Philip Polkinghorne murder trial live updates: Pauline Hanna discussed divorce months prior to death - niece
WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT
Seven months before Pauline Hanna died in what was quickly deemed suspicious circumstances, she had told her niece that she wanted help finding a divorce lawyer but was concerned she might have trouble paying because she suspected husband Philip Polkinghorne had already swindled her out of her share of their money.
Rose Hanna would share that recollection with police within a day of learning of her aunt’s death, she testified today from the High Court at Auckland as week three commenced in the Remuera eye surgeon’s high-profile murder trial.
“What Dad had told me [about her death being a suicide] wasn’t sitting - just wasn’t making sense,” Rose Hanna said of her decision to call police and give a statement so early in the process.
Polkinghorne, now 71, wouldn’t be charged until nearly a year-and-a-half after that call. Prosecutors allege he fatally strangled his 63-year-old wife - possibly while high on methamphetamine and during a confrontation about his infidelity or finances - before staging the scene to look like a suicide by hanging on the morning of April 5, 2021. He has pleaded not guilty, with his lawyers insisting Hanna succumbed to a history of depression combined with an extraordinarily stressful workload helping to roll out the Covid-19 vaccine.
STORY CONTINUES AFTER LIVE BLOG
Helen Van Berkel
Mansfield said he "hasn't a donkey's show" of finishing his cross-examination of Morris before 5pm, so Justice Lang has decided to take the evening adjournment.
Court will resume 10am tomorrow for Morris' cross-examination.
Helen Van Berkel
Morris did not return to clean the home after the death of Pauline Hanna.
Dickey asks if messages were sometimes left for her.
No really, the housekeeper replies, although Hanna had once asked if she could empty the dishwasher.
"One time... there was a note saying Philip was in conference and not to enter," Morris says.
Helen Van Berkel
Dickey refers Morris to a police photo of the guest bedroom upstairs, which is in a state of disarray.
Had she ever seen the room in this state? he asks.
"No, never," said Morris. She had never seen the bed stripped like in the photograph, taken after Hanna's death, or the pillows all over the floor.
Helen Van Berkel
Morris described her work as "surface management really" and said the home was never very dirty.
Polkinghorne was the only one who came home when Morris was cleaning, arriving on occasion to pick up phones.
She could not remember if anyone was home on her last visit, on April 1.
Helen Van Berkel
Morris said her work mostly involved ironing and cleaning floors and occasionally making a bed.
Did you do the laundry? asks Dickey.
No, says Morris, but she ironed and folded shirts – Polkinghorne's mostly.
In her first email, Hanna told Morris she would occasionally have to make the bed in the upstairs guest bedroom, where she said Polkinghorne sometimes slept when he was working late.
Morris told the court she had made the guest bed maybe four times in the months she worked in the house.
Earlier, the jury heard Hanna slept in this room, while Polkinghorne spent the night in the master bedroom.
Next witness: The housekeeper
Helen Van Berkel
"We were doing something bigger than ourselves," Alabastro says.
She had heard Hanna's mother died on February 5, 2021, but was not told by Hanna directly. Nor was she told the only time Hanna took off was to travel to Hastings for the day of the funeral and back to work the following day.
Alabastro is now free to go and the Crown calls Sheryl Morris, Pauline Hanna and Philip Polkinghorne's housekeeper.
Morris started working for the couple on December 15, 2020, and finished on April 1, 2021.
She would work Tuesday and Thursday, four hours a day, she told prosecutor Brian Dickey.
Helen Van Berkel
"Sorry that this is a wee bit onerous," he comments.
"I feel a bit fatigued myself now."
Helen Van Berkel
Mansfield is now, at length, going through email after email sent between the witness and Hanna and others to hammer home his point.
Helen Van Berkel
Did Hanna ever tell Alabastro, asks Mansfield, that she was finding the job incredibly difficult and lonely?
No, said Alabastro.
The lawyer is referring again to reams of emails Hanna sent after midnight and into the small hours, sometimes and 2am, 3am and 4am or thereabouts, resuming again at dawn, after full work days.
He aims to show how long her hours were to add to his case she was stressed and overworked.
In another email, Hanna says she had worked eight weeks without a break and was being bullied.
One of the latest set of emails was sent to Alabastro at 1am, telling her about planned vaccine sites.
Helen Van Berkel
Sometimes Hanna would say "don't you worry, leave it with me" and then come in the next day and say it was sorted, Mansfield suggested; Alabastro agreed.
In her police statement, Alabastro said she did not think Hanna would tell her if she was feeling stressed. They each had care for each other, she said.
Helen Van Berkel
Alabastro told police the job was difficult.
She found it particularly hard to require other people to get things done by a certain time to make sure the centres were agreeable, she said.
She tells the court did not want to tell Hanna about her troubles sometimes because she didn't want to add to her boss' worries.
"I don't know about her pressure, but for me, I was able to manage it," Alabastro said.
Helen Van Berkel
They were making sure the vaccine centres were equipped and staffed and could work the next day, Alabastro said.
Hanna worked 100-hour weeks, staff member says
Helen Van Berkel
Ron Mansfield, cross-examining Alabastro, asks her about the long hours.
She had told police a 100-hour week was about right.
When would Hanna turn up to the office? asks Mansfield.
After me, Alabastro replied, between 8 and 9.
Alabastro said she would leave around 4pm because she had a young family, but both women would continue working into the evening on their phones and computers at home.
Helen Van Berkel
Alabastro was expecting to see Hanna at the Manurewa Marae vaccination centre on April 5, 2021. She was on her way to the site when she found out about her manager's death.
Helen Van Berkel
Alabastro saw nothing of concern through this period about any aspect of Hanna's wellbeing, she told Dickey.
Helen Van Berkel
The messages show Hanna being very appreciative of staff and wishing them a lovely Easter break.
Court resumes
Helen Van Berkel
Crown prosecutor Brian Dickey asks Sharon Alabastro about her communications, emails and texts with Pauline Hanna.
Helen Van Berkel
Hanna was happy that the Ōtara site was on track and things were also looking good for the opening of the Manurewa location.
Alabastro said she was expecting to see Hanna at the opening of both centres.
Helen Van Berkel
The two women worked closely together in the short period leading up to Hanna's death, Alabastro said, planning for the rollout of several vaccine centres, including Highbrook, Ōtara and Manurewa.
Planning was going well, Alabastro said.
The Crown calls Sharon Alabastro
Helen Van Berkel
Sharon Alabastro was a project manager at HealthSource, used by the DHB for procurement and accounting purposes.
She was involved in supporting DHBs and knew Pauline Hanna from March 2020, when Alabastro was seconded to the NRHCC Covid logistics team.
Hanna was the logistics lead and Alabastro was a logistics project manager, reporting to Hanna later in 2020.
Her working relationship with Hanna, she says in response to questions from Crown prosecutor Brian Dickey, was "very good".
"She was a lovely person... very sincere.
"If she sees me working late, she would ask me to go home."
Alabastro said she was impressed at the cool and composed manner in which Hanna carried herself during the stressful Covid period.
Hanna was very good at planning and distributing workload, Alabastro said.
Helen Van Berkel
Claire agrees Pauline was working long hours each workday.
Did you look at her email habits yourself? asked Mansfield.
No, Claire was told by others. She would not have been able to access her email traffic, Claire said, because she would have had to go via the Counties Manukau DHB.
Claire said she was leaving work between 7pm and 8pm and Hanna was usually gone by then. Had she had still been there, she would have spoken to her, Claire said.
Mansfield asks if it is unsustainable to work all day then send emails all into the night, every night.
Claire agrees.
Helen Van Berkel
Cross-examining Claire, Mansfield asks if she was responsible for the health and safety of her senior executives, such as Hanna, including the hours they were working.
Yes, the former CEO of the Auckland District Health Board (ADHB) said.
Did she have responsibility or a say on who might be able to take on more senior roles? the defence lawyer continued.
Claire agrees.
So, asks Mansfield, if somebody wanted to get ahead, Claire would be someone they needed to impress?
"Within ADHB, yes," Claire replied.
And an individual's performance at work would be a marker as to who might be promoted?
Claire agrees but adds that Hanna was not employed by ADHB in her Covid role, but by Counties Manukau DHB.
So why was she reporting to Claire? Mansfield asked.
Because the three metro DHBs decided to work together on the Covid response and Claire was responsible for Hanna's area: Covid vaccine logistics.
Mansfield then moved to the March meeting where Claire expressed concern about Hanna's late-night emails.
Claire confirmed the meeting with Hanna lasted 30 minutes and that she took no notes.
Relying on memory, Claire agrees Hanna confirmed she was coping and found work enjoyable, and adds it wasn't just at that meeting where she saw evidence of Hanna's high performance at work.
Helen Van Berkel
Asked about the late-night emails, Claire said Hanna "made it clear that it was her preferred pattern of working".
"There didn't seem to be any negative impact of her doing that."
Helen Van Berkel
Claire said she had met Hanna in mid-March, 2021, along with others, to assess how their roles were going and their workloads.
The meeting was about half an hour long. A number of people had told Claire that Hanna had been sending emails late at night.
"I indicated to her that it wasn't appropriate," she said, referring to the frequent late-night emails. Hanna said work was her "happy place", and defended the late messages.
Claire said she had told Pauline how well she was doing in the job.
"She was very hard working," Claire said. "She was just really on top of it. She had excellent relationships with the Māori and Pacific providers we were working with."
Everyone had confidence in Hanna's work, said Claire.
"It felt like she was thriving in the environment."
When Hanna died and her colleagues heard suicide could be the cause, Claire said she and others looked at if they had missed anything.
"She'd casually talked about doing her life's best work," she said.
Helen Van Berkel
"In addition to that, you would be aware that her mother passed away on 5 February, 2021?" Mansfield asked.
Prentice said she was aware Hanna's mother had died, but not know the exact date.
Hanna had travelled back to work the day after the funeral, Mansfield said.
The defence lawyer said Hanna was also flying to Hastings and back over a weekend to tend to her ailing mother before she died, amid her high workload and long hours.
Mansfield has no further questions for Prentice.
Former health board CEO gives evidence
Helen Van Berkel
The Crown has called a new witness, Ailsa Claire, the previous chief executive of the Auckland District Health Board.
Under questions from Crown prosecutor Brian Dickey, Claire said she also ran the Covid-19 vaccine programme for metropolitan Auckland. Hanna ran the procurement and logistics for the vaccination centres, and Claire saw her often in 2021, until she died. They worked closely together, she agreed.
Helen Van Berkel
On April 3, she was again sending emails after midnight, including at 3am and at 7am, Mansfield said.
Helen Van Berkel
Mansfield moves on to an email from Hanna to Still, referring to the Highbrook vaccination centre.
Prentice says Hanna would have been receiving information about the stocks on hand at the end of the day, which would inform the vaccine orders for the next day.
In the email, Hanna checks whether Still is aware of everything he needs to be.
On April 1, 2021, four days before her death, she consistently sent emails from about 5am to 9am, Mansfield said.
The following day, Easter Friday, there were work emails from 1am to 5am and more into the day, the defence lawyer said.
Prentice acknowledges she was copied into some of them.
Helen Van Berkel
Mansfield asks about an email introducing Andrew Still to the wider team, dated March 30, 2021, and sent at 4.43am.
Referred to earlier as "Andy", Still was brought on to take on some of Hanna's workload.
Mansfield is trying to show Hanna was grievously overworked – over and beyond the high workload of other managers in the Covid response – including in the week before her death, in what the defence says was a suicide.
An email he repeatedly produces shows Hanna saying she has not had a day off in eight weeks, was being bullied by clinicians and feared she would be linked in the media to a botched $20 million PPE purchase.
The trial resumes
Helen Van Berkel
The jury is back and court is resuming for more cross-examination by Ron Mansfield KC of Sarah Prentice, who for a time was Pauline Hanna's manager while Hanna was managing logistics for the Covid vaccine response.
Questioning returns to the emails between Prentice, Hanna and others before her death.
On March 28, 2021 – a week before her death – Hanna was sending work emails at 2am, 3am, 6am and 7am, Mansfield said. Prentice said she doesn't recollect seeing those emails sent in the early hours.
Defence cross-examines Pauline Hanna's former boss, quizzes her about workload
Vera Alves
Defence lawyer Ron Mansfield is now cross-examining Sarah Prentice, starting with questions on their job titles.
Was there a difference in seniority between their two titles? Mansfield asks.
Yes, Hanna's role reported to Prentice.
But the responsibility for her workload and wellbeing was shared. During Covid, the team wasn't that hierarchical, said Prentice.
Prentice rejects suggestions she was not interested in her workload, saying they had appointed another person to take on a lot of the day-to-day work of Hanna's role.
Mansfield said that at her funeral, one of her staff had claimed Hanna was doing the work of three people. Prentice said that was hard to quantify.
"It was definitely a role of more than one person, which was why we had brought a second person on board," she said.
That person, Andy, was brought in to relieve some of the work pressure on Hanna, Prentice agrees.
Mansfield suggests to Prentice that she would know, as a manager, that long periods without a break can impact on people's mental health.
Prentice: Yes that's correct, and why we were bringing more people in.
Mansfield: She was working seven days a week?
She was working five days a week and then parts of the weekend, Prentice said.
Prentice said there were no changes in behaviour before her death, such as outbursts, to suggest stress she was not handling.
She said she saw no signs that concerned her.
Prentice said she was one of three incident controllers across Covid, before moving into the vaccine rollout.
Did you have a clinical role? Mansfield asks.
"No, my background is in economics or information systems," said Prentice. But she said she had spent a lot of time in clinical settings, despite not having clinical training.
Mansfield again moves on to questions about Hanna's appearance.
Prentice agreed her hair and makeup were always perfect, pristine and her suits always looked very professional.
"I think everything she did, she liked to do to a very high standard," said Prentice.
Mansfield is back on to a video call on Easter Weekend when Hanna died. She earlier said Hanna didn't want to turn her camera on.
Some of the team felt more comfortable presenting in weekend attire than others, Prentice believed.
It was business as usual, Prentice agreed.
Prentice is agreeing with Mansfield's repeated assertions there is nothing Hanna did to less than 100%.
Mansfield asks Prentice if she was working with Hanna in 2020.
Prentice isn't exactly sure.
The defence lawyer is back to the email Hanna sent to family that year beginning "Today is my first full day off in eight weeks, yay".
Prentice said she has no way of confirming that statement.
Hanna goes on to say in the email that the last eight weeks had been amazing and challenging but "I have many mixed emotions".
Justice Lang interjects, saying he's not sure the witness is qualified to answer.
In the email, Hanna discusses being "personally criticised and bullied" and that it had been "incredibly brutal". Was the witness aware she was ever having those feelings?
No, said Prentice, she said she was not directly involved with her at work at that point in time.
Justice Lang asks the witness if she was aware of any issues as Hanna had mentioned in her email with the clinicians?
No, said Prentice again.
Prentice agrees that her view of things was that Hanna loved her role and she didn't notice anything unusual in her.
Back to the email, where Hanna said: "My life is insane and I do not know what day it is sometimes."
It reads: "I reluctantly took this role as head of logistics in the vaccine" rollout and her husband was proud "but it is incredibly difficult and lonely".
Prentice said she was not aware of any feelings like this.
However, "she also indicated when things were too much for one person", which was why another staffer was being brought on, Prentice said.
In Prentice's statement to police, she said she had encouraged Hanna to stop working on the weekends.
"That wasn't unique to Pauline," said the witness.
The court will now adjourn for lunch. It will resume around 2.15pm.
'No signs of concern' prior to Hanna's death, her former boss says
Vera Alves
The Crown calls Sarah Prentice. She worked in the health sector with Pauline Hanna.
In 2021, she was the programme lead for the vaccination rollout in the northern region. Hanna reported to her.
Brian Dickey is leading her evidence.
She had worked alongside her, off and on, for 10 years.
Prentice said she knew her fairly well.
"At that particular point, she was very proud of everything she was doing," Prentice said.
This is 2021, February, March, April, right before her death.
Prentice said Hanna had just been congratulated on her work.
As always, she was working "incredibly long hours", said Prentice.
Prentice remembers Polkinghorne volunteering to help move vaccines from one site to another in early March 2021.
He had volunteered because the movement needed to be done by a qualified medical professional and he was an eye doctor.
Prentice recalled Hanna saying her husband was "at his charming best" during this movement of vaccines and everyone had enjoyed working with him.
After hearing the news, Prentice said she looked back and felt there had been no signs of stress and concern prior to Hanna's death on Easter Monday.
"She was one of the few that didn't gain the Covid kilos that the rest of us did as we ate rubbish in the office," said Prentice.
On a Zoom meeting in the days before her death, the only thing that was different from usual was that Hanna's camera wasn't on. Everything else seemed normal, Prentice remembered.
Each week or two, they were opening a new centre to try to get the vaccination numbers up. On the Wednesday after her death, she had been set to open a new vaccination centre in South Auckland. The trial heard earlier she was looking forward to opening the vaccine centre.
Prentice said Hanna's role was logistics lead so she was closely involved in ensuring every opening went well.
On the Easter Sunday before her death, Hanna responded to several emails.
"It was pretty much how we were all working at that point," said Prentice.
Dickey is referring the witness to some emails.
This is the latest in a parade of woman who worked in the health sector the jury is hearing from. They all say similar things: that Pauline was a hard-working, effective manager, always immaculately turned out, and showed no signs of suicidality before her death.
The public gallery is nearly full to capacity, far outnumbering the eight reporters on the press benches. Philip Polkinghorne is in his usual spot, seated behind defence lawyer Ron Mansfield, next to a security guard.
Polkinghorne watched previous witnesses attentively but is now on his laptop.
The emails Dickey and Prentice are referring to are the health managers, including Hanna, discussing the need to use the vaccines quickly because they are short-dated (expiring soon). They are discussing the need to move vaccines from quiet to busy centres to optimise the available stock.
Those communications were typical, Prentice said.
The four-day weekend made it challenging and lots of people were working, Pauline's former boss said.
How was Pauline performing? asks Dickey.
"She was performing as well as I'd ever seen her perform," said Prentice.
It made great use of her various skills, she said.
Defence cross-examines Polkinghorne's hairdresser
Vera Alves
Defence lawyer Ron Mansfield is beginning his cross-examination of Adriaanse.
He confirms the haircutting arrangement arose because of the relationship they both had with Lee Pedersen, a sex worker Polkinghorne was seeing.
"When he came to see you, was that after he had been arrested on the charge of murder?" Mansfield asks.
Adriaanse couldn't say.
"It was all over the news," said Adriaanse.
What did he tell you exactly? asks Mansfield.
Just that I shouldn't talk to them, Adriaanse said.
Mansfield is referring to Adriaanse's statement to police that he didn't have anything to hide.
Adriaanse said at that stage he believed Hanna had "hung herself".
"I never, ever thought that Phil had done that to Pauline."
After he was arrested, said Mansfield, Polkinghorne was unable to talk to Adriaanse because he was to become a witness at this trial. Adriaanse wasn't aware of this.
"It's not cause of your hair cuts, you can rest assured," said Mansfield.
That ends the evidence of Paul Adriaanse.
Witness met Polkinghorne via sex worker
Vera Alves
The Crown calls Paul Adriaanse to the witness box.
Crown solicitor Brian Dickey is leading his evidence.
Adriaanse is a hairdresser who knew Philip Polkinghorne.
Adriaanse was previously a mental health clinician for 20 years before he became a barber. He met Polkinghorne via a woman, Lee Pedersen.
The meeting happened five or six years ago, said Adriaanse, possibly even seven years.
He said Pedersen and he were "quite close". "We were just good friends."
What about Dr Polkinghorne? asks Dickey.
"I got to know him enough," he said.
"I'd cut his hair once a month."
Were you aware of any relationship between Dr Polkinghorne and Lee? asks Dickey.
"Yes. Lee was a prostitute and Phil would pay her to have sex."
Adriaanse said he knew that from his own knowledge, not from hearsay.
How long had that relationship between the eye surgeon and Lee gone on? asks Dickey.
Adriaanse, an older, bald man with a raspy voice, said he doesn't know, after he is cautioned by Justice Lang against making assumptions.
When did he become aware of Pauline Hanna's death? asks Dickey.
When it hit the news, said Adriaanse. That was in 2021.
Dickey again asks how long before that Polkinghorne had a continuing sexual relationship with Lee.
"Look, I don't know how long, mate."
He said it was maybe a couple of years but doesn't know how often they would see each other.
"Sorry your questions are confusing. I don't know how long they were together," Adriaanse told Brian Dickey.
The evidence in chief of Paul Adriaanse is not going smoothly.
Adriaanse said he would have liked to have seen Polkinghorne fortnightly for haircuts but the doctor was busy, and it could be two months between cuts.
Did he see him after the death of Pauline Hanna?
Once, said Adriaanse.
He couldn't say, he said, how long after Hanna's death it was.
He was living in Remuera at the time and he came home and "Phil was there".
He used to cut Polkinghorne's hair at the Remuera unit where he lives.
"And I asked him 'what the hell's happened?' He was quite upset and he said he didn't know," Adriaanse said.
"And I guess in the situation that we were in, it didn't come up."
What, if anything, did he say to you about the death? asks Dickey.
He was visibly distraught and said he'd been advised to say nothing and that he should probably say nothing too.
Adriaanse said he told his hairdressing client that he had nothing to hide.
Polkinghorne did not specify what he should say nothing about.
"I said that if the police come to see me, that I'll be telling them my version," Adriaanse said.
Did the discussion take long?
No, said Adriaanse, we just went on to the haircut.
"Certainly wasn't a laboured point."
Defence asks Hanna's niece about the search for her will
Vera Alves
Were you aware, asks defence lawyer Ron Mansfield, that your dad was trying to find your aunt Pauline's will?
Yes, said Rose Hanna, Pauline Hanna's niece.
Philip Polkinghorne had phoned her father Bruce Hanna, asking if he had a copy.
"I said to Philip that I thought you would have had one."
Were you aware your dad had tracked down one of Aunty Pauline's wills, dated 1997? Mansfield asks.
Yes, said Rose.
That was before her marriage to Polkinghorne, the trial hears.
She is unaware of inquiries as to whether that will might still be valid.
Rose is unclear what the 1997 will says.
Did Pauline, asks Mansfield, ever talk about her appearance and dress?
Yes, Rose said.
Did she talk about procedures she undertook to improve her appearance? asks Mansfield.
Yes, in passing. She was proud of her size 10 figure, Rose said.
Mansfield said her appearance and dress was "next-level".
Did she ever, asks the defence lawyer, describe her appearance and dress as her "armour" when out in public?
Rose doesn't recall.
No further questions. Rose is free to go.
Hanna's niece and brother believed death didn't make sense, wasn't suicide, trial hears
Vera Alves
The jury has returned.
Defence lawyer Ron Mansfield continues his cross-examination of Pauline Hanna's niece Rose. He's on to her communications with the police, soon after she learned her aunt had died.
Her father Bruce told her of the death on April 5, 2021, the same day.
That afternoon the story broke in the media, talking about a significant police presence at her aunt and uncle's home, Mansfield asks?
Correct, said Rose.
Was the media attention what prompted her to contact police on April 6? asks Mansfield.
No, she said.
"What dad had told me wasn't sitting... just wasn't making sense," Rose said.
"Especially that method that was mentioned to me."
Mansfield asks if she initially believes it was a "full-suspension hanging" not the partial-suspension hanging in a chair that Polkinghorne claimed was the method.
Rose agrees she did.
Rose said she called the police 105 line to raise her concerns in relation to the death.
She told the call-taker of her last contact, shortly before her death, a text message from Pauline to Rose and her brother. She thought she sounded okay in the text, Rose told police.
Later that day, police arrived at her home, she said.
In the statement, she said "Aunty Pauline also liked a glass of wine" but said she had never disclosed any violence or threats of violence in her relationship with Philip.
Mansfield asks if Rose knows the Riordans.
She does.
Rose said she contacted the Riordans on April 6. It's unclear at this stage who the Riordans are.
There were calls from Rose and Bruce to them on April 6, Rose agrees.
Rose then sent an article she'd seen about her aunt's death to them.
The article was about the fact police were at her aunt's property in Remuera, along with a forensic team, Mansfield said.
Did police tell you they were treating it as a suspicious death? asks Mansfield.
I don't recall, said Rose, they just came down to take my statement.
Mansfield asks if the article made Rose realise it was being investigated as a suspicious death.
Rose said it did, and was why she contacted the police.
"I just asked them to keep an open mind," she said.
Mrs Riordan was a very close friend of Pauline's when they were young.
Rose told them, days later, that she and her dad did not believe Pauline had committed suicide.
Rose agreed with Mansfield that she did not believe at any stage her aunt would take her own life. The Riordans agreed.
"They were relieved it wasn't just their thinking," Rose said.
The Riordans were close friends of the Hanna family, the court is hearing.
The Riordans, the judge clarifies, are John and Victoria Riordan, who goes by her middle name Pheasant.
Pauline Hanna described her work as 'incredibly brutal'
Vera Alves
Defence lawyer Ron Mansfield has lurched back to the dinner on August 8, 2020, with Rose Hanna, her partner and her aunt Pauline, during one of her visits to Tauranga.
A message after the dinner, after Rose sent information on divorce lawyers to her, showed Pauline saying she was sure it wouldn't come to that.
"She was very clear in that she wanted me to find someone for her," Rose said.
She said she found that strange, because she did not even live in Auckland and thought her friends would be more use for that sort of thing.
"That's why it stands out in my mind."
Rose said there was then no further dialogue between the pair about the divorce. She does not know if her aunt got access to her accounts.
Mansfield said there is no evidence of communication between Pauline and any family lawyers.
But conversations between Rose and her aunt continued. Mansfield has passed a booklet of messages to the witness.
A December 19, 2019 message and response is being examined, plus further communications. They canvass Rose's grandmother and include photographs of Pauline with Rose's daughter.
There were regular updates on her daughter.
Mansfield is back to the email from Pauline to several family members, referring to her troubles at work and fear she would be linked to bungled PPE procurement in the media.
Rose was one of the first recipients, then other family members were copied in.
She can't recall discussing it with family.
The email was first sent to Philip's son Ben and his wife Bridget.
She treated them as her own? asks Mansfield.
Yes, said Rose, but then an interesting further comment:
"From what I witnessed, they didn't treat her the same way she treated them."
In the email, Pauline said she had "experienced the best and worst in human behaviour".
She went on to say: "But I have also been personally criticised and bullied and it has been incredibly brutal."
Did it concern you? asks Mansfield.
For sure, said Rose, she never gave that much detail about work. Instead, she had always presented as if everything was going great, the witness said.
Did her comment that her work was "incredibly brutal" concern her? asks Mansfield.
Yes, said Rose Hanna.
Pauline's niece has spent the morning in the witness box.
The email goes on to say Pauline believed she could be scrutinised in the media for her role in PPE procurement, but said to family she had done nothing wrong.
Mansfield is asking if the email is a warning to family about the potential for "adverse media" about her role in the Covid response.
Yes, said Rose.
But she said she wasn't aware it related to the procurement of $20 million of PPE equipment which was not up to standard.
She agrees her aunt must have been stressed about what was happening.
Pauline said at the end: "I trust it won't get to that but just a heads-up."
Earlier, the trial heard Pauline was never in the end linked to the botched procurement. A workmate earlier told the trial it was a collective procurement process and Pauline was not a fault.
Justice Graham Lang calls time on the first session of the day.
Court will resume about 11.45am with more cross-examination of Rose Hanna by defence lawyer Ron Mansfield.
Polkinghorne was 'verbally abusive', Pauline Hanna was worried she would not have money for retirement
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Defence lawyer Ron Mansfield is now asking Rose Hanna about her relationship with her aunt's husband, Philip Polkinghorne.
"I suppose after this particular night you didn't have a particularly good impression of him, given your fondness for aunty Pauline?" Mansfield says.
"Correct, she was upset," Rose replies.
Now on to the Polkinghorne Christmas, which the jury heard earlier Rose was invited to. In a message, Hanna told Rose her husband loved having her around. But it didn't eventuate.
Rose is agreeing the Longlands recording showed 2019 had not been a great year for the Polkinghorne marriage. But she also agrees the recording shows Pauline saying she loved her husband.
"She said that he verbally abused her but loved in her the same sentence. So it was quite contradictory," Rose said.
Rose is agreeing with Mansfield that Pauline had made it clear there was no physical violence in the relationship.
Mansfield is questioning Rose whether she was shocked about the sexual experiences, including group sex, which Pauline had disclosed.
"Yes."
Pauline in the recording mentioned Ell, one of Philip's escort companions in Sydney, whom Pauline said she had become quite close to. Ell had told Pauline she could make money herself as an escort.
Rose said she never actually found out who Ell was, but assumed it was a pseudonym.
Rose remembered Pauline telling her Philip was upset she had "made Christmas into an event" by inviting her. Pauline had reluctantly told her she should stay out of the house so she didn't experience her husband's anger. In the end, she did not come to Auckland.
Back to the concerns about finances. Rose said Pauline was concerned, with retirement looming, that if she left her husband she wouldn't have enough cash for retirement.
Mansfield is now asking Rose about Pauline's talk of hiring a private investigator. Her aunt had told her the PI was called "James" but the trial earlier heard from a PI called Jacob Toresen Pollock. There is no evidence she ever dealt with a PI called James, Mansfield said.
Moving on, Rose reiterates Pauline had talked with her about a PI examining their laptops to get a read on her finances, which she believed Philip was hiding from her.
Rose said her aunt was not tech-savvy, and she had made a note of her aunt's apple ID log-in. She had provided police those details on April 5, 2021, the day Pauline was found dead.
She provided those details over the phone and then detectives came to her house. Her initial statement was on April 5. Another officer travelled to Tauranga the following day so Rose could finish her statement.
Mansfield is asking for clarity on the dates.
Actually, said Rose, yes it might have been April 6 when she gave the log-in details and her statement.
"Those two days were horrendous."
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Defence lawyer cross-examines Pauline Hanna's niece
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Defence lawyer Ron Mansfield is beginning his cross-examination of Rose Hanna, after the revelation that she called police a few hours after hearing that Pauline had apparently "hung herself".
Rose is agreeing she tried to raise the topic of divorce with Pauline after August 2020, but Pauline had demurred and said everything was all good.
The tenor of the conversations was that "Philip's making an effort", Rose said.
Rose said she had dinner with Pauline and Philip at Harbourside one year, when it emerged there had been a financial loss in relation to his work at private clinic Auckland Eye. As a result, he wanted to get back on to the board, Rose said.
Earlier, the trial heard how retirement payments at the clinic were calculated by the amount of work done in the previous two years, so Philip's payment was reduced by Covid.
Philip had lost $2 million by leaving and rejoining, Rose remembered Pauline saying.
Mansfield: Did she go into any detail as to why her husband was "on the roof" during the whispered phone call late at night?
No, said Rose.
Were you aware how things were "better" as Pauline claimed? asks Mansfield.
No, said Rose.
She is agreeing there were aspects of their financial affairs Rose was not au fait with.
"She feared that she did not have access to any money," Rose said, summarising part of the August 8, 2020 conversation in Tauranga.
Were you aware they shared an accountant? asks Mansfield.
Yes, it might be shared but he was Philip's accountant really, replied Rose.
Did you do some research yourself online regarding if one partner separates from another partner, what the financial position is? asks Mansfield.
No, said Rose, I just googled "divorce lawyers Auckland".
Mansfield drags us back to the Longlands recording in November 2019, featuring Rose, her mum and dad, and aunt Pauline.
The defence lawyer said he is confused as to exactly how the recording happened.
"It sounds like earlier in the day there'd been some discussion at your gran's house?"
Correct.
The grandmother's name is Fay.
They were all down at Fay's house, a separate house on the same Longlands property. Bruce and his wife Shelley had built another property but it was Fay's land.
"Was Fay always wanting to be able to stay in her house on the farm?"
"Always, she didn't want to sell it at all," said Rose.
Pauline, Tracey and Bruce all knew that, Rose said.
So when Fay's health declined, Pauline and Tracey were hoping Fay were able to stay on the farm but with some care? asks Mansfield.
Correct, said Rose.
But Bruce, asks Mansfield, was he keener on her going into care to increase her comfort as her dementia worsened and worsened?
That's right. They were on the farm and knew the extent of her decline, said Rose.
Pauline and Tracey were pushing for Fay to stay in the house, but Bruce and Shelley wanted her to go into care? asks Mansfield.
Yes, said Rose, her parents knew the extent of Fay's decline. They had tried carers going into the home but Fay was difficult with them, Rose said.
Rose said she had recorded the discussion initially to take notes about who wanted what item from Fay's home.
"I didn't have my laptop handy," she said.
The discussion initially centred on the division of Fay's personal effects.
"We needed to ask gran, whose ring is this, so we could pass it on," Rose said.
"And then the conversation kind of morphs into what we've heard in court... which is Aunty Pauline talking about her relationship with Philip, correct?" asks Mansfield.
"Correct," said Rose.
It's one continuous recording, with the second bit being Pauline venting over drinks. The jury heard the second part of the recording.
When the family sat down to dinner, Pauline did not seem hungry? Mansfield asks.
"She would eat meat and vege in the evening but no carbs," Rose said.
She was reluctant to eat dinner because it was a rice dish, but eventually relented because Bruce had put effort into the dish, the jury hears.
Was there some drinking before the recording? asks Mansfield.
"I don't recall," said Rose, but concedes they had a drink.
"She liked a Pinot Noir," Rose said. "Maybe she was on to her second glass."
"It sounds during the recording like she might have had one or two more than that?" asks the defence lawyer.
Rose says no.
It sounds like most of what you ended up telling the police was from the recording, bar for the second Tauranga conversation in August 2020?
Yes, says Rose.
Niece says nothing in Pauline Hanna's behaviour indicated she'd commit suicide
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There had not been conversations about work stresses since 2020, when there were the issues with the PPE procurement.
Pauline Hanna's niece Rose remembered the email defence lawyer Ron Mansfield referred to last week in which Pauline said she wanted family to know, if anything came out in the media about her role in the botched purchase of PPE, that she was proud of her work and had essentially done nothing wrong.
Rose is remembering an incident when she was eight months pregnant when Pauline rang, whispering, because her husband was "on the roof" again. The call was about the Hanna family disputes about the care of their mother, Rose said.
Crown solicitor Brian Dickey and Rose are discussing a message Pauline sent her after the conversation captured in the Longlands recording.
"I don't feel good about Saturday or sharing some of Philip's foibles with you," she messaged her niece.
The message went on to say she hoped her husband would "come right".
Now, again, on to the Christmas in 2019/2020 when Philip went AWOL and was uncontactable, Rose said. Pauline was embarrassed and had to lie to her family and friends.
They talked about Philip's absence at the August 2020 dinner at Tauranga's Macau restaurant and lounge. On Christmas Day, Pauline had messaged to say Happy Christmas but had not let on what had happened, said Rose.
Dickey is back to the messages between Pauline and Rose about a divorce lawyer.
"I'm sure it won't come to that," Pauline wrote to Rose.
Later, Rose and Pauline had discussed the possibility of getting the private investigator, who in the end was never hired, to examine the laptop to get financial statements that could see how much money she had left.
Now to April 5, when Polkinghorne reported his wife dead.
Rose said she found out from her father Bruce, who said she'd died, and had killed herself.
"And then a few hours later I learned that she'd hung herself, which was when I called the 105 police line," Rose said.
No questions from Dickey on why Rose called 105 later that day, but Rose does say she saw nothing in her aunt's behaviour to indicate she would commit suicide.
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Crown solicitor Brian Dickey asks Rose Hanna how her aunt Pauline presented.
The reply is one word: "immaculate".
"She came to play with my 3-month-old daughter wearing a lilac silk dress," Rose remembered.
Pauline Hanna was looking at divorce lawyers, but worried husband had taken her money, trial hears
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Pauline Hanna's niece Rose told the court Pauline told her she couldn't confide this to her friends, referring to her situation with Polkinghorne, her wish to leave the relationship and her money fears.
She remembered dropping her back at Philip's mother's place in Tauranga, and Pauline telling her she couldn't trust her husband's sister Ruth because her allegiances lay with Philip.
Rose said when she dropped Pauline off, she said she'd help find her aunt a divorce lawyer in Auckland.
The next day, Pauline asked what she'd found about a divorce lawyer but said: "Thank you, I'm sure it won't come to that."
She was waiting to the end of the financial year for the statements, which would show if there was enough money in her name to pay for a lawyer.
"I think she was embarrassed that I knew as much as I did," Rose said.
'She was terrified': Pauline Hanna told niece she wanted to leave Polkinghorne
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Rose Hanna, Pauline Hanna's niece, said she offered to come to stay with her aunt and spend more time with her by working remotely. But the pandemic hit, and it wasn't until an August 2020 dinner that she learned more about her aunt and her husband's situation.
The dinner was in Tauranga with Pauline, Rose and her partner. Rose was 37 weeks pregnant.
"She'd come down to help Philip's sister [Elizabeth] move into a care facility," Rose said.
"She had been asked by Philip to stay away for the full weekend because he had an Auckland Eye work function that she'd been told partners weren't invited to this year," Rose said.
The conversation was triggered when Philip called her to ask her where she was.
"And she asked 'is Sharon there with you'?"
When she hung up the phone, Rose asked "who's Sharon?" and Pauline said "well, exactly".
Sharon worked at Auckland Eye and Pauline had come to suspect Philip was spending more time with her outside of work.
"That's when she mentioned the private investigator, James," Rose said.
She told Rose she had contacted a private eye (PI) to verify if her husband was having other women over when she was away for the weekend.
The PI had offered to sit on the house to watch comings and goings. But the hourly rate was such that Rose said her aunt had said she'd rather do it herself.
Pauline had also told her niece she had been constantly signing documents early in the pandemic, and feared she had been too naive.
"She didn't think that she had any money in her name."
"She was terrified," Rose said.
Rose said that her whole life Pauline had been intimidating due to her confidence and high level of abilities at work.
"And all of a sudden she was sitting there in tears in public telling me that she has no money," Rose said.
Pauline told Rose she feared she would not be able to leave Philip because of the current state of her finances.
What about the general nature of the relationship? asks Crown solicitor Brian Dickey.
She said that she wanted to leave, Rose said. But she also feared that Philip's lawyer, Simon Blackwell, was the best in Auckland and she didn't know if she could find anyone to go up against him.
Rose remembered telling Pauline she could come and stay at her house as an "interim, get-out-of-Auckland option".
But she had no money to leave Auckland and in any case loved her career in the city, Rose said.
Polkinghorne became 'irate' over wife inviting niece to Christmas
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Crown solicitor Brian Dickey asks Rose Hanna if she did end up joining Pauline for Christmas, as she is captured discussing in the Longlands recording.
"No," said Rose.
"Philip had become irate that she had made Christmas dinner into an event by inviting me."
As a result, she stayed in a hotel in Auckland instead.
She said "PJP on the ceiling!!!!" in a text to Rose, the jury has heard. Polkinghorne's middle name is John.
She was very sorry about the situation, Rose had said.
"She crossed between on the ceiling and on the roof, which I took to mean he's hit the roof."
The Longlands recording captured Rose asking what she meant by "on the roof". Pauline replied, explaining her husband sometimes became very angry.
Rose Hanna on why she decided to record her aunt Pauline
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Rose Hanna was raised at the Hanna property in Longlands in the Hastings District. There are two separate houses on the orchard and farm.
Rose said her father Bruce and Pauline were close. The third Hanna sibling, Tracey, was not as close due to both the fact she lived in the UK and "disagreements" over their mother's care.
Earlier, the trial heard how Pauline's mother had suffered dementia and died in early 2021.
Rose said her grandmother was living at Longlands in 2018 and 2019 but her condition was declining, and the symptoms of her dementia became more pronounced.
There was a dispute among the siblings about whether to get carers into the property or whether to move the mother out into fulltime care.
There was a lot of "CCing" between family members, Rose said.
Pauline was trying to mediate between Bruce and Tracey, Rose said.
Rose said she and Pauline had become closer in the last years of her aunt's life. She visited her in Auckland many times and would stay with her at their Uplands Rd property, which the jury visited on Friday in Remuera.
What about her relationship with Philip Polkinghorne? asks Crown prosecutor Brian Dickey, who is leading Rose's evidence.
"I got on well with my aunt, and Philip was sort of there," she said.
Rose, like other witnesses, mentioned Pauline referring to her husband being angry by saying he was "on the roof".
The conversation Rose captured in Longlands, in late 2019, was the first major indication something was amiss in the relationship, the jury is hearing.
Her problems became even more apparent in early 2020 at a birthday dinner Rose and Pauline shared in Tauranga.
"How did you come to record the conversation?" asks Dickey.
Pauline had come down to document all the items and art works belonging to her grandmother in the Longlands property, and cataloguing it in a Word document.
Then there was a family conversation about what to do with all the items in the home.
"So I quickly grabbed my phone and hit voice record in the app," she said.
"To record what their wishes were with different family items."
Then the discussion segued into something very different, the trial is hearing.
The recording continued.
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The Longlands recording was played to the jury last week and showed Pauline Hanna unloading to her niece Rose Hanna and her mother and father about her marital problems, saying her "sex fiend" husband had encouraged her into group sex sessions.
Niece who made recording of Pauline Hanna to give evidence
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The trial has resumed and the jury is back in court. Many of the usual characters, including groups with no connection to the case but who have been watching the evidence over the past two weeks, are back in court in the packed public gallery, alongside law students, and detectives.
The Crown has called Rose Yvette Hanna.
Rose Hanna, of Tauranga, Pauline Hanna's niece, is the woman who captured the Longlands recording.
🎧 LISTEN | Accused: The Polkinghorne Trial
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Third week of Polkinghorne trial set to begin with new Crown witness
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Welcome to the Herald’s live coverage of the first day of the third week of the trial of Philip Polkinghorne, the retired Remuera eye surgeon accused of killing his wife Pauline Hanna and staging the scene to look like a suicide.
Proceedings in the closely watched trial are scheduled to resume at 10am with a new Crown witness. The jury has not heard who the Crown will call next.
Over the past fortnight they heard from both Polkinghorne, via a video of his interview with a detective the day he reported his wife dead, and Hanna, recorded by a family member discussing their marital problems before her death.
At one point, the jury heard how detectives and forensic scientists found methamphetamine in several areas of the Polkinghorne home. They also heard how detectives found Polkinghorne with a sex worker in the “Matariki room” of a Mt Cook lodge less than a month after his wife’s death.
Here’s a recap of some more of the previous two weeks of evidence.
After the Crown opened its case on July 29, the first week was dominated by the orange rope tied to a balustrade and then to a belt around Hanna’s neck.
Could it have supported her weight to the extent needed for suicide by hanging?
No, said the police.
A detective had pulled the rope after arriving at the Polkinghorne home on the morning of April 5, 2021 and found it unravelled easily.
The Crown’s forensic analyst of knots, ropes and ligatures, Robert Chisnall, agreed it could not have supported a person’s weight.
Of course it was loose and slack, said Polkinghorne’s lawyer Ron Mansfield KC.
His client had been told to loosen the rope by a call-taker after he rang 111 to report his wife had hanged herself. That day, he told a detective he loosened the knot tied to the balustrade because it looked “hideous” hanging above his dead wife in their hallway.
Under cross examination from Mansfield, Chisnall conceded the rope showed shapes suggesting “memory” of knots recently untied, and agreed surgeons would know more sophisticated and stronger knots than the granny knots used to secure the rope to the balustrade.
Forensic experts said there was no evidence of blood spatter on the pristine white walls of the Polkinghorne home, or signs of any damage to the walls to suggest a struggle. A brown stain found the mattress on which Hanna slept on her last night tested positive for blood and Polkinghorne’s DNA.
The tempo of the evidence increased in the second week, culminating in a visit by the jury to Polkinghorne’s sprawling home on Remuera’s northern slopes.
They arrived and left by coach and were followed by Judges and lawyers. The visit was conducted in silence. Such visits are rare but not unheard of in criminal trials in New Zealand.
The evidence became more sordid in week two. It included discussion of Philip and his wife participating in group sex sessions in Sydney.
The jury heard how detectives had raided a chalet in Mt Cook in the South Island where Polkinghorne was staying with an Australian escort, Madison Ashton, about 25 days after his wife’s death. A detective seized her phones but she would not hand over the passcodes.
They also watched Polkinghorne’s police interview, where he was at times erratic, spoke quickly and raced through topic after topic over several hours.
He could not answer or was vague on some questions from Detective Ilona Walton, including how he received the fresh cut to his forehead, and how the rope was secured to the belt when he undid it.
The jury will be the judges of whether this was dissembling, or whether it was the understandable reaction of a man who had that morning discovered his wife of many years had hanged herself.
Pokinghorne claimed his wife, who was in charge of logistics for the Covid vaccination rollout, felt like a “failure” over the slow delivery of the jabs.
After the Crown called Pauline’s brother Bruce Hanna, the jury heard the “Longlands recording", so called because it was captured at the Hanna family property in Longlands Rd in the Hawke’s Bay.
Her niece used her phone to record Pauline speaking with family about her marital problems, at one point describing Polkinghorne as a “sex fiend”.
She disclosed to Bruce and his wife and daughter that she had reluctantly joined in group sex sessions with her husband and other women, but no longer wanted to be involved.
In the recording, Hanna said Polkinghorne would at times become enraged, which she called him being “on the roof”.
One of the sources of his anger was a dispute with the private clinic he worked for, Auckland Eye, over the amount he would be paid upon retirement, the jury heard.
At another point in the recording, Hanna said: “to be honest I've considered just checking myself over the bridge”.
After the recording was played, Mansfield asked Bruce Hanna if he knew his sister had tried to kill herself in 1992.He said he hadn’t, and was not aware of any hospitalisation around that time.
Mansfield then said he had medical records showing Hanna had spoke having suicidal thoughts a said in 2013 that she had been drinking a bottle of wine a night over the previous decade. She was referred to a mental health crisis team, Mansfield said.
Neither Bruce nor any of Pauline’s friends who were called by the prosecution said she had ever mentioned any 1992 suicide attempt.
Margaret White had known Pauline since 2004 and described her as “amazing, bright, capable, determined, absolutely reliable”. Pauline had worked for years in management in DHBs and was described by several friends turned witnesses as an effective manager who was brought in to solve the problems others could not.
About a year before her death, White said received a text from Pauline to say she could not work that evening because Philip had become “beastly”.
There was no indication he had become physical with his wife, White said. However, White was so concerned she had asked her husband if Pauline could stay with them, the trial heard.
Later, Mansfield produced an email Hanna had sent to several family members in the months before her death, where she said "my life is insane and I do not know what day it is sometimes”.
She said she had been bullied and marginalised by clinicians, among others, and feared she would be linked in the media to the botched procurement of $20m worth of PPE from china.
But another of her friends and co-workers, Clare Thompson, said that in the end there was no criticism of Pauline over the problematic PPE procurement. It was a collective procurement decision and many countries and received equipment that was not up to scratch, Thompson said.
Technically we are a third of the way through the six weeks set aside for the trial, but there is always the chance the trial could run even longer.
Aside from Mansfield mentioning - during cross-examination - evidence from an expert witness it appears the defence will call, the jury has not heard who else he will put on the stand, or whether Polkinghorne, 71, will enter the witness box.
STORY CONTINUES
Rose Hanna is responsible for the secret recording of her aunt played for jurors last week in which her aunt referred to Polkinghorne as a philandering “sex fiend” and “angry man” who emotionally bullied her but whom she very much still loved. The younger Hanna explained today that the recording, from November 2019, came about because the family had been dividing items belonging to her grandmother that evening and she decided to record rather than type because she didn’t have her laptop. The phone kept recording as the topic of conversation changed, she explained.
Nine months later, in August 2020, is when Pauline Hanna met her niece at a restaurant in Tauranga to celebrate Rose Hanna’s birthday, the witness recalled today.
“That’s when she was the most open and honest,” she told jurors today.
Rose Hanna said while dining her aunt took a call from the defendant and was overheard asking her husband: “Is Sharon there with you?”
After the call ended, the niece said she asked who Sharon was.
“Exactly,” she recalled her aunt responding. “I’m trying to find out if she’s staying [at the Remuera house] ... and if that’s why I’ve been sent away.”
Pauline Hanna went on to explain how she’d been in touch with a private investigator “to find out once and for all if there was infidelity”. But for the price she’d been quoted to stake out the home and watch her husband, she decided she’d rather do it herself, the niece recalled her saying.
“She was crying, saying she’s been incredibly naive and trusting and was worried she had no more money in her name anymore,” Rose Hanna said.
She was told by her aunt, she said, that during lockdown Polkinghorne had told her to sign a bunch of financial documents - suggesting it would be easier to invest their money if the assets were under one name. But now she doubted her husband’s motives, Rose Hanna recalled her aunt explaining.
“She was terrified that she had no assets,” Rose Hanna said, explaining that it was very unusual for her aunt to be crying in a restaurant when she was usually so composed.
Pauline Hanna then asked her niece for help looking up divorce lawyers, Rose Hanna recalled.
There had been discussion about not selling a family property in Hawke’s Bay because Pauline Hanna might want to move there if needed, but her niece said she wasn’t left with the impression she would leave Auckland anytime soon given the job she loved.
“She wasn’t just going to pick up sticks and leave him,” she said.
The following Monday after the conversation, Rose Hanna sent her aunt a text with information for a divorce lawyer and his initial consultation charge. The communication was shown to jurors.
“Thank you. !!!” Pauline Hanna texted back. “I am sure it won t [sic] get to that. What I am first going to do is get a copy of everything when the year end accounts come through and if we have to engage someone then I will.”
In the months between that August conversation and her death the following April, her aunt never quite opened up like that again, Rose Hanna said.
“Whenever I’d bring it up, she would tell me everything is fine and there’s really nothing to talk about,” she explained. “She would always reassure me. I think she was embarrassed I knew as much as I did.”
Rose Hanna said her final text from her aunt came just after 8pm on the night before emergency responders were called to the Polkinghorne home. It was a typical text from her aunt, wishing her a happy Easter. Like clockwork, her aunt would text on long holiday weekends - be it Easter or Anzac - to check in, she explained.
Prosecutors also called to the witness stand this morning a fellow Remuera resident who used to cut Polkinghorne’s hair. The barber revealed a relationship between Polkinghorne and a mutual friend who was a prostitute. It’s the third alleged relationship with a prostitute that jurors have been told about.
During the brief testimony, Paul Adriaanse said he didn’t know that his client had been married until he read about the death in the media.
“He was visibly distraught,” he recalled of discussing the matter with Polkinghorne on one occasion after the death, explaining that Polkinghorne didn’t share too many details. “I think he had just been advised to say nothing and [said] I should say nothing too.”
He recalled responding: “I don’t have anything to hide so I’m not going to be lying.”
Under cross-examination, defence lawyer Ron Mansfield KC suggested that his client was simply talking about common legal advice not to talk about a case with any potential witnesses. That also explains why Polkinghorne never returned for a haircut after that conversation, Mansfield said.
“It’s not because of your haircuts, you can rest assured,” the lawyer said during a brief moment of levity in the courtroom.
Testimony continues 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.