirms that by viewing Hanna's phone's movement data he was able to discern an average waking time.
That was between 5.52am and after 7am, he confirms.
Reeves confirms, after he and Mansfield circle the point for a while, that he created a timeline report based on the pattern of Hanna's emails.
Trial about to resume
Vera Alves
Court is about to resume for more cross-examination by defence lawyer Ron Mansfield of Detective Andrew Reeves. It's a grey, wet day in Auckland and the public gallery is about half full.
Polkinghorne trial day 21 - more cross examination on devices after detective’s knot revelation to Ron Mansfield KC
Vera Alves
It’s day two of week five of the Herald’s live coverage 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. He maintains she killed herself.
Will his defence begin calling witnesses today to support that theory? It’s not looking too likely but you never know.
Defence lawyer Ron Mansfield's cross-examination of the detective is expected to last most of the morning, and the Crown has another witness or two still to call. Proceedings begin at 10am.
On Monday, the jury heard message after message between Polkinghorne and his longtime escort companion Madison Ashton. In one, Polkinghorne responds to a message featuring photos of her new cosmetic surgery procedure by talking about a "tsunami of lust" among other lurid promises. He later tells Ashton "you and I aren't going anywhere, we are going to last 100 years".
Mansfield has indicated he still has a way to go yet with his cross-examination of Detective Andrew Reeves, the investigator who examined the phones, laptops and USB drives of Hanna, Polkinghorne and Ashton. And the jury know there are one or two more witnesses to come after Reeves.
Mansfield’s cross examination reached a crescendo yesterday with questions about the images of knots Reeves earlier told prosecutor Brian Dickey he had found on a USB drive found in Polkinghorne's Upland Rd home.
During his evidence-in-chief (the first stage of a witness' questioning, conducted by a prosecutor) he did not specify much else about the image aside from saying they were of knot-tying instructions. Mansfield said the defence team, during disclosure, was not provided the date of the images. Could Reeves help? He initially said the image was created in 2019. Mansfield said the defence was told at the break it was actually 2012.
Reeves apologises and says he was mistaken, and that the screenshot of the knots was actually taken or added to the device on January 1, 2012, at 3.56pm.
Mansfield then asks what sort of knots they were in the image. Reeves says he doesn't know and Mansfield, his voice rising, says "It's pretty obvious, let's have a look" before producing a document.
The document showed the knots came from a website for soft bait fishing.
So those knot photos you decided might be relevant, said Mansfield, sounding incredulous as his voice rose, they not only were from 2012 but they also related to fishing?
"I can confirm they are fishing knots, yes," said the detective.
He said he didn't knowingly omit the information, and had merely included the knot pictures as part of the results of his searches of Polkinghorne's devices for terms such as knots. Polkinghorne and Hanna had a bach at Ring’s Beach Coromandel and the trial has heard he would go fishing with friends there.
Other evidence heard yesterday included:
- Polkinghorne and Aussie escort Ashton messaged extensively in the days and weeks after his wife’s death, reported on April 5, 2021. The messages ranged from the amorous – one showing Polkinghorne using the phrase "tsunami of lust" – to discussions of lawyers and their upcoming trip to Mt Cook. That getaway was interrupted by police, who visited the Matariki Room at the Mt Cook Lakeside Retreat where Ashton and Polkinghorne were staying 25 days after his wife’s death, to seize the escort’s phones. Mansfield, in cross-examination, had the detective say Ashton was messaging a number of other wealthy men in a similar manner to Polkinghorne, but he didn’t see her saying "I love you" as much to her other longstanding clients and friends.
- The messages show Polkinghorne and Ashton embroiled in something well beyond a sex worker/client relationship. In one, she writes to say "if you passed away I wouldn't leave the house ever again". Polkinghorne replies saying "darling you and I aren't going anywhere, we are going to last 100 years".
- Mansfield repeatedly emphasised his point that after it emerged in the media Polkinghorne was a suspect, Ashton was one of the only people besides some close family members who would talk to the ophthalmologist.
- Polkinghorne had known Ashton since 2015, when he arranged a booking for himself and his wife with the prominent escort. Four years later, he arranged for her to meet his sister.
- Reeves again said that WhatsApp messages on Polkinghorne’s phone were missing before the afternoon of April 5, 2021 (he reported his wife dead that morning). However, his phone activity log showed he had used WhatsApp repeatedly that morning, before and after calling police.
While we wait for proceedings to resume at 10am, here's Steve Braunias at the Polkinghorne trial: Private passions made public.
STORY CONTINUES
In support of the “double life” contention, the Crown has had Detective Reeves read aloud a series of sometimes sexually explicit messages between Polkinghorne and the sex worker in the months before Hanna’s death and the weeks after.
“Darling you and I aren’t going anywhere. We are going to last 100 years,” Polkinghorne had written to Ashton 18 days after Pauline Hanna was found dead as the two planned a tryst at a Mt Cook chalet. In other communications, Ashton joked that the surgeon shouldn’t wear a bowtie to Hanna’s funeral and they discussed how they might split chores in the future.
But Polkinghorne’s defence team has insisted the “police narrative” that Polkinghorne killed his wife was formed almost immediately – and erroneously – based on suspicions over the couple’s “open” marriage. She was a stressed-out healthcare executive with a long history of depression and recently amplified work stress as she helped organise the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine, Mansfield has argued.
The many overnight work emails offered proof of that, he has suggested throughout the trial and again today.
Mansfield also gave jurors two new thick evidence booklets containing communications between the defendant and his late wife years prior to her death.
On March 28, 2020, Hanna wrote her husband a typo-ridden message while he was overseas: “I have had the most horrible last two weeks. But the only response from me was to respond to you. We have a discussion to [trails off]. Do you want me I. Your life. ? I have gone through major upheaval and change with no regogniton [sic] from you. So do you want us to go forward it leave me. ? Up to you. You are calling the shots. I don t want us to oart. Pxxxx.”
The next morning she followed up: “Hi darling sorry about my rant. I had too much to drink and was sad and lonely. I miss you and need ya. P [four love heart emojis].”
An hour later, she added “Can you talk to me” followed 18 minutes later by: “I am sorry darling. Please talk to me. I have been through such an emotional upheaval over that 2 weeks. Please forgive me, Just as I do you when you are over wraught and in an emotional state. You don’t mean what you say. Neither do I.”
Polkinghorne responded a couple hours later that he could talk – his message accented with love-heart emojis and two goofy-eyed smiley faces.
“You don’t think that was relevant?” Mansfield asked the detective, noting that Reeves had gone as far back as 2015 to scour messages between Polkinghorne and the escort.
“Yes, it is relevant,” Reeves replied, adding that there was a lot of data to sift through. “I appear to have missed this message.”
Most messages between Polkinghorne and Hanna showed nothing amiss in their marriage and ended with heart or kiss emojis, Mansfield noted. But there were other indications of Hanna’s stress, the defence lawyer noted.
“I’m having a disastrous day,” Hanna wrote to her husband in June 2020, referring to a work situation jurors learned about earlier in which tens of millions of dollars in defective facemasks appeared to have been ordered from a Chinese factory.
“Good lord. Thank goodness 24 hours in the day!! NOT!” she wrote from a work meeting four days later.
Mansfield has also over the past two days clarified two other impressions the jury was left with following Reeve’s direct examination: Polkinghorne not giving police the correct passcode for his phone and a photo found on his hard drive showing how to tie a knot.
Knots have become a subject of contention during the trial. Other detectives said they first started to suspect that something might be amiss after seeing a series of “granny knots” that very loosely held a rope to the couple’s upstairs balustrade above where Hanna’s body at that point lay.
The knot was suspicious because it didn’t seem it could support a person’s weight, multiple witnesses have said. The defence, meanwhile, has noted there were two ropes at the scene. The rope Hanna used was untied and thrown downstairs before paramedics arrived, Polkinghorne said in a police interview. His lawyer noted that, as a surgeon, Polkinghorne knew complicated knots and suggested that a “granny knot” would not have come naturally to him.
Reeves told jurors earlier while being questioned by Crown prosecutor Brian Dickey that the “how to” knot photo was found on a hard drive of his. But Mansfield later pointed out to him that the photo was downloaded in January 2012 and appeared to be in reference to soft bait fishing. Why not tell that to jurors initially, the lawyer asked.
Reeves said he didn’t knowingly mislead anyone, adding that it “would have been beneficial to know that” when he was questioned by the Crown.
And while a search of Hanna’s phone showed no evidence she did any web searches for how to tie knots in the months prior to her death, Mansfield pointed out that she had gone to a tip the day before her death and had tied items to her ute.
During his first day in the witness box, on Friday, Reeves had described seizing Polkinghorne’s phone during a search warrant the day after his wife’s funeral. Polkinghorne was asked four times for his phones passcode but entered the wrong code four times, he said, explaining that he left the phone locked in the on position as he took the phone back to the police station and asked the digital forensics team to try downloading the data. The date was successfully retrieved, he said, even though the digital team was initially sceptical they would be able to do so.
Mansfield said his client used face ID to open his iPhone and suggested it wouldn’t be at all unusual for him to not remember the passcode. He noted that his client did willingly open the phone for police using face ID.
Reeves is expected to continue testifying under cross-examination when the trial resumes this afternoon 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.