0:02

Before you listen, just a warning. This

0:05

podcast contains references to suicide.

0:09

If you need help, there are numbers to call

0:11

in the episode details. The

0:17

Crown case is that he has

0:20

taken his wife's life and

0:22

he has blamed her for it. Because

0:26

he blamed her in life, he

0:30

blames her indeed. There's

0:34

no premeditation, no planning, nothing

0:37

on any of his devices to reveal

0:39

a plan to kill his wife. It's

0:42

a nonsense. And one

0:44

of the most gravest nonsense, one

0:47

of our courts has heard for a long time.

0:53

The lawyers are summing up their cases after

0:56

nearly two months of evidence at

0:58

the High Court in Auckland. The

1:02

Crown accuses Philip Polkinghorne of killing

1:04

his wife, Pauline Hannah, in

1:07

their family home and staging

1:09

the scene to look like suicide.

1:12

The 71-year-old former eye

1:15

surgeon denies one charge

1:17

of murder. The

1:19

defense have argued that no crime took

1:22

place, that Hannah was

1:24

mentally unwell, on medications and

1:26

tragically took her own life.

1:30

You'll hear only three voices from the

1:32

courtroom in this episode. Alicia

1:34

McClintock for the prosecution and

1:37

Ron Mansfield for the defense will make

1:39

their final arguments. Then

1:41

the judge, Justice Graham Lang, will

1:43

address the jury of eight women

1:45

and three men before they retire

1:47

to consider their verdict. And

1:50

a final reminder, we've been

1:52

producing this podcast as the

1:54

trial unfolded. While the

1:57

evidence might be over, the final

1:59

argument's made. At the time of

2:01

recording, I still have no idea

2:03

of the outcome. This

2:06

is the trial, Season 2, the

2:08

Polkehorn case from Stuff Audio. I'm

2:11

Philippa Tolly. When

2:15

the police walked up those steps at

2:18

121 Pupland Road that morning,

2:20

5 April, into

2:23

the house of

2:25

Dr. Polkehorn and Pauline Hanna,

2:29

they assumed that the man who stood in front

2:31

of them was the

2:33

devastated husband, and

2:36

that the woman laid out on the

2:38

floor in that position was

2:41

his wife, Pauline Hanna,

2:44

victim of suicide. At

2:47

first pass, Pauline Hanna's death did

2:50

look like a suicide, said McClintock,

2:53

and it was meant to. But

2:55

when the police did their checks, it

2:58

didn't add up. The piece

3:00

of orange rope tied to a balustrade,

3:02

high above where the body was lying,

3:05

unraveled with a light pull. So

3:10

McClintock said, Polkehorn was invited

3:12

to the police station to

3:14

discuss what had happened. Dr.

3:18

Polkehorn, you might think, thought

3:21

that he could talk his way out

3:24

of this. He

3:27

never expected, you

3:29

might think, to be at the police

3:31

station in the first place. His

3:34

lawyer says he shouldn't have

3:36

been there. Not Dr.

3:38

Polkehorn, not the renowned

3:40

eye surgeon, not the man

3:42

of wealth and standing.

3:46

He shouldn't have been at the police station. Supposedly,

3:51

the police should have just rubber stamped things,

3:55

Pauline Hanna's death. Rubber

3:57

stamp it is a suicide, and

3:59

walk back out of the house. the door, but

4:01

they didn't. They had

4:03

questions. Polkinghorne

4:06

talked about a lot of things in

4:09

the three-hour interview, McClintock said, but

4:11

he couldn't explain the scene. And

4:15

that's because Pauline

4:18

Hannah did not die tied

4:20

to that run. McClintock

4:24

acknowledged that a staged suicide

4:27

was highly unusual, and

4:29

she said the jury had a lot to get their

4:31

heads around. But when they did,

4:33

a picture would

4:35

emerge, not of suicide, but

4:38

of homicide. Pauline

4:42

Hannah did face challenges, including

4:44

a number of suicide risk

4:46

factors, but there was no

4:48

evidence that she was suicidal at the

4:50

critical point in time, the weekend of

4:53

her death. Rather,

4:55

McClintock said, Hannah was

4:57

in the way of Polkinghorne and

4:59

his life with the intoxicating Madison

5:02

Ashton. These

5:04

two worlds, one with his wife

5:06

of 20 years, the other with

5:09

a Sydney-based sex worker, were

5:11

always going to collide. McClintock

5:16

reminded the jury of the evidence from

5:18

Stephen Cordner, the first of two pathologists

5:20

called by the defence. When

5:23

you're a smart, experienced professional person like

5:25

Cordner, she said, it must

5:27

be tempting to try to resolve the case,

5:30

and there are some cases where

5:32

pathology can resolve how someone died,

5:35

such as a gunshot wound to the chest, but

5:38

not here. The true

5:40

positive findings of the pathology in this

5:42

case are very limited. It's

5:45

the nature of the case. It's

5:47

not decisive here. The findings here

5:49

establish the cause of death as

5:51

neck compression, and

5:54

really not much more than that.

5:57

It is speculative. to

6:00

interpret the absence of other

6:03

injury as supportive

6:06

of suicide. McClintock

6:09

turned to Polkinghorns' demeanor on the

6:11

day his wife died. First

6:13

responders and the police found him

6:15

largely calm. Not

6:18

so, when he was talking on the

6:20

phone to family members and others about

6:23

what has happened. He was

6:25

described as wailing and as

6:27

devastated. He called himself devastated.

6:30

McClintock agreed with witnesses who said

6:33

there was no one way to

6:35

grieve. But actions

6:37

spoke louder than words. And

6:40

one action that didn't fit with a

6:42

distraught husband was Polkinghorn

6:44

deleting WhatsApp messages while

6:47

he was at the police station. The

6:53

police data analyst, McClintock reminded the

6:55

court, could find no messages from

6:57

before late afternoon on the 5th

6:59

of April. The

7:02

transcript of Polkinghorn's video interview

7:04

showed he was still being

7:06

questioned. He

7:11

leaves the room for a break at

7:14

1428.35. 1628.35,

7:19

he goes out for a break. There

7:25

are no WhatsApp messages prior

7:27

with anyone to 5 April 2021 at

7:29

428.37, just

7:34

after he

7:36

goes for that break. However,

7:39

a screenshot saved in Polkinghorn's

7:41

phone showed there were earlier

7:43

messages between Polkinghorn and Ashton.

7:48

Analysis of his phone showed

7:50

Polkinghorn accessed WhatsApp late

7:52

at night, on the 4th of April, and again

7:54

in the early hours of the 5th, when

7:57

he told police he was asleep. McClintock

8:01

said he also opened WhatsApp just

8:03

before he made the 111 call

8:06

to report his wife's death. But

8:10

all those messages were gone.

8:17

Earlier exchanges between the pair had been

8:19

found on Ashton's phone, but

8:21

they were unreadable. Now,

8:24

if you just use your common sense, it's

8:27

not a coincidence that

8:29

all of the messages prior to 5 April had

8:33

gone off Dr. Polkinghorne's phone and

8:35

scrambled on Madison Ashton's

8:37

I suggest. Wouldn't

8:40

you like to know what

8:42

was being said between

8:44

those two in

8:46

those earlier messages?

8:49

But you don't, because

8:51

Dr. Polkinghorne has manipulated

8:53

the evidence and deleted

8:55

them. Polkinghorne's

8:59

next significant action, McClintock

9:01

said, was the deletion

9:03

of files from Apple's cloud

9:05

storage. The

9:08

fact that there's some embarrassing personal stuff on

9:10

his devices does not explain his focus on

9:12

this issue, particularly not if his wife knew

9:14

all about it. There's

9:16

no need for secrecy on

9:18

that line of thinking. So

9:22

why has his mind gone to deleting

9:24

his iCloud storage? I

9:27

suggest it's because he's not the devastated husband

9:29

at all. McClintock

9:32

described a deleted internet search

9:34

done the day after Hannah's

9:36

death as hugely

9:39

significant. This

9:41

search unmasks the murderer.

9:45

I suggest. Leg

9:47

edema after strangulation.

9:53

After strangulation.

9:57

Strangulation is

9:59

an entire... highly different word

10:02

to think. In

10:05

this context it conveys murder rather

10:09

than conveying suicide. Pockinghorn

10:12

did the search on the same

10:15

afternoon as the post-mortem examination of

10:17

his wife's body. He

10:19

was concerned what a pathologist would

10:22

find, McClintock told the court. The

10:26

next action that didn't fit with

10:28

the image of a devastated husband,

10:30

McClintock said, was Pockinghorn's

10:32

holiday with Ashton three

10:34

weeks after Hannah's death and

10:36

13 days after

10:38

her funeral. Well, either

10:41

he and his devastation just happened

10:43

to have found comfort in

10:47

the arms of Madison Ashton in the South

10:49

Island or this

10:51

is what he wanted. When

10:55

he decided either that

10:57

his wife was in the way and

11:00

he strangled her or whether

11:03

he did that more spontaneously

11:05

during an argument. But

11:07

this is the life he wanted and there he is, the

11:11

end of the month, with Madison

11:13

Ashton. McClintock

11:15

raised Pockinghorn's attempts to, as

11:18

she put it, manipulate witnesses.

11:21

She reminded the jury that he told

11:23

the couple's friend, Alison Ring, that meth

11:25

found in their home during the police

11:27

search was Hannah's, it was

11:29

not. And he showed her

11:32

a written message, which he

11:34

said was a suicide note. He

11:36

knew questions were being

11:38

asked about why

11:40

she hadn't left a note.

11:44

Here he is trying to

11:46

manipulate Alison Ring

11:50

and as she told you, that's

11:52

exactly how she saw it. I

11:56

felt I had been manipulated

11:58

by her. and that's

12:00

what she told you. That

12:03

was for her the final

12:05

straw in her relationship

12:07

with Dr. Polkinghorne. McClintock

12:10

wanted the jury to think about

12:12

Hannah too, suggesting she

12:14

was not suicidal on the night before

12:17

her death was reported. She's

12:19

been painted by her husband as something of

12:21

a weight, an image

12:24

obsessed, constantly depressed,

12:26

over-medicated, excessive

12:28

drinker, over-spending, bit

12:31

of a stress cadet. Yet,

12:34

he says, he dearly loved her. He

12:36

says she knew all about her

12:39

sexual exploits and his expenditure.

12:42

Hannah was a beautiful, successful woman

12:45

with close family ties, who

12:47

sometimes suffered a crisis of confidence,

12:50

McClintock said. The

12:52

weekend she died, she had called family

12:54

members, something her husband told the

12:56

police was weird. But

12:59

McClintock said Hannah called her brother Bruce

13:01

all the time. She

13:04

was due to see her personal trainer Barry

13:06

at the jimbo, as she called it, on

13:08

the morning her body was found. She

13:10

was due to have dinner with one of her

13:12

step-sons that night. She was

13:15

also excited about her part in

13:17

the COVID vaccination rollout that

13:19

was due within days of her death. She

13:23

just doesn't sit comfortably that

13:26

she abandoned that calling at that

13:28

time, given everything

13:30

she had done to work

13:32

towards it. There's

13:35

no other indications of

13:38

worsening depression or suicidal thinking

13:40

at that time. McClintock

13:43

warned the jury to be careful with

13:45

emails as the tone and background were

13:47

hard to read. Words

13:49

on a page, McClintock said, don't

13:51

always convey well what sits behind

13:54

them. Psychiatrists

13:56

called by the defence talked

13:58

about Hannah's risk factors. but

14:01

didn't know her and they couldn't

14:03

diagnose her, something they both accepted.

14:07

But Hannah's GP did know her and

14:10

her evidence was that Hannah was

14:12

stable on her antidepressant medication. She

14:14

was doing well. What is

14:17

the evidence of harmful decline in

14:20

her mental health at the critical

14:23

point in time? None.

14:27

So that brings you back to, it has to have

14:29

been something that happened in

14:31

the middle of the night, despite

14:35

the duration of these medications. And

14:37

while that might be possible, it

14:39

has a clear answer when you look

14:41

down the hallway, when you

14:43

look at what her husband was doing that night, because

14:46

the activity that night is not

14:49

activity of Pauline Hannah. The

14:53

person who was doing things that

14:55

night on the evidence is

14:58

Dr. Poulkencourt. The

15:00

Crown then discussed the evidence of

15:02

Pauline Hannah's sister, Tracy, that

15:04

Pauline had talked about a suicide attempt more

15:07

than 30 years ago. McClintock

15:09

reminded the court that there was no evidence

15:11

of a previous attempt, no marks

15:13

on the wrists that Tracy said Pauline had

15:15

held up at the time. I

15:19

can't explain Tracy

15:21

Hannah's motivation to say

15:23

what she did about Pauline

15:25

Hannah. And I

15:27

need not prove, the Crown need not prove why

15:29

she did. But

15:32

I suggest you can safely put that

15:35

evidence from her to one side. Whether

15:38

it's driven by jealousy of

15:41

Pauline, by some sort

15:43

of odd fascination with

15:45

Dr. Poulkencourt, by a

15:48

wish to be a centre of attention, who knows? But

15:52

I suggest it is unsafe to

15:55

rely upon as part of the

15:57

portrait of Pauline Hannah's life. is

16:00

now established prior attempt

16:02

at silcer. Polkinghorn

16:06

criticized and blamed his wife,

16:08

McLintock said. He told her

16:10

not to wear bodysuits and how to pick up

16:12

her glasses, while his wife apologized

16:14

to others for him being on the

16:16

roof, which Hannah's niece, Rose

16:19

Hannah, took to mean being angry. This

16:23

was a woman, McLintock said, who wrote

16:25

everything down. Hannah sent

16:28

herself emails, shared her feelings when she

16:30

was upset. While

16:32

not everyone who committed suicide left a

16:35

note, it didn't gel

16:37

that the last words she wrote

16:39

were to help her husband with

16:41

a retirement letter from Auckland Eye.

16:45

But another aspect of the case was

16:47

perhaps even more surprising, McLintock said. There's

16:51

no search by

16:53

her for anything to

16:56

do with self-harm, suicide,

17:01

hanging, tying knots, anything,

17:06

depression related, nothing. So

17:09

for her to commit suicide, she

17:11

had to already know how

17:14

to do it. McLintock

17:16

said the court had heard that Hannah was

17:18

a woman who made searches when she was

17:21

unsure of something, how to

17:23

cope with an unfaithful husband, what

17:25

methamphetamine looked like. Even

17:28

the engineer asked by the defence

17:30

to simulate what might have happened

17:32

in the Polkinghorn home had

17:35

to research hangings. If

17:37

Hannah did want to die, there were

17:39

more than enough drugs in the house,

17:42

sleeping tablets and meth to take

17:44

her life. Why, in McLintock's

17:46

words, faff about tying

17:48

knots to a balustrade. And

17:51

did it gel, McLintock asked, with

17:53

all the court had heard about

17:55

how carefully Hannah presented herself, that

17:58

she would choose a place to die. where

18:00

she could be seen from outside the family

18:03

home. Because

18:05

she's naked, but

18:07

for that dressing gown. In

18:10

the most public part of the house,

18:14

naked under a loose dressing gown,

18:17

was hugely proud, immaculate

18:22

woman. And impulsively

18:24

decided to leave this world pretty

18:26

much naked. And

18:28

for her disheveled. Here

18:31

a mess, no make-up, hanging

18:33

right inside the front door. McClintock

18:43

took the jury through a narrative

18:45

to explain what Hannah would have

18:47

to have done if she had

18:50

committed suicide. She

18:53

would have got up after taking

18:55

twice the recommended dose of the

18:57

sleeping pill, Zoboclon, and having plugged

18:59

her phone in to charge overnight.

19:03

She wouldn't have visited the bathroom, the court

19:06

heard she died with a full bladder, but

19:09

she would have stripped one sheet and some

19:11

pillowcases off the bed in the room where

19:13

she was sleeping. Not all

19:15

the bedding though. Then,

19:18

in a disheveled state, she

19:20

would have gone outside to find some rope

19:22

in the couple's ute. So

19:25

in this scenario she's cut the rope. But

19:28

then, not only did she cut the rope

19:31

in a disinhibited state,

19:34

she put away the cutting implement. Because

19:37

there's no cutting implement found

19:41

in that scene. Why?

19:45

Why take the time to do that? How

19:48

on earth if she is disinhibited does she

19:50

do all of this, by the way? She

19:54

stripped the bed, left a mess out there,

19:56

but here she is, mustn't leave the cutting

19:58

implement out. Hannah

20:02

would have moved about downstairs getting a

20:05

dining room chair, all

20:07

with the lights off without apparently

20:09

disturbing her husband. McClintock

20:12

returned to the pathology. The

20:15

defence pathologists had used the nature

20:17

of the injuries Hannah did and

20:20

didn't have as indications of a

20:22

suicide. But they also

20:24

accepted the injuries that were present could

20:26

all have been from an assault. If

20:30

it was suicide, in the 24 hours

20:32

before her death, Hannah had accumulated

20:35

a number of

20:37

non-specific injuries. The

20:42

defence, McClintock said, had urged

20:44

the jury to ignore those injuries

20:46

because there would have been more

20:48

if Hannah had been assaulted. But

20:51

what were the chances, McClintock asked, of

20:54

Hannah having this bumpy old

20:56

time just before her death? She's

21:00

been gripped, she's banged her nose and

21:02

now she's banged her head. If

21:05

this is innocent, if it's

21:07

not an assault, all of those things have happened

21:10

in that period of time. And

21:13

she's going to have to do a suicide. Next,

21:16

McClintock turned to what she said

21:18

was the evidence supporting the argument

21:20

that Hannah was killed. The

21:24

single most significant piece

21:27

of evidence in this trial, I

21:29

suggest, is

21:31

that Dr. Polpinghorn had tried

21:34

to strangle Pauline Hannah

21:36

before. She

21:39

told her best friends, the

21:42

Redons, about it in

21:45

January 2020. 25

21:48

January 2020. She

21:52

was dead from

21:54

neck compression within 13

21:57

months of that

21:59

disclosure. McClintock

22:01

reminded the jury that Hannah had

22:03

told another friend of her worries

22:06

about Polkinghorne's behaviour. Margaret

22:08

White had given evidence that they

22:11

spoke on the phone after Hannah

22:13

sent a text describing Polkinghorne's behaviour

22:16

as beastly. She said

22:18

it was clear from what Ms Hannah said that

22:21

Dr Polkinghorne had become enraged. That's what

22:23

Ms White told you. As

22:27

Hannah said to her, I

22:30

just need you to know if

22:33

anything happens to me.

22:37

That's what she told Margaret White. And

22:40

McClintock said the non-specific

22:43

injuries were entirely consistent

22:45

with Hannah being assaulted.

22:48

Either she's been

22:51

surprised and

22:53

in the ensuing struggle she's

22:55

been struck and

22:58

punched and

23:00

gripped and

23:02

strangled or

23:05

what? There's an argument

23:08

during which she's

23:11

been struck and

23:13

punched and gripped

23:16

and strangled. You

23:18

don't need to prove which. There

23:21

isn't a camera in that room. This

23:25

is about connecting everything

23:27

together. So

23:30

it's really important not to get

23:32

trapped into isolating bits of evidence

23:35

out. The Crown's case,

23:37

McClintock said, was that there was

23:39

quote, pretty clear evidence that the

23:42

world of Pauline Hannah was on

23:44

a collision course with the world

23:46

of Philip Polkinghorne. between

24:00

them that resulted in

24:02

her death or

24:04

a decision by

24:06

him that

24:08

these worlds were colliding, that

24:12

she's in the way and he's going to address it.

24:15

Could be either. Don't have to prove what. Could

24:18

be either. The defence,

24:21

McClintock said, had described the

24:23

relationship as open, that

24:25

Hannah knew and was fine

24:27

about her husband's extramarital sexual

24:29

activities. But while

24:31

Hannah participated in group sex a couple

24:33

of times, she was clear

24:36

on the long-lands recording, the conversation with

24:38

family members played to the court, that

24:40

she hated it and did it

24:42

to keep him from, in her words, going

24:45

off the rails. And

24:47

she had talked to friends about infidelity

24:49

and affairs, not how you

24:52

would describe a situation you were happy

24:54

with, McClintock said. So

24:56

when you are told the sex

24:58

is irrelevant, this is an open

25:01

relationship, of course the sex with

25:03

others is relevant. It's

25:05

relevant because she's concerned about

25:07

it and because infidelity

25:11

concerns had taken hold

25:13

in this relationship in

25:15

2020. Next

25:18

McClintock turned to money worries. The

25:21

defence team had talked about the couple's assets,

25:24

but that missed the point. Hannah

25:26

didn't have a good appreciation of

25:29

their financial position. She

25:31

was scared that Polkinghorn had quote, big

25:33

shot lawyers on his side and she

25:35

would end up with nothing if they

25:38

split. Hannah, the

25:40

prosecutor said, was worried about

25:42

money and what Polkinghorn was doing with it.

25:45

That was another reason for an argument

25:47

between them. According

25:50

to Meth, McClintock pointed out that Polkinghorn

25:53

pleaded guilty to possession of the drug

25:55

at the start of the trial. Tests

25:58

showed no trace in Pauline Hannah.

26:02

But Polkinghorn had repeatedly suggested

26:04

his wife had used it.

26:07

Why? McClintock asked. Well

26:10

of course this relates to not

26:13

wanting to acknowledge he's there in that room

26:15

where the meth traces are found in

26:17

the toilet. That's

26:20

the bedroom where Hannah was sleeping the night

26:22

before her death. Because

26:25

apart from the disheveled bedding it's the

26:27

meth traces that put him in their

26:30

own. That's a problem for him

26:32

you might think given he says he's in bed and

26:34

he's sleeping down the hallway. And

26:37

a reminder here that the ESR

26:39

scientist tested an unflushed loo in

26:42

the bedroom's ensuite. This

26:45

was a husband, McClintock said, whose

26:48

behaviour had changed. He'd

26:50

become increasingly angry and agitated,

26:53

something that might link to meth use.

26:58

He's obsessed with Madison Ashton.

27:01

He thinks he's setting up a life with her.

27:03

It's clear in his

27:05

messages that that's what he

27:08

thinks. He's

27:10

hemorrhaging money and money was an issue

27:14

he's preoccupied with. These

27:18

issues supported the inference that Hannah

27:20

and Polkinghorn had argued on the

27:23

night of Hannah's death and

27:25

that the situation had boiled over leading

27:28

to Polkinghorn strangling his wife or

27:31

that Polkinghorn had decided his wife was

27:33

in the way of the life he

27:35

wanted. McClintock

27:37

suggested that Hannah had fought back and

27:40

left a cut on her husband's forehead,

27:43

one he couldn't explain. It

27:45

wasn't in a photo he sent to Madison

27:47

Ashton the day before Hannah's death, but

27:50

it was in another sent four days

27:52

later, an image showing a

27:54

horizontal cut, consistent with a

27:56

nail mark. Cordiner

28:00

had agreed. It could be

28:02

a nail mark, McClintock reminded the jury.

28:07

Next McClintock focused on what she

28:09

said was an important detail. The

28:12

sheet and duvet covering Hannah's body as it

28:14

lay at the bottom of the stairs. Polkinghorn

28:18

had told police he and his sister

28:20

Ruth covered his wife with the duvet

28:22

they found on the balustrade. They

28:24

didn't mention a sheet. But

28:26

a top sheet was missing from the bedroom

28:29

where Hannah was said to have slept. All

28:32

the other beds had them. The housekeeper

28:34

said they were all top sheet, bottom

28:36

sheet. Sergeant Iogus said the other beds

28:38

were all made up. Quite

28:41

possibly he's brought her downstairs in

28:43

that sheet. Almost

28:45

from the start the police struggled to

28:48

make sense of the scene, McClintock said. The

28:51

rope looked odd and when police

28:53

tested it, it wasn't tightly

28:55

secured to the balustrade. She

28:58

went back to the first piece of evidence,

29:00

the first thing we heard in the series

29:02

in fact, the 111 call.

29:05

And Polkinghorn being told by the

29:07

emergency call centre to cut

29:09

down his wife. McClintock

29:12

said that would have involved

29:14

undoing things, releasing his

29:16

wife, moving her from a

29:19

chair and laying her down. All

29:21

in the short space of time, Polkinghorn

29:23

was away from the phone. We're

29:26

coming as quickly as we can. We need you to

29:29

cut her down immediately. Put her down, put her down,

29:31

okay. Can you tell me if she's breathing okay? No,

29:33

she's not breathing. So, have you

29:35

cut her down? Oh yeah, you're

29:37

here. You

29:51

there? Yes, I'm here. Yes, no,

29:54

she's, she's, I'm a doctor, no, she's dead. He

29:59

couldn't pull. who

32:00

proves the life that Dr. Colton-Horn

32:02

told when

32:05

he run 111 and

32:07

said that she had hurt herself. I

32:10

suggest you can safely be sure on

32:12

this evidence that he is guilty of murder.

32:22

The jury took a break after

32:24

Alicia McClintock completed her closing argument.

32:28

When they returned, it was

32:30

Ron Mansfield's opportunity to make the final

32:32

remarks for the defence. The

32:36

final insult Dr. Colton-Horn faces

32:40

from 5 April 2021 through to the day's date

32:47

has just been made.

32:52

It's suggested that he's blamed her,

32:55

his own wife, for her

32:57

death. He's described

33:00

as the master

33:02

manipulator. Mansfield

33:06

told the court the initial insult, treating

33:09

Hannah's death as suspicious and

33:11

poking-horn as a suspect was

33:14

the first of many. Would

33:17

a master manipulator have agreed willingly

33:20

to two police interviews on the

33:22

day of his wife's death? Mansfield

33:24

asked. While

33:27

poking-horn was making an initial statement at

33:29

the house, the police had

33:31

already started thinking about homicide.

33:36

The insult wasn't Dr.

33:38

Colton-Horn being asked to assist the

33:40

police, it was the fact that

33:43

they failed to tell

33:45

him that they considered the situation

33:47

to be suspicious and

33:50

that he might be a suspect. The

33:53

second interview, videoed at the police station,

33:56

clearly showed that poking-horn became upset when

33:58

he was in the hospital. experts,

38:02

two pathologists from

38:04

around the world to inform

38:07

you objectively as

38:09

to what the pathology correctly

38:11

informs you of, two

38:15

psychiatrists to

38:17

talk to you about the cocktail of

38:19

lollies that Mrs.

38:22

Poulkingorn was given by her

38:26

doctor as if they should

38:28

be freely prescribed without

38:30

caution or without follow up, and

38:34

a psychologist

38:38

to assist you with the

38:40

ever-present and

38:43

prosecuted myths of suicide

38:45

upon which much

38:47

of the Crown case hung

38:50

itself in

38:53

order to establish a homicidal

38:55

killing. Mansfield said

38:58

the victim of the trial was logic.

39:02

A trial run by emotion

39:05

allows our murder mystery fantasies

39:07

to run wild and

39:09

what a blockbuster by letter of friends

39:12

closing address was to you, our

39:14

own very own

39:17

modern day murder mystery.

39:21

It was like a biddenge of every

39:23

murder she wrote all in

39:25

one session by our

39:28

very own Angela Langsbury

39:31

presenting, or I

39:33

suppose more correctly put, she

39:36

was presenting the script written by

39:39

the police. The

39:42

murder the police wrote, the

39:45

murder they started writing immediately

39:47

after the tension check.

39:51

The officers all said they had

39:53

an open mind, Mansfield noted, but

39:56

from the outset the investigation sought

39:58

to prove a homicide. has

42:00

seen all her nails are

42:02

still on, despite we know how

42:05

easily it seems her acrylic nails

42:07

come off. There

42:10

was no DNA evidence under the

42:12

nails to confirm Hannah had scratched

42:14

Polkinghorn. And when police

42:16

asked about the injury on his forehead,

42:18

he had no explanation, didn't know

42:21

it was there. If

42:23

you feared you were injured while

42:25

strangling your partner, Mansfield said, the

42:27

most obvious thing to do would

42:29

be to have an explanation. Mansfield

42:32

turned to the non-specific injuries

42:35

on Hannah. He went

42:37

through several possible causes, including her

42:39

body being moved. Despite

42:42

the logic of that informed

42:45

advice from professionals in

42:47

that area who are there to

42:49

assess injuries of this kind, the

42:52

Crown say you should

42:54

use your logic and consider

42:56

them as consistent with an

42:58

assault. Because

43:00

the Crown has to, doesn't it, point

43:03

to some form of injury of

43:05

an assault, even though on the

43:07

evidence it's not there.

43:11

Because the Crown wants you to

43:13

accept its emotional

43:16

plea that this was a homicidal

43:19

strangulation which must by

43:21

its very nature have

43:24

incurred some struggle at

43:26

some time for some

43:28

length. Mansfield

43:30

said to disregard expert evidence

43:32

about the injuries to support

43:34

the Crown's theory would

43:37

be just going rogue. And

43:40

being irresponsible and worse.

43:43

It's not honouring your oath, which

43:46

you took. He

43:49

turned to the relationship between Hannah and Polkinghorn.

43:53

He said a great deal of the

43:55

evidence was very emotional and allowed for

43:57

a great deal of prejudice and sympathy

43:59

that didn't step

48:01

as wandering her out of the picture.

48:04

Is it seriously suggested that Dr. Polkinghorne

48:07

at his age and stage in life

48:09

when he was clearly looking forward to

48:11

retirement with his wife would

48:13

engage in homicide? Mansfield

48:16

told the court it was an

48:18

absurd suggestion as the Crown fully

48:20

recognised which was why they were

48:22

suggesting meth use helped explain it.

48:26

He turned to Polkinghorne's internet

48:28

search about leg edema or

48:30

swelling after strangulation. The

48:33

former eye surgeon said in his

48:35

filmed police interview that one of

48:37

Hannah's legs looked strange, not

48:39

long before learning he was a suspect. The

48:42

only logical inference from that and

48:44

no doubt was confirmed by others

48:46

was a suggestion that he has

48:48

strangled her. And

48:51

what you might think he's endeavouring to

48:53

determine is whether the swelling

48:56

he has seen in her legs

48:58

and sought to describe in that

49:00

interview might be indicative

49:02

of that concern. Is

49:05

that only consistent with a

49:07

strangulation? Because he

49:09

wasn't getting any information following the

49:12

debrief from the police

49:14

as to why they considered it

49:16

was suspicious even following

49:18

the autopsy. Mansfield

49:20

said he could understand the search

49:23

being seen as significant if

49:25

it was done before Hannah's death, but

49:28

it came after he was accused of

49:30

killing his wife by strangulation. Mansfield

49:34

returned to evidence about Polkinghorne's

49:36

interest in sex, including porn

49:39

and meth use. And if

49:41

you're not careful that can cloud all

49:43

of the positive traits about this man

49:45

that you have also heard. It can

49:47

take over and consume you. It

49:50

can intoxicate you as I suggest

49:53

the finding of that material intoxicated

49:55

the police. It led them away

49:57

from being objective anymore. Not

52:00

on the bedding that was over

52:02

here, not on

52:04

here. Mansfield

52:08

said the crown's explanation for Hannah's

52:10

death made no sense. Neither

52:13

the idea that there was an argument

52:15

that ended in Polkinghorne killing his wife,

52:17

but leaving virtually no injuries, or

52:20

the idea that he sneaked into the bedroom

52:22

and attacked his wife from behind while she

52:25

was sleeping, again, leaving no injuries. It

52:29

makes no sense, because

52:31

there is nothing there to

52:33

support it. There's

52:35

no premeditation, no planning, nothing

52:38

on any of his devices to reveal

52:40

a plan to kill his wife. It's

52:44

a nonsense. And one

52:46

of the most gravest nonsense one

52:48

of our courts has heard for a long

52:50

time, frankly. Mansfield

52:53

reminded the jury of the evidence

52:55

from the defence psychiatrists. What

52:58

they described as Hannah's increased suicide

53:00

risk due to her depression and

53:02

anxiety, the mix of medications

53:04

she was taking, and the stress of

53:06

work during COVID times, the

53:09

time in late 2019 when she called

53:11

her doctor about suicidal thoughts. He

53:14

recalled the evidence of Hannah's sister, Tracy,

53:17

the first witness for the defence. Her

53:19

recollections of Pauling talking about trying to

53:22

take her life gave the

53:24

first snippet of information about Hannah's

53:26

mental health. Finally,

53:30

he told the jury, they could

53:33

not, out of anger or

53:35

sympathy, convict a man of murder when

53:38

he did not do it. You

53:40

can blame him as much as you want for

53:44

being at least partly to blame

53:46

for her feelings of desperation and

53:48

loss. But you can't

53:50

and should not blame them for

53:53

the unexpected decision an action sheet took

53:55

that morning. Emotions

53:57

aside, feelings aside...

54:00

All the evidence clearly

54:02

establishes that Pauline died

54:04

by suicide. There

54:06

is nothing, nothing inconsistent

54:08

with this. We

54:11

all want justice for Pauline.

54:14

But there is no justice for

54:16

Pauline if you ignore her vulnerabilities

54:18

and do not respect the decision

54:21

she took. That

54:23

is not respect. That

54:25

is not understanding. And that is not

54:27

following your oath. It

54:30

is just being emotional vigilantes.

54:47

It was then time for the judge,

54:49

Justice Graham Lang, to address the jurors

54:52

explaining the evidence and giving them direction

54:54

on the issues to consider while reaching

54:56

a verdict. He

54:58

began by thanking them for their diligence

55:01

travelling to court each day for eight

55:03

weeks through rain and shine and heavy

55:05

traffic. The burden of

55:08

proving each element of the charge remained

55:10

on the crown from beginning

55:12

to end, he said. The standard

55:14

of proof was proof

55:16

beyond reasonable doubt. Now

55:19

this is a very high standard and

55:22

it will only be met at the end of the case after

55:24

carefully and impartially considering all of the

55:26

evidence. You are sure Dr.

55:29

Polkinghorne is guilty. It

55:31

is not enough for the crown to prove that he is

55:33

probably guilty or even that he is

55:35

very likely guilty. On the

55:37

other hand, it is impossible for the crown

55:40

to prove anything to a mathematical certainty, particularly

55:43

when this trial relates to events that

55:45

occurred some years ago and

55:47

the crown is not required to

55:49

reach that threshold. So

55:51

what then is a reasonable doubt? A

55:54

reasonable doubt is an honest and

55:56

reasonable uncertainty left in

55:58

your minds about Dr. Polkinghorne. a poking horn's

56:00

guilt after you have

56:02

given careful and impartial consideration to

56:05

all the evidence. Justice

56:09

Lang reminded the jury not to

56:11

be influenced by media coverage. The

56:14

trial has attracted a great deal of

56:16

publicity. I'd be naive to

56:18

think that you haven't seen, read or heard

56:21

at least some of it. But

56:23

just remember all the reporting of this case

56:25

has been about what happened in this courtroom.

56:28

You've been in this courtroom from the first

56:30

until the last moments. You're the ones that

56:32

have seen and heard all of the evidence.

56:34

It doesn't matter what other people may

56:36

have said about witnesses and evidence that's

56:39

been given, it's for you alone, you

56:41

the jury, to determine what you

56:43

make of it. Emotion,

56:46

sympathy and prejudice should

56:49

not guide or influence their deliberations,

56:51

he said. They had

56:53

to focus solely on the evidence they

56:55

heard in the courtroom. Justice

56:59

Lang reminded the jury that the 3,000

57:02

page transcript of the hearing was not

57:04

to leave the court. Experience

57:07

showed that such documents could be

57:09

left on buses, trains and ferries.

57:13

He noted there was no time limit for

57:15

their deliberations. Jurors could

57:17

ask questions about what they heard, but

57:19

there was no more evidence being presented.

57:23

It's important that you

57:25

know that you are now at the most

57:28

critical stage of the trial, so it's essential

57:30

that you don't talk to anybody at home

57:32

or anywhere else about

57:34

the case. In

57:38

the next episode, finally,

57:42

we'll bring you what the jury

57:44

decided. You've

57:53

been listening to The Trial, Season

57:55

2, The Polkinghorn Case, a stuff

57:57

audio podcast. and

58:00

produced by me, Philip Itani. Sound

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design was by Colin Connell. Colin

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Connell, God. Stuff

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