Auckland's High Court has heard from those first on scene - where Pauline Hanna was found dead.
Auckland eye surgeon Phillip Polkinghorne is accused of killing Hanna at their Remuera home in 2021.
The defence says she took her own life.
ZB reporter Chelsea Daniels is attending the trial.
She says the court's heard about Polkinghorne's immediate reaction after Hanna's death.
"St John paramedic Hannah Matheson was one of the first ambulance members at the scene - she told barrister Brian Dickey that as she was asking him questions about the morning's events, he seemed calm."
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
In the second day of Philip Pokinghorn's trial has begun.
The former organdized surgeon is accused of murdering his wife,
Pauline Hannah, in April twenty twenty one, although his defense
claims she took her own life. So today the court
began to hear from those who first attended the scene
at the couple's remu were a home after Pokinghorn called
(00:20):
one one one as saying his wife was dead. We
have Chelsea Daniels there covering the trial. She's with us now, Hello,
Chelsea him What was the focus of today's evidence.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Well, just like you said, we heard from those who
first attended this scene the couple's renue a home. It
painted a picture of what happened that morning, what poking
Horn told first responders, and what he says happened the
night before. The pair had a drink or two in
their upstairs library and she cook to dinner. They watched
a bit of Netflix together before going to bed around
(00:55):
ten pm. He got up early around seven forty five
to make breakfast. Tent and he used another stairwell to
get to the kitchen, the closest to the master bedroom
and sleeping in but After that, he went to go
upstairs via another staircase, and that's when he finds Hannah
plumped leaning forward in a chair with a belt around
(01:15):
her neck.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
What was it in the court about Polkinghorn's demeanor that morning?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Well, Saint John's charamedic Hannah and Mathison was one of
the first ambulance members actually at the Upland Road scene.
She told Barrister Brian Vicky as she was asking him
questions about that morning's event, he seemed calm.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Did he say anything about the patient that he knew
that she was dead our end?
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Yeah, that she was his wife.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
How did he appear at this time when you were
speaking with.
Speaker 5 (01:46):
Him fasionably calm, wasn't crying, didn't seem distressed, was answering
our questions appropriately? Yeah, gave full name and date of birth,
said that the patient had depression, but was unaware of
(02:08):
the names of any medications that the patient took.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Did the patient had depression that he did he just
say just that or did he say more than that
to describe?
Speaker 5 (02:19):
But I can only recall him saying that, So.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
I should say that other officers and those attending that morning,
some say he was calm, Some say he was wailing
and crying. A defense lawyer Ron Mansfield told the court
that Madison must deal with all kinds of states of
emotion in her line of work.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
And I would have thought there's no ideal or standard
presentation of somebody. Would that be right?
Speaker 4 (02:48):
That is correct?
Speaker 5 (02:49):
Everyone responds differently.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Some people are broken down and can hardly speak, can
hardly move as one extreme. Yes, and then some people
are composed trying to deal with the situation and try
to ensure that they provide you with as much help
as they can.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Yes, all right, Chelsea. Well, the responders also spoke about
some kind of wound on Pip poking Horn's head. Is
that right?
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Yeah, So this was something that was alluded to yesterday
in the Crown's hours long opening. It seems like paramedics
and police officers at the scene all agree they saw
kind of that cut, a graze or something in the
middle of his forehead. Here's Constable Andrew Robbins, like.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
Pretty much right in the center of his forehead. How
would you describe it? Ah, It's probably about maybe no
bigger than the size of a golf ball in terms
of the diameter, and it was more like a graze.
It didn't like as if you know, you'd bang your
head on concrete or something, didn't look like a deep
cut or anything.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Chelsea did because we will say anything else, because he
was the one who got poking Horn's first state.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Yes, so he was in that statement, which took about
forty odd minutes to take. He explained the events of
the night before and that morning he had mentioned that
Hannah had his history of depression. She was taking antidepression.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
Pauline has been on and off depressed for several years.
She takes some antidepressant medication. I'm not sure what it's called.
She has been taking it for several years. I'm not
sure she still has been taking it recently. She has
also suffered from bolimia about five years ago. She has
(04:36):
been taking weight reduction medication. Also. Pauline has been exhausted
in recent times. This has been mainly from working such
long hours.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
After tulking Horn finished giving his statement, he read each
page and he signed them a comfortable Roland then handed
the signs document over to his sergeant, Chris.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
Duillian gave him all the papers, and at that point
Sergeant Chris had written on his hand the number one
in the letter C and he showed it to me,
which is basically police code for suspicious circumstances.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
So by late morning, before Polkinghorn's statement was finished, officers
were treating this scene as suspicious. We'll be hearing more
from the crown witnesses tomorrow as well.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
And indeed, just a little while ago in the court
we heard a bit more detail about Pauline Hannah's body
and the injuries she had.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Yeah, so the detective Comfortable Book Everson, gave evidence this afternoon.
She was in charge of Hannah's body. She was found
on the ground covered with a dou vet with a
pillow under her hand, lying on her back. She was
wearing a white dressing down tied with a knot at
the waist. It's kind of like a rogue waistband. Her
head was tilted to the left, and there was obvious
(05:57):
markings on her neck about three centimeters and whip in
a cliff cross kind of pattern on the right side
of the front of her neck. There was a cut
on the left side of the bridge of her nose.
It was fresh, not scabbed over, she said, and there
was blood coming from her left to ear. There was
some bruising on her inner right side and on her
(06:18):
left hand. There was blood between her four and middle fingers,
but that didn't appear to be a cat. It was
just blood, so we'll hear more about that tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Chelsea Daniels, thank you so much. Chelsea is in courtant
for more coverage from Chelsea on the strial, you can
listen to the podcast it's called Accused the Poking Horn Trial.
It's on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
News Talk Sibby.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to
News Talk sid By from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
In the second day of Philip Pokinghorn's trial has begun.
The former organdized surgeon is accused of murdering his wife,
Pauline Hannah, in April twenty twenty one, although his defense
claims she took her own life. So today the court
began to hear from those who first attended the scene
at the couple's remu were a home after Pokinghorn called
(00:20):
one one one as saying his wife was dead. We
have Chelsea Daniels there covering the trial. She's with us now, Hello,
Chelsea him What was the focus of today's evidence.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Well, just like you said, we heard from those who
first attended this scene the couple's renue a home. It
painted a picture of what happened that morning, what poking
Horn told first responders, and what he says happened the
night before. The pair had a drink or two in
their upstairs library and she cook to dinner. They watched
a bit of Netflix together before going to bed around
(00:55):
ten pm. He got up early around seven forty five
to make breakfast. Tent and he used another stairwell to
get to the kitchen, the closest to the master bedroom
and sleeping in but After that, he went to go
upstairs via another staircase, and that's when he finds Hannah
plumped leaning forward in a chair with a belt around
(01:15):
her neck.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
What was it in the court about Polkinghorn's demeanor that morning?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Well, Saint John's charamedic Hannah and Mathison was one of
the first ambulance members actually at the Upland Road scene.
She told Barrister Brian Vicky as she was asking him
questions about that morning's event, he seemed calm.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Did he say anything about the patient that he knew
that she was dead our end?
Speaker 4 (01:41):
Yeah, that she was his wife.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
How did he appear at this time when you were
speaking with.
Speaker 5 (01:46):
Him fasionably calm, wasn't crying, didn't seem distressed, was answering
our questions appropriately? Yeah, gave full name and date of birth,
said that the patient had depression, but was unaware of
(02:08):
the names of any medications that the patient took.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Did the patient had depression that he did he just
say just that or did he say more than that
to describe?
Speaker 5 (02:19):
But I can only recall him saying that, So.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
I should say that other officers and those attending that morning,
some say he was calm, Some say he was wailing
and crying. A defense lawyer Ron Mansfield told the court
that Madison must deal with all kinds of states of
emotion in her line of work.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
And I would have thought there's no ideal or standard
presentation of somebody. Would that be right?
Speaker 4 (02:48):
That is correct?
Speaker 5 (02:49):
Everyone responds differently.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Some people are broken down and can hardly speak, can
hardly move as one extreme. Yes, and then some people
are composed trying to deal with the situation and try
to ensure that they provide you with as much help
as they can.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
Yes, all right, Chelsea. Well, the responders also spoke about
some kind of wound on Pip poking Horn's head. Is
that right?
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Yeah, So this was something that was alluded to yesterday
in the Crown's hours long opening. It seems like paramedics
and police officers at the scene all agree they saw
kind of that cut, a graze or something in the
middle of his forehead. Here's Constable Andrew Robbins, like.
Speaker 4 (03:34):
Pretty much right in the center of his forehead. How
would you describe it? Ah, It's probably about maybe no
bigger than the size of a golf ball in terms
of the diameter, and it was more like a graze.
It didn't like as if you know, you'd bang your
head on concrete or something, didn't look like a deep
cut or anything.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Chelsea did because we will say anything else, because he
was the one who got poking Horn's first state.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Yes, so he was in that statement, which took about
forty odd minutes to take. He explained the events of
the night before and that morning he had mentioned that
Hannah had his history of depression. She was taking antidepression.
Speaker 4 (04:15):
Pauline has been on and off depressed for several years.
She takes some antidepressant medication. I'm not sure what it's called.
She has been taking it for several years. I'm not
sure she still has been taking it recently. She has
also suffered from bolimia about five years ago. She has
(04:36):
been taking weight reduction medication. Also. Pauline has been exhausted
in recent times. This has been mainly from working such
long hours.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
After tulking Horn finished giving his statement, he read each
page and he signed them a comfortable Roland then handed
the signs document over to his sergeant, Chris.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
Duillian gave him all the papers, and at that point
Sergeant Chris had written on his hand the number one
in the letter C and he showed it to me,
which is basically police code for suspicious circumstances.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
So by late morning, before Polkinghorn's statement was finished, officers
were treating this scene as suspicious. We'll be hearing more
from the crown witnesses tomorrow as well.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
And indeed, just a little while ago in the court
we heard a bit more detail about Pauline Hannah's body
and the injuries she had.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Yeah, so the detective Comfortable Book Everson, gave evidence this afternoon.
She was in charge of Hannah's body. She was found
on the ground covered with a dou vet with a
pillow under her hand, lying on her back. She was
wearing a white dressing down tied with a knot at
the waist. It's kind of like a rogue waistband. Her
head was tilted to the left, and there was obvious
(05:57):
markings on her neck about three centimeters and whip in
a cliff cross kind of pattern on the right side
of the front of her neck. There was a cut
on the left side of the bridge of her nose.
It was fresh, not scabbed over, she said, and there
was blood coming from her left to ear. There was
some bruising on her inner right side and on her
(06:18):
left hand. There was blood between her four and middle fingers,
but that didn't appear to be a cat. It was
just blood, so we'll hear more about that tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Chelsea Daniels, thank you so much. Chelsea is in courtant
for more coverage from Chelsea on the strial, you can
listen to the podcast it's called Accused the Poking Horn Trial.
It's on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
News Talk Sibby.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to
News Talk sid By from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
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