Polkinghorne trial: Police interview from April 2021 continues

August 8, 2024
Philip Polkinghorne in a police interview on the day his wife was found dead.

Jurors in the Philip Polkinghorne murder trial have resumed watching a police interview recorded the day his wife was found dead.

Polkinghorne, 71, is accused of strangling Pauline Hanna and making it look like a suicide in April 2021.

His defence said she took her own life and he found her in their Remuera home after waking up.

The almost three hour police interview began playing yesterday.

The remainder began to play this morning at the High Court in Auckland.

Polkinghorne was giving a voluntary interview and was not under arrest.

In this morning's excerpt he paused, silent for a while.

"What has she done now?" he said.

He questioned whether his late wife had been drinking too much.

He also detailed how Hanna would sleep at night.

In court, Polkinghorne typed on a laptop while the interview played to the jury.

At times he quickly glanced up to watch parts of the video.

The court has heard previously it was Polkinghorne who called 111 on Easter Monday.

It has also heard police began holding suspicions not long after they arrived.

Part of the Crown's case is that Polkinghorne and Hanna's marriage was in steep decline and he was trapped in a cycle of infidelity, drugs and money issues.

The defence maintains that nothing sinister happened and he simply found her dead.

The couple slept in separate rooms at the time of her death, which was not unusual for them, the court has heard.

Yesterday the court was told Polkinghorne was a long-term and regular visitor to a woman thought to be a sex worker on Auckland's North Shore.

It also heard Polkinghorne and high-end Australian escort Madison Ashton were together at a South Island lakeside lodge weeks after Hanna's death.

More questions for detective

Detective Ilona Walton, who was the police officer in the recorded interview, has faced further questioning in court by both the Crown and defence after the video's conclusion.

Defence lawyer Ron Mansfield asked her why Polkinghorne was not allowed to go for a walk during the interview when he had asked to.

"What would've been the harm to let him have a walk?" Mansfield asked.

"There would've been no harm in that but I assumed it was quite an upsetting incident for him and while he was with us we still had a duty of care," Walton said.

"You could've gone for a walk with him," Mansfield replied.

He continued, referring to the police scene investigation: "Wasn't it the reality you were under instructions not to allow Dr Polkinghorne to leave until all questions had been put because he might find out what was going on at his address?"

Walton said: "That's not the reality."

And Walton was quizzed by Mansfield about her actions during the interview.

He has been questioning whether police were "up front" at the time.

During the interview, Polkinghorne received a phone call from lawyer and friend Tony Bouchier who was aware of the police investigation at the couple's home.

"Oh, oh hell, so it's gone to the public arena. God," Mansfield quoted, repeating an excerpt from Polkinghorne's recorded interview.

Mansfield asked Walton why she left the room to speak with Bouchier on Polkinghorne's phone, and away from where she "might be monitored and recorded".

"You decided to leave ... you left the room so you would have some privacy, correct?"

"That was not the intention," Walton told him.

Mansfield put it to the officer that Polkinghorne had answered every question she asked him, and she confirmed this was correct.

SHARE ME

More Stories