Philip Polkinghorne trial: Eye surgeon held head in hands as jury shown belt

Tuesday, 6 August 2024

In Philip Polkinghorne's trial, first responders testified about the scene of his wife's death, which he claims was a suicide. Police initially found the situation suspicious, noting injuries and inconsistencies.

Health boss Pauline Hanna was found dead on April 5, 2021 at the Remuera home she shared with her husband.

After an extensive and lengthy police investigation, her husband, eye surgeon Philip Polkinghorne, was charged with murder.

Polkinghorne has pleaded not guilty and the trial is under way at the High Court at Auckland.

Warning: The details of this case may be distressing for some readers.

Eye surgeon Philip Polkinghorne dropped his head and wiped his eyes on Tuesday afternoon as a police officer showed the jury a belt he told police he found Pauline Hanna with.

On Tuesday afternoon, Sergeant Jonathan Hurn, who was a Constable in April 2021, told prosecutor Alysha McClintock, he found a belt on the kitchen bench on April 5.

Hurn took the belt out of a brown paper bag and showed it to the jury, at this point Polkinghorne dropped his head and held it in his hands and wiped tears from his eyes.

Polkinghorne told police he found Hanna in a chair, leaning forward with a belt around her neck.

Philip Polkinghorne has pleaded not guilty to murder.

Polkinghorne, a 71-year-old eye doctor, has admitted charges of possessing methamphetamine and a pipe to smoke the A-class drug but has denied murdering his wife. Hanna was found dead in the entranceway of their Remuera home on April 5, Easter Monday, in 2021.

The Crown’s case is that Polkinghorne was living a double life, he had obsession with sex and meth and was in a covert relationship with an escort in Sydney. It argues Polkinghorne murdered Hanna before staging their home to make it look like suicide.

Polkinghorne’s defence is that Hanna had a history of mental health issues, was on medication, was exhausted by work and tragically took her own life.

Earlier on Tuesday, a close friend who had a bach in a small Coromandel beach town near the Polkinghorne’s told the court he noticed changes in the eye surgeon’s behaviour a year before Hanna’s death.

“The problem was I couldn’t understand where the change was coming from. I couldn’t understand why my friend was acting like a weirdo…I had no grounds to think he was on drugs, it was just an explanation I came up with in my head,” Stephen MacIntyre told police in 2021 after Pauline Hanna’s death.

Pauline Hanna was found dead on April 5, 2021. Her husband Philip Polkinghorne denies killing her saying he found her dead.

Stephen MacIntyre was the first witness the court has heard from who isn’t a police officer or forensic scientist.

MacIntyre told prosecutor Brian Dickey he’d known Polkinghorne and Hanna for over 25 years as they both had baches at Rings Beach and became close friends over the years catching up over long weekends and holiday periods.

“Whenever we were both there together, we’d spend time together often early in the mornings, coffee maybe a bit of fishing, bit of diving, BBQ.

MacIntyre said Hanna was a “very vivacious woman” and a “woman who was always keen to put her best foot forward”.

“She was always meticulously turned out. She didn’t really like me seeing her in the morning until she was made up. She was a well presented woman,” he said.

MacIntyre said he was closer to the eye surgeon as they spent a bit more time together in the mornings and fishing, but Hanna was a good friend as well.

Dickey asked MacIntyre about the year leading up to Hanna’s death whether he noticed a change in Polkinghorne.

The Remuera home where Philip Polkinghorne and Pauline Hanna lived.

MacIntyre said he saw less of the couple in that year.

“I felt Dr Polkinghorne was changing or changed and some of the things [I] saw I didn’t particularly like and I probably just backed off the relationship maybe not so much intentionally…it’s just what happened,” MacIntyre said.

“He was a very intelligent, funny, witty, generous man and we always had a lot of laughs together and I felt in the period leading up to Pauline’s death, I felt he was quite changed.

“He told me some things that I doubted the truth of them - his nature changed in his physical presence changed, he became slimmer and more muscley, different physique, more manic and a little bit irrational I thought at times. I didn’t think he was behaving normally and truthfully to me at all times.”

MacIntyre told the court he felt like Polkinghorne was using drugs.

“He was jumpy, slightly irrational, and would talk pretty fast at times, I kind of thought this was a guy under a lot of stress.”

On Christmas Eve 2019, MacIntyre saw Hanna unloading her car and stopped to give her a quick hug and chat.

Bread in the toaster at the Polkinghorne house in Remuera on the morning of April 5.

“I could see she wasn’t happy about something. It was pretty obvious…I said to her ‘where’s the doc?’ and she said he was at a conference.”

This struck MacIntyre as “fairly strange” as most bach owners would be at the bach ahead of Christmas or racing down to get there.

“I could tell she wasn’t happy…she told me he was at a medical conference but I don’t think they have too many medical conferences on Christmas Eve.”

Under cross-examination by Ron Mansfield KC, MacIntyre agreed the people around Rings Beach called the surgeon “Polky”.

MacIntyre agreed with Mansfield that the Polkinghorne’s visited Rings Beach less frequently in the year to 18 months before Hanna’s death.

But said it was at least 6 times.

In regards to Polkinghorne’s weightloss, Mansfield asked MacIntyre if he was aware the surgeon was spending a lot of time at the gym.

“I noticed he was looking a bit fitter and slimmer. I take my hat off to him.”

Mansfield questioned whether MacIntyre had ever seen Polkinghorne use drugs. The friend said he hadn’t.

MacIntyre also told Mansfield he was aware Polkinghorne was under stress in relation to issues with his retirement from Auckland Eye, and other reasons.

Power analysis and toxicology

On Tuesday afternoon the jury was taken through an analysis of the power usage at the Upland Rd home from 9am on April 4 through to 9am on April 5 by Dr Paul Smith, the former head of product testing at Consumer NZ.

Forensic scientists analysed the powder and crystal substances found in various containers.

He was provided data by the police and asked to assess if a toaster or kettle were used on the morning. Polkinghorne had told police he went downstairs that morning to make tea and toast before he found his wife dead.

Smith said there was a very small jump in the energy use from 4am through to just before 8am.

“I reasonably ruled out the use of either appliances during that period,” Smith said in regards to the use of the toaster and kettle.

Under cross-examination, Mansfield questioned Smith about the use of the toaster and whether he knew the toaster was at the lowest setting. Smith said he didn’t and the usage would have been compared to an average consumer who wanted their bread reasonably toasted.

Smith said there was no way of knowing the exact appliances that created jumps in energy use.

Forensic scientist Dr Helen Poulsen was the third Crown witness to be called on Tuesday. Poulsen, who specialises in toxicology, told the court on April 16, 2021 she was given samples of Hanna’s blood, urine and vitreous humor (liquid from the eye) to analyse.

The blood, urine and eye liquid were analysed for alcohol and 27mg/100l of alcohol was found in the blood. There were higher levels in the urine and eye liquid, but Poulsen explained that was perfectly feasible.

Medicinal drugs

Three medicinal drugs were detected in Hanna’s blood. They were an antidepressent called Fluoxetine, Phentermine an appetite suppressant/weightloss drug and Zopiclone a sedative.

The levels of Fluoxetine and Phetermine were of normal level, however Poulsen said there was a slightly higher level of Zopiclone but said there can also be changes in the levels after someone has died.

“Patients taking Zopicolne should be warned not to drink alcohol at the same time,” she said.

It is an average - twice what you’d expect - the amount found in the blood was about twice you’d expect from normal therapeutic use, but there can be changes to death

In regards to the liquid found in the ensuite of the bedroom where Hanna slept the night before her death, both methamphetamine (8mg per litre) and amphetamine (0.8mg per litre) were detected.

A sample of Hanna’s hair was sent to Melbourne for analysis with Poulsen asking the scientists to analyse about 6 months worth of growth for a wide range of recreational and medicinal drugs. Zopiclone was the only drug detected in the sample.

“There is no evidence she’d (Hanna) used methamphetamine within the six months prior to her death,” Poulsen said.

Another forensic scientist, Cameron Johnson, was tasked with analysing the various small containers and small plastic bags containing crystals and powder found in various spots around the Remuera home.

He told the court the results came back as methamphetamine varying in purity and weight. Eutylone and dimethyl sulfone (MSM) were also located.

The trial, which is expected to last for at least 6 weeks, before Justice Graham Lang and a jury continues.