0:02

Before you listen, just a warning. This

0:05

podcast contains references to suicide.

0:08

If you need help there are numbers to call

0:11

in the episode details. The

0:17

first thing he actually mentioned was regarding

0:21

his and Pauline's sex life. And

0:25

then when we asked what the other thing was

0:27

he was worried about he said drugs. To

0:32

which I said what sort of

0:34

drugs to which he replied meth. Those

0:41

details of Philip Polkinghorne's life are

0:43

being revealed in the High Court

0:45

in Auckland by a former colleague.

0:49

After hearing from investigators and experts

0:51

the jury is now hearing evidence

0:53

from those who worked alongside him

0:56

in some cases for many

0:58

years. Polkinghorne,

1:01

a now retired eye surgeon,

1:04

is charged with murder over the

1:06

death of his wife Pauline Hanna,

1:08

a senior health administrator found

1:10

dead at the family home on

1:12

Easter Monday Polkinghorne

1:18

denies the accusation. This

1:21

is the trial season two, the

1:24

Polkinghorne case from Stuff Audio. I'm

1:27

Philippa Tine. The

1:31

Crown's case is that Polkinghorne fatally

1:33

strangled Hanna before reporting her death

1:36

to police as a suicide. It

1:39

argues he was under financial stress, obsessed

1:42

with meth and in a covert

1:44

relationship with an escort in Sydney.

1:47

Polkinghorne's defence said Hanna

1:50

was exhausted by work related stress,

1:52

had a history of mental health issues, was

1:55

on medication and tragically took

1:58

her own life. And remember

2:00

that ahead of the murder trial,

2:02

he pleaded guilty to two methamphetamine

2:05

charges, one of possessing the

2:07

illegal drug and the other of possessing

2:09

a pipe for smoking it. Good

2:16

morning, could you please state your full name? Susan

2:19

Elizabeth Ormond. And Dr

2:21

Ormond, do you currently practice as an ophthalmologist

2:23

at Auckland Eye? I do. As

2:26

well as being an ophthalmologist, Susan

2:28

Ormond is the clinical director at

2:30

Auckland Eye, the private clinic where

2:32

Polkinghorn worked. Ormond

2:35

had worked there for about 20 years, she told

2:37

the court. She and Polkinghorn

2:39

were friends as well as colleagues. Socialising

2:42

with their respective partners, she

2:44

described the Polkinghorns as a normal

2:47

couple. Ormond

2:50

told the prosecution lawyer Pip McNabb

2:52

that Polkinghorn had rung her on

2:54

the morning Hannah's death was reported.

2:57

She was in a bad reception

2:59

area and the connection was patchy,

3:01

but Polkinghorn sounded very distressed. It

3:05

was Ormond you heard at the start of this

3:07

episode. She told the court

3:09

Polkinghorn had visited her and her husband

3:11

for lunch on the day before Hannah's

3:13

funeral. And he'd express

3:15

concerns about what the

3:17

police investigation would uncover. He

3:21

was upset and then he said, I'm also worried there are

3:23

some other things that are going to come out.

3:26

And what did he tell you? So he

3:28

said, well, what were those things? And the first thing

3:30

he actually mentioned was regarding

3:34

his and Pauline's sex life.

3:37

And then when we asked what the other thing

3:39

was he was worried about, he said drugs, to

3:43

which I said, what sort of drugs,

3:45

to which he replied meth. Did

3:47

he offer any further explanation of what exactly

3:49

he was worried about in terms of meth

3:51

coming out? Well, the

3:56

conversation at that point, we were quite

3:58

shocked. We weren't expecting. you know, weren't expecting

4:00

to hear him say

4:02

meth. And the conversation really

4:05

was around, what

4:07

do you mean meth? You know, taking meth kind of

4:09

thing. And he wasn't specific

4:11

about whether it was he or Pauline, but

4:13

he talked about it as if it was

4:15

both of them. You know, we use meth

4:17

or whatever. He asked if

4:19

we'd ever tried meth, to

4:22

which we said no. And he said, well, you should. Ormond

4:26

said she asked Pokinghorn if the

4:28

couple used meth the night Hannah

4:30

died. And he said, no, they

4:32

hadn't used it for six weeks. McNabb

4:34

asked if Pokinghorn had mentioned other

4:37

drugs. Ormond said she

4:39

thought he'd mentioned cocaine. The

4:42

prosecution wanted to know what Ormond

4:44

did next. Did she report Pokinghorn's

4:46

disclosure to anyone else? Absolutely.

4:50

So it was a very difficult position.

4:52

On the one hand, you know, this was

4:54

a close friend and colleague who was

4:56

with us for support and was telling us things

4:59

in confidence. And obviously we

5:01

want to keep those things confidential. But

5:04

at the same time as clinical

5:06

director, you know, one of

5:08

my obligations is very much to make sure that

5:11

all the patients we see are

5:13

safe and receive the highest quality treatment.

5:16

And to find out that one of the

5:18

doctors had been using meth was

5:20

a considerable concern. So

5:23

at that point, Philip

5:26

was no longer working. He hadn't worked, you

5:29

know, he was on leave, bereavement leave since Pauline

5:31

had died. So there wasn't an ongoing immediate

5:33

risk to any patients. But

5:36

I did feel that I needed

5:38

to report this. So I mentioned it to our

5:41

company lawyer. And I

5:43

also found the Medical Protection

5:45

Society, which is the Indemnity

5:47

and Legal Advice Society for Doctors

5:50

in New Zealand. Based

5:53

in London, the Medical Protection Society

5:55

protects and supports the professional interest

5:57

of almost 300,000. Corbett

10:00

recalled there was one occasion when,

10:02

as the chair of the board

10:04

of Auckland Eye, he had to

10:06

raise the issue after staff complaints

10:08

about Polkinghorne's, quote, aggression.

10:12

Corbett also rang Pauline Hannah to

10:14

suggest Polkinghorne get some counselling, but

10:16

it seemed she was struggling to

10:18

talk to her husband about the

10:20

topic. McNabb asked

10:22

Corbett how he got that impression,

10:25

and again his words are being voiced by

10:28

an actor. I

10:30

recall that she said she had suggested to

10:32

Philip that they went to

10:34

get some counselling, but when

10:36

I followed that up, it hadn't occurred.

10:41

In previous episodes we've heard a

10:43

number of references to the stress

10:45

Polkinghorne was under due to issues

10:47

over his impending retirement payout. Corbett

10:51

told the prosecution how the

10:53

unexpected departure of two doctors

10:55

had caused tensions. It

10:59

was a difficult exit because it

11:01

was not something we had anticipated

11:03

as a practice, and

11:06

it caused a lot of stress for all

11:08

the shareholders. And I think probably

11:10

more so for Philip. It

11:12

really altered the whole picture of how

11:15

his payout of his portion

11:17

of the practice would be

11:19

conducted. The value

11:21

of the company as defined by the

11:23

shareholders agreement was in some disagreement between

11:25

the two leaving doctors and the remaining

11:27

doctors. In

11:31

his cross-examination, Ron Mansfield asked

11:33

Corbett how emotionally invested Polkinghorne

11:35

was in Auckland I. As

11:38

a founding member, he'd given a

11:40

large chunk of his working life

11:42

to the clinic, so would Corbett

11:44

agree it was Polkinghorne's baby and

11:46

that retirement was an end of

11:49

an era? Corbett

11:51

did agree. Mansfield

11:53

asked if the unexpected departure of

11:55

the two doctors had created financial

11:58

stress for the practice. The

14:00

business was battered and bruised, he told

14:03

the court. There were a lot of

14:05

trust issues among shareholders after the sudden

14:07

departure of the two doctors. People

14:10

felt betrayed, he told the prosecution.

14:13

Connolly recalled a board meeting a

14:15

month before Hannah's death, which Polkinghorne

14:18

joined late via Zoom. He

14:20

told the court it was very

14:23

clear he, Polkinghorne, hadn't read the

14:25

papers, and he was very agitated.

14:28

Outright, rude to the staff, Connolly

14:30

said. An

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incredible podcast, brilliantly put together

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and narrated. The

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Commune. Free love, group therapy and

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a guru called Burt. What could

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possibly go wrong? Listen

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Search for The Commune. Such

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a scary story. This podcast was a

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perfect way to go through the evidence

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and be completely baffled and terrified. Black

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Hands. The story of the most

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divisive murder case in New Zealand's

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history. Listen for free in

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Apple and Spotify now. Search for Black

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Hands. Very

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interesting. Sad that so many can

15:13

be influenced by one little bastard.

15:17

The Commune. Free love, group therapy

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and a guru called Burt. What

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could possibly go wrong? Listen

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for free in Apple and Spotify now.

15:27

Search for The Commune. We've

15:35

already heard in episode three about

15:37

the extensive search of the Polkinghorne

15:39

home and the discovery

15:42

of small containers in multiple

15:44

locations that later tested positive

15:46

for meth. Several

15:49

Crown witnesses also told the court

15:51

of an earlier discovery at Auckland

15:54

Eye. Former

15:56

chief executive Deborah Boyd described

15:58

Polkinghorne as extremely professional. Consultation

20:00

Room 4 being

20:03

the heat pump grill. Great. Previous

20:06

witnesses from Auckland I had already told

20:08

the court that Consultation Room 4 was

20:11

used mainly by Polkinghorn until

20:13

Hannah's death. He didn't return

20:15

to work after that. Hillsetters

20:18

Company recommended specialist cleaning

20:20

on contaminated areas. Polkinghorn's

20:23

lawyer Rob Mansfield asked Hill if he

20:25

knew whether the inside of the building

20:28

had ever been given a deep clean

20:30

to provide a benchmark, a

20:32

time when it was known not to be

20:34

contaminated. Hill said no.

20:38

He was questioned about whether he swabbed

20:40

the external vents of the air conditioning

20:43

unit the heat pump McNabb mentioned. Hill

20:46

said he didn't. The

20:48

defence asked further questions over why

20:50

the testing focused on a few

20:53

rooms and not the entire premises.

20:57

It's up to Auckland I.

21:00

We just recommend it based on the

21:03

recommendations to the standard as to how the

21:05

cleaning process happens. Earlier,

21:07

Mansfield had suggested to the CEO

21:10

of Auckland I that the consultation

21:12

room where meth was detected wasn't

21:15

specific to Polkinghorn. Boyd

21:17

agreed but said that room

21:19

was, quote, commonly known as

21:21

Polkinghorn's. Good

21:26

morning. Could you tell us your full name please?

21:29

Emma Louise Schwartz. What

21:31

are you, both

21:33

a medical doctor and what

21:36

is known as an addiction

21:38

specialist psychiatrist? I am. Emma

21:41

Schwartz is a clinical director of

21:43

the Community Alcohol and Drug Service. She's

21:47

also written reports about substance abuse

21:49

disorders for the Medical Council, the

21:51

Midwifery Council and the Coroniel Services

21:53

Unit. The

21:56

Prosecution's Alicia McClintock asked Schwartz

21:58

for more details. For

24:00

methamphetamine you're getting an excess of 1200 or

24:02

so units of dopamine. Schwartz

24:07

told the court this rush, this

24:09

euphoria, made the drug highly addictive.

24:13

Alicia McClintock asked how people behaved when

24:15

they were on meth. We

24:18

might see in someone wide

24:20

pupils and their eyes

24:22

might be looking wide, they might be

24:24

extremely alert, they might be aroused, they

24:26

might be a little edgy, they might

24:28

be tense. They might be

24:30

sort of keyed up and pacing, their

24:33

appetite is reduced, their

24:35

need for sleep is reduced and then

24:37

there's these dopaminergic and serotonergic effects which

24:40

leads to this relaxation and feeling of

24:42

pleasure. They might be more talkative,

24:44

have a sense of feeling more

24:46

self-esteem, a greater sense

24:48

of confidence, a greater sense of libido,

24:51

a greater sense of comfort. Schwartz

24:54

said it was important to note that

24:56

the effects of meth lasted much longer

24:59

than other stimulants, 12 to

25:01

17 hours compared with

25:03

a couple of hours at most

25:05

for cocaine. What

25:08

was the effect of using all that

25:10

dopamine in a big rush the prosecution

25:12

wanted to know? Schwartz

25:14

replied that often people ended up

25:16

with low levels of dopamine for

25:18

quite some time not being

25:21

able to experience the amount of

25:23

joy that they otherwise would. Richland

25:26

Tock asked about the impact of using

25:28

meth with alcohol. Both

25:32

of the drugs impair the

25:34

prefrontal cortex, so

25:36

that's the front of the frontal lobe of the

25:38

brain. It's the bit that

25:41

makes us human, it's the bit that

25:43

gives us personality, judgment, the ability to

25:45

reason, the ability to sequence

25:47

things, the ability to weigh up things

25:49

and think about whether something

25:51

is a good idea or not. They

25:53

work through completely different mechanisms, alcohols,

25:56

GABA and glutamate and we know

25:58

methamphetamine is dopamine. nor adrenalin

26:01

and serotonin, but nonetheless they shut

26:03

down the sort of thinking and

26:05

reasoning and the weighing up part

26:07

of the brain. And

26:09

so both have a disinhibiting

26:12

effect on behaviour. McClintock

26:15

asked if there was an association

26:17

between meth use and aggression or

26:20

violence. Schwartz agreed.

26:22

She went through the difficulties associated

26:24

with some of the research linking

26:26

the two. However, she said one

26:29

study from 2014 did take a

26:31

number of factors into account, such

26:33

as dose and length of use

26:35

in researching a Lincoln user. And

26:38

what they were able to demonstrate is

26:40

that at times that they were using

26:43

more methamphetamine, there was more violence in

26:45

that time period as well. So

26:48

it was, I think, for when

26:50

they were using less, it was

26:52

a three-fold increase risk of

26:55

perpetrating violence. But when they were using

26:57

more heavily, there was a ten-fold increase

27:00

risk of perpetrating violence.

27:03

So showing a sort of dose-response

27:06

relationship for a given person at

27:09

the times that they were using methamphetamine.

27:13

Schwartz also referred to the Christchurch Health

27:15

and Development Study, which has followed more

27:17

than 1,200 people since

27:19

the late 70s. Part

27:22

of the research focusing on meth

27:24

concluded there was 2.4 times higher

27:26

risk of users perpetrating violence and

27:29

a 1.9 times higher risk

27:32

of intimate partner violence specifically.

27:36

The psychiatrist then read from a brief she'd

27:39

prepared for the court. Social

27:43

methamphetamine is a highly potent and addictive

27:46

drug and in my opinion, a person

27:48

who uses methamphetamine in comparison

27:50

to other substance abuse is more likely

27:52

to develop a use disorder of greater

27:55

severity. The more

27:57

severe the substance use disorder is, the greater

27:59

the compost severity. lower

30:00

education level, combine use with

30:02

alcohol and a predisposition to

30:04

aggression could all be factors

30:06

in whether a user might be

30:08

violent." Schwartz agreed. Anne

30:12

said that most users do not

30:14

go on to perpetrate violence. The

30:17

prosecution returned to re-examine Schwartz

30:20

asking whether it was possible

30:23

to put people into categories

30:25

regarding behaviour based on their

30:27

backgrounds. Would it be

30:29

true to take

30:31

away from what you've said today in

30:33

any sense that older

30:35

educated employed people

30:37

are somehow immune from

30:39

an association to violence for

30:42

methamphetamine? Certainly not and

30:45

certainly when it comes to methamphetamine over

30:47

and above other drugs. Why methamphetamine over

30:49

and above other drugs? Because methamphetamine has

30:51

a greater association with violence than the

30:54

other drugs because of the

30:56

profound effects that it does have on

30:58

the brain during intoxication, during withdrawal and

31:00

during longer term use. You've

31:06

been listening to The Trial

31:08

Season 2, The Polkinghorn Case,

31:10

a Stuffed audio podcast in

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the next episode. It was a deleted

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back. What was

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the search? The search term was leg

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edema after strangulation. This

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podcast

31:34

was scripted and presented by me, Philip

31:36

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Connor Scott. Stuff

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