Philip Polkinghorne strangled his wife and staged her death to make it look like suicide before calling 111, the Auckland High Court heard today.
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Polkinghorne is accused of murdering his wife Pauline Hanna at the pair's home on Upland Rd in Auckland's Remuera.
Hanna died either on the night of April 4, 2021 or on the morning of April 5, prosecution lawyer Alysha McClintock told the jury this morning.
The jurors, lawyers and Polkinghorne himself watched closely as McClintock revealed the Crown's case in her opening remarks today.
Dozens of people sat in the public gallery listening.
Polkinghorne denies killing Hanna.
What the Crown says happened
McClintock said this morning that Polkinghorne was "leading a double life" involving methamphetamine use and extramarital sexual encounters.
Earlier this morning, Polkinghorne, a former eye surgeon, pleaded guilty to two drugs charges.
McClintock said that the prosecution will particularly focus on the 18 months or so before Hanna's death.
Hanna - who was a senior figure at the Counties Manukau District Health Board - was increasingly troubled during this time by her husband's use of the couple's finances, his controlling nature, his "unusual" sexual demands and his aggression towards her, McClintock said.
Philip Polkinghorne is accused of murdering his wife Pauline Hanna at the pair's home on Upland Rd in Auckland's Remuera in April 2021. (Source: 1News)
She considered leaving him, the prosecution said.
“[But] she loved her husband, even if she did not always love how he treated her.”
The scene
McClintock said that Polkinghorne called 111 at about 8.07am on the morning of April 5, 2021.
He said Hanna had hung herself - but the scene became suspicious “very quickly”, McClintock said. “This reported suicide did not add up."
Jurors were shown photographs of Hanna's body beneath a white duvet.
Her head was on a pillow on a bottom step.
“Under that duvet she had on nothing but a robe cast loosely around her.
“She was otherwise naked and dishevelled.”
They were also shown pictures of an orange rope tied to a balustrade. Polkinghorne said his wife had hung herself with a belt tied to that orange rope, McClintock said.
But the tension of the rope wouldn't have allowed for that, the Crown argued. McClintock said the rope was too long and too loose.
McClintock also said that Polkinghorne had acted against the 111 operator's advice.
"Placing her there was contrary to what he’d been told to do by the 111 call operator," she said of Hanna's position when she was found.
“He was told to cut her down and leave everything else as he had found it.
“If this was a suicide, he moved all key items involved in it.
“The body, the rope, the belt… and the chair.“
She continued: “Ms Hanna’s death could only have been either a murder or a suicide.
"The only reason for Dr Polkinghorne to stage the scene as a suicide is because he killed his wife."
She also said there was evidence of conflict within the house, including injuries to Hanna and Polkinghorne.
The pair were sleeping in bedrooms at opposite ends of the house at the time of the death.
'Red flags'
Other features of what was found in the home “also raised red flags".
Acknowledging the case was circumstantial, McClintock said Hanna was "murdered by the only other person who was in the house with her".
The pair had been had been married for over 20 years.
And McClintock also said that - although “this isn’t a case where repeated physical abuse is alleged” - Hanna had previously told friends about an alleged instance where Polkinghorne had put his hands on her neck and threatened her.
A number of experts, friends, family members and other witnesses will be called as the trial continues over the next six weeks.
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