Victoria Pheasant Riordan puts hands around her neck as she recounts Pauline Hanna's description of strangulation threat from Philip Polkinghorne.
The third week of the most keenly watched murder trial in Auckland in years has wrapped with evidence dominated by colleagues and friends of Philip Polkinghorne and Pauline Hanna. The Herald has had reporters in court each day. Here is a recap of the evidence heard so far, with a special focus on week three.
We are now halfway through the six weeks set aside for 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 hanged herself amid the stress of long days working in Covid vaccine and PPE procurement.
Justice Graham Lang told the jury on Friday the trial was broadly on track to stay within the six weeks. But the evidence so far has made clear Ron Mansfield KC will be calling several expert defence witnesses, including an Australian pathologist who will say he believes Hanna hanged herself.
Major revelations in the third week included Hanna’s friends John and Pheasant Riordan revealing she had told them Polkinghorne had put his hands around her neck and threatened he could do it again.
Pathologists also gave evidence but in the end could only say Hanna died due to “neck compression”. The exact cause of the compression, whether it was a partial hanging or a manual or ligature strangulation, could not be proven either way, the jury heard.
Another friend of the couple, Alison Ring, said Polkinghorne had arrived at her home after he was charged, well over a year after his wife’s death, and produced a piece of paper he claimed was her suicide note.
Police never found a note during their days at the home. Ring said she wasn’t convinced by the note, and claimed Polkinghorne had made a series of derogatory comments about his late wife to her.
Hanna’s GP, who is seeking name suppression, said Hanna had called her late in 2019 to report suicidal thoughts because her mother was unwell and she believed her husband was leaving her.
She had thought about driving into an oncoming truck but didn’t want to do so because of her grandchildren, the jury heard.
Mansfield, who has spent hours on his feet each day cross-examining each Crown witness, is in the Supreme Court on Monday so the trial resumes Tuesday.
Week one of the trial, following the openings, centred around the orange rope Polkinghorne says his wife used to hang herself.
Could it have supported her weight to the extent needed for suicide by hanging? No, said the police, based on a “tension test” where it unravelled easily after a light tug.
Of course it was loose and slack, said Mansfield. 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.
Philip Polkinghorne (left) and Ron Mansfield KC arrive at the High Court at Auckland on August 12 as week three of the trial got under way. Photo / Jason Oxenham
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.
The jury also 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.
Later in week two, prosecutors played the “Longlands recording”, so called because it was captured at the Hanna family property in Longlands Rd in 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 family members 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”.
Monday, August 12
Polkinghorne’s cleaner Sheryl Morris told Crown prosecutor Brian Dickey she would occasionally clean the upstairs guest bedroom where Polkinghorne said his wife slept on her final night.
The state of disarray in the bedroom is one pillar of the Crown case, with prosecutors suggesting it indicates a struggle. An ottoman was tipped over, a top sheet was missing and pillows were on the ground.
Morris said she had never seen the bedroom in that state in the few times she had cleaned it. She said Hanna had told her it was only Polkinghorne who slept in that room when he had worked late and didn’t want to disturb her in the master bedroom.
The guest bedroom inside the Polkinghorne home after police arrived at the scene.
Earlier, the jury heard from several more people who worked with Hanna in her final role as head of logistics for the Covid vaccine rollout.
During his cross-examination of these witnesses, Mansfield repeatedly referenced the fact Hanna, in the lead up to her death, was repeatedly sending emails in the early hours after working full days, sometimes sending them at midnight, 2am and 4am before resuming shortly after dawn. (Later, the trial would hear evidence from a friend saying she had stayed up late into the early hours even while studying at university, and this was nothing out of the ordinary.)
Pauline Hanna, as she appeared on her funeral notice in 2021.
Former Auckland DHB chief executive Alisa Claire said she had expressed her concerns with Hanna about the late-night emails, but she had replied that it was her preferred pattern of working.
Sharon Alabastro, a project manager who worked for Hanna, said they were regularly working 100-hour weeks. But the co-workers, like the others called earlier in the trial, said they saw no signs of suicidal ideation from her and believed she was coping well with her work in a role she excelled in.
Mansfield repeatedly countered this by raising an email Hanna had sent family before her death saying she hadn’t had a day off in eight weeks and feared she would be linked in the media to a botched purchase of $20 million of PPE from China. In the email, Hanna discussed being “personally criticised and bullied” and that it had been “incredibly brutal”.
Before that, the Crown called Paul Adriaanse, who told the court he was a barber who cut Polkinghorne’s hair and was formerly a mental health worker.
Adriaanse said they both knew the same sex worker, introducing into evidence the fourth sex worker with whom Polkinghorne had an ongoing relationship.
He also said Polkinghorne had visited him after Hanna’s death but before his arrest, saying he’d been advised to say nothing to the police and Adriaanse should probably do the same.
Adriaanse said Polkinghorne told him he had nothing to hide and would tell police what he knew. The barber said he did not know “Phil” was married.
The first witness to be called on Monday was Rose Hanna, who made the “Longlands recording” capturing Pauline unloading with her and other family members about the problems in her marriage, including her husband’s infidelity and anger.
Rose said she started the recording because the family was discussing the division of her ailing grandmother’s property, before the conversation segued into her aunt’s problems.
She said she had discussed divorce lawyers and the use of private investigators with her aunt, who Rose said feared her husband was squirrelling away money, meaning she wouldn’t be left with anything if she left him.
Rose also revealed she had contacted police the day after her aunt’s death, and after media had reported the extensive forensic scene examination at the Remuera home. She contacted police to urge them to keep an open mind and because the idea of her aunt committing suicide “didn’t make sense”, the jury heard.
“Especially that method that was mentioned to me,” she said.
Tuesday, August 13
The Crown called forensic pathologist Dr Kilak Kesha, who conducted the autopsy of Hanna’s body on April 6, 2021, the day after Polkinghorne called 111 to say his wife had hanged herself.
Initially, it appeared Kesha may have delivered a major win for the Crown case.
He said the fact the belt mark on Hanna’s neck had all but disappeared, between the police arriving at the home in Upland Rd and the time of the autopsy the following day, indicated the belt had been on her neck after death.
Mansfield, in cross-examination, suggested much of the evidence of Kesha, and another pathologist, Dr Martin Sage, was equivocal and inconclusive.
Police found a section of orange rope tied to the upstairs balustrade when they arrived at the Polkinghorne home on the morning of April 5, 2021, after the eye surgeon had reported his wife had hanged herself.
Kesha quickly conceded in cross-examination there was another possibility behind the disappearing belt mark on Hanna’s neck, that it had been used in her death, but had been removed shortly after she died.
The defence says Polkinghorne loosened the belt secured to the orange rope soon after discovering his wife dead, just as the 111 call-taker had instructed.
Kesha said his finding of “neck compression” as the cause of death meant he believed all possible causes of the compression, such as manual or ligature strangulation, or partial or full suspension hanging, were possible.
“I cannot rule out one over the other,” he said, referring to the possible mechanisms, suicide or intentional strangulation, of the neck compression.
The minor abrasions and bruises he found on Hanna’s body were nowhere near the level or extent the pathologist would expect for someone who was strangled, given the propensity of strangulation victims to fight back, he said.
A pathologist enlisted by the defence, Mansfield revealed, concluded Hanna had died by partial suspension hanging.
Kesha said he communicated with the defence pathologist afterwards, saying he didn’t disagree, but felt he could not rule out the possibility of a fatal assault, albeit one which left no real injuries of the extent that would be expected.
Victoria Riordan, who goes by her middle name Pheasant, had been friends with Hanna for more than 40 years, since the late 70s when in her words they lived on “potato soup and whisky” while flatting in Wellington and doing a secretarial course.
The Riordans live in central Hawke’s Bay and said they would catch up with Hanna when she returned to the region to visit her ailing mother Fay.
Pheasant described a dinner they had with Hanna at the Malo restaurant in Havelock North early in 2020. Towards the end of the dinner, it became apparent Hanna wanted to get something off her chest.
She revealed her husband had placed his hands on her neck, Pheasant remembered, and said words to the effect of he could do this any time.
Victoria Pheasant Riordan, who goes by the name Pheasant, demonstrates for the court how Pauline Hanna told her Philip Polkinghorne put his hands around her neck.
The witness then produced one of the most memorable moments of the trial so far, placing her hands around her neck to emulate how Hanna had acted out the alleged strangulation threat four years ago.
She said she had once held a high-powered job in Auckland, like Hanna who was a manager of Covid vaccine logistics, and said her friend’s level of stress before her death was nothing beyond what would be expected in a role like that.
When Riordan’s husband John gave evidence after her, he also talked about the strangulation discussion. He went further, saying he was 100% sure Hanna had said “he tried to strangle me”.
John Riordan said he had then strongly urged Hanna to return to live in Hawke’s Bay, where she grew up, and to leave her marriage. But she seemed reluctant and nervous to leave Polkinghorne, he said.
When Hanna started telling them Polkinghorne had shown great remorse, John Riordan said that if he’d done it to you once, he’d do it to you again.
The jury also heard from Alison Ring, another friend of Hanna and Polkinghorne.
Ring remembered conversations over dinner at the Northern Club, where Hanna said she believed her husband might have been having an affair with someone closer to the couple than the sex workers she already knew her husband was seeing.
Ring quoted Hanna saying: “I don’t care how many prostitutes he f***s in Sydney, but he’s not going to have anybody in my space.”
She then recounted an incident in 2022, after Polkinghorne was charged with Hanna’s murder, when he visited her home.
John Riordan, friend of Pauline Hanna, giving evidence at Philip Polkinghorne's murder trial in the High Court at Auckland. He too showed the court how Pauline Hanna placed her hands on her neck to recount her husband strangling her.
He produced a piece of paper, Ring remembered, and claimed it was his wife’s suicide note. It read: “Dear P, I love you forever, from P.”
“I said well that’s not the type of suicide note I’d be expecting from Pauline,” said Ring, who was sceptical of the note.
Police never found any note during their 11-day scene examination of the Polkinghorne home. Ring said she had found it odd Hanna had left a note, given what she said was her propensity to leave notes for anything and everything.
On another visit to the Ring home, after the news broke that meth had been found in the Polkinghorne home, she said Polkinghorne claimed the meth belonged to Hanna.
“You expect me to believe that, but I don’t,” she said she told him.
Polkinghorne admitted two meth charges at the start of the trial.
Ring also said she was devastated to learn Polkinghorne had been at a Mt Cook chalet with the escort Madison Ashton only three or four weeks after his wife’s death. She went on to say Polkinghorne had made a series of derogatory comments about his wife during a visit to the home.
Thursday, August 15
A shortened day of evidence due to the need to move to a smaller courtroom because the five judges of the Supreme Court are sitting in Auckland next week.
Under sustained cross-examination, John Riordan rejected Mansfield’s assertion he tried to “gild the lily” when giving evidence to help the prosecution.
The Crown called Hanna’s GP of many years, who has interim suppression amid a pending request to keep her name permanently secret in connection with the case.
Under cross-examination, the GP defended continuing to prescribe Hanna fluoxetine and weight-loss pills given her past reports of having an issue with alcohol use. The GP said Hanna was continuing to respond well to the drugs she was prescribed, and it was the reality that some patients could cope with drinking while mixing those medications.
Auckalnd Crown Solicitor Alysha McClintock opens the Crown's case against Philip Polkinghorne on July 29. Ron Mansfield KC (left) and his junior Harrison Smith are on the bench behind, with Philip Polkinghorne watching behind them. Photo / Michael Craig
During her evidence in chief, the GP told Auckland Crown Solicitor Alysha McClintock that Hanna had reported having suicidal thoughts in 2019. This was around the time her husband had gone missing and was uncontactable during a family holiday, forcing her to lie about his whereabouts to family and friends, the jury heard earlier.
The witness said she had told Hanna she should call the crisis team, a community psychiatric services team. The GP said she had called Hanna the next morning to check how she was. She said she was feeling much better and had spoken to the crisis team.
McClintock earlier asked if the GP ever prescribed Hanna zopiclone, a sleeping pill. No, said the GP, and nor had anyone else at her practice. Earlier the trial heard Hanna had zopiclone at a high level in her system when she died, suggesting tolerance. Zopiclone was also found in her home. The trial has not heard how the zopiclone was sourced.
Friday, August 16
Another shorter day, due to an admission ceremony for new King’s Counsel, with more cross-examination of the anonymous GP.
When Hanna called her GP in December 2019 to say she believed her husband was leaving her and her mother was in hospital, she told her GP she had considered driving her car into a lorry while travelling to Mt Maunganui. But she was too scared to do so because of the “strong protective factors” of her step-children and grandchildren.
Her GP defended at length prescribing Hanna antidepressants and weight-loss pills despite what lawyer Hannah Stuart alleged was a lack of referrals to counselling or psychiatric care, and a failure to regularly weigh the patient.
After an interjection during cross-examination McClintock, the defence confirmed they intended to call evidence suggesting a link between the prescription of duromine, fluoxetine and other drugs with an elevated suicide risk.
Stuart produced several datasheets and prescribing guidelines suggesting, at the very least, that the GP did not follow best practice or guidelines in continuing to prescribe Hanna the weight-loss drugs and antidepressants she sought over many years, without offering other treatment. The GP said Hanna responded well to the drugs, and real life is different from what happens on paper.
The Crown then called Auckland Eye ophthalmologist and clinical director Susan Ormonde. She said Polkinghorne came to her lifestyle block the day before Hanna’s funeral in 2021. He said he told her there were things that would come out about him and his wife. One was their sex life, the other was drugs. What drugs? they asked.
He said meth and asked if they’d tried it. When they said no, he said “you should”. The way he talked about it suggested they both used it, but the trial heard there was no evidence in toxicology Hanna had taken it, though Mansfield said her frequent hair dyeing could have removed it from the hair sample.
Ormonde said she had known Polkinghorne for more than 20 years and visited his bach at Ring’s Beach on many occasions. Ormonde told police Hanna and Polkinghorne were a “perfectly normal couple” and she never saw him put down, control, manipulate or abuse his wife.
Polkinghorne made a voluntary disclosure to the Medical Council after telling Ormonde of his meth use.
Later, the Crown called Mark David Conelly, chairman of the board at Auckland Eye.
At one finance committee meeting in March 2021 he said Polkinghorne appeared late, hadn’t read the papers, and was agitated and “outright rude”, the witness said.
“It was clear he hadn’t read the papers. And in fact I called him out,” Conelly said, adding it’s something he’s inclined to do.
“It was a very odd exchange,” he said.
Conelly also discussed how a meth pipe was found at Auckland Eye one Monday morning, in a prep room. Polkinghorne was one of only a few people to have gone into the premises over that weekend. But he said under cross-examination the room hadn’t been used since the previous Thursday, when a teenage male patient was prepped there.
Conelly said two specialists who left under acrimonious circumstances in 2019 were offered $650,000 by Auckland Eye but said Polkinghorne was offered less for his retirement, initially about $360,000.
That was in line with the terms of the shareholder agreement, but the witness told Mansfield it was clear Polkinghorne wasn’t happy about the lower payment given his years of loyal service to the clinic he helped found. Conelly said he was of the view the two specialists in 2019 were paid out too much. Earlier, the trial heard Polkinghorne eventually received a payout of about $450,000.
The trial resumes at 10am on Tuesday with a new Crown witness.
