Philip Polkinghorne has denied killing his wife as the accusation was put directly to him at her inquest.
By Rowan Quinn of RNZ
Polkinghorne was cleared of Pauline Hanna's 2021 murder at a trial two years ago but never chose not to give evidence there.
On Friday, he got into the witness box at the Coronial inquest into Pauline Hanna's death where police lawyer Alysha McClintock accused him directly.
"You laid her out and you go about making it look like she killed herself," she said.
Polkinghorne answered with an emphatic "no."
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McClintock accused Polkinghorne of attacking Hanna after an argument, incapacitating her so she could not fight back, killing her, and making it look like a suicide.
At each step Polkinghorne said "no" or "wrong"
Earlier in the hearing, he admitted he had lied several times since Hanna's death about some of the circumstances surrounding it, but denied it was to cover-up killing Hanna.
McClintock said there would be no other reason to lie.
"If Pauline had killed herself and all you had to do is explain how you found her, we shouldn't have all these lies," McClintock said.
McClintock asked Polkinghorne about a statement from sex worker Madison Ashton, who he'd been in a relationship with.
In it, Ashton said Polkinghorne told her Hanna had broken into their house and killed herself.
Polkinghorne denied saying that, and denied messaging Ashton the day his wife died.
Found not guilty two years ago of murdering his wife, Philip Polkinghorne gave evidence today at an inquest into her death. (Source: 1News)
He was grilled about his wife's use of the sleeping pill zopiclone, some of which were his.
Coroner Tania Tetitaha asked him if he had ever been in trouble with the Medical Council for prescribing medicines for himself.
He denied that until McClintock produced a 2018 letter from the council that warned him about self prescribing, including for zopliclone.
"I apologise, I had forgotten about that," he said.
A message from Ashton showed he had spoken to her about the council's letter.
"No biggie, I'll use a false name in the future," he said in the message.
Today, he said the message was "very flippant and inappropriate."
Pauline Hanna's family were able to put questions to Polkinghorne for the first time under oath
Her brother Bruce Hanna spent the time asking about the position of Pauline's arms when she was found.
Through a lawyer, her sister Tracey asked about why Polkinghorne had been searching for information about her injuries in the days after her death.
The purpose of the inquest is to establish the circumstances surrounding Pauline Hanna's death, including whether it was self inflicted.
Several details are suppressed.
The coroner noted on day one Polkinghorne was not on trial.
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