Chelsea Daniels: ZB reporter on the intensive search of Phillip Polkinghorne's home during murder trial

Day three of Phillip Polkinghorne's murder trial has featured testimony around an orange rope and investigations after the death.

Polkinghorne is accused of killing his wife, Pauline Hanna, in 2021 with debate in court today about a rope found on scene.

The Crown claims the rope hadn't enough tension for Hanna to use it take her life,  but the defence says Polkinghorne loosened it when he found her.

ZB reporter Chelsea Daniels says the jury also heard about the intensive search of the Remuera home.

"Police scoured every one of the 370 square meters of that Upland Road home. Four bedrooms, four bathrooms, the library, the kitchen, the study, the laundry - everything."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's the case that everybody's talking about. I can tell
you that the stats are in from our websites and
everybody's clicking. They want every little salacious detail. I mean,
it's got everything. It's got rich people in remi wearer,
It's got accusations of murder, accusations of suicide, drugs, sex
and everything. It is the trial of Philip Polkinghorn and
today was day three. The former is surgeon is accused

(00:22):
of murdering his wife, Pauline Hannah, in April of twenty
twenty one, but he maintains she took her own life.
Chelsea Daniels has been in court and she's rushed across
town and she joins me. Now, hello, Chelsea, hey aa.
So what was the focus of today's evidence.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Well, day three centered around a bright orange rope hanging
from a balustrade or a railing. Officers believe the rope
Philip Polkinghorn said his wife had used to take her
own life simply didn't have enough tension. A detective, Ilona
Walton told the court attention test was done on the
rope and it was unusual how it unraveled with little

(00:59):
force from memory.

Speaker 3 (01:00):
It was just like a finger and a thumb, and
it was like a light poll. It wasn't It certainly
wasn't a hard yank. It was just a gentle light pole.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
Sergeant Christian Ioga was the one who did the tension test,
where he pinched the rope and pulled with minimal effort,
to which it then unraveled. It unraveled so much that
photo's first show at dangling overhead in the entrance way,
and then others touched with it, touching the white tiles below.
He then tested the part of the rope that was

(01:31):
tied around three rods of that second floor railing.

Speaker 3 (01:35):
I put my finger on top to see if it
would slide up and down, and again with a minimum tension,
that rope that's tied around the three balustrades slipped down
a little bit.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
He said he didn't think it could sustain or support
any weight. Ron Mansfield, the defense, has pointed out Polkinghorn
has admitted he actually undid a bit of the rope
prior to lessen the tension around his wife's neck.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
But the defense questioned this team yes.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
So Ron Mansfield asked a Detective Walton why she didn't
speak to Polkinghorn after the test was done in order to.

Speaker 4 (02:09):
See whether there might be a very logical explanation for
our the loosely rope on top of the stairs so
easily once again just fell downstairs.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
And like I said, he noted his client had already
admitted touching the rope that.

Speaker 4 (02:23):
Morning, and then within that statement you would have noted
that it read I did the following things, and because
I was so flustered, I undid the belt and rope
from around Pauline's neck and then went upstairs to undo

(02:44):
the knock from the court.

Speaker 3 (02:46):
Can you see that?

Speaker 1 (02:48):
All right? So we know? And police told us that
they examined the scene for eight days and all that
was detailed this afternoon. Can you tell us anything about that?

Speaker 2 (02:57):
Well? Police scoured every one of the three hundred and
seventy square meters of that Upland Road home, four bedrooms,
four bathrooms, the library, the kitchen, the study, the laundry, everything.
Sergeant Aioga assumed the role of officer in charge of
the scene. He was asked using photos to take us
through the examination and some of the things he found

(03:18):
along the way. He noted a pink container with black
riding in a drawer and an en suite, a red
littered container in the master bedroom, a brown black box
under the bed with a butane lighter.

Speaker 3 (03:31):
Is it a box beside it? Yes, that is a
box beside it. And then upon opening the box, as
you can see in image ninety seven, it revealed a
used glass pipe which is commonly used to smoke meth
and fetamine.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
We know that thirty seven point seven grams of myth
that would be found in total dotted all around the house.
And the trial will continue tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (03:56):
Andrew, quite a few people have said to me that
thirty seven grams, there's quite a lot of myth. You
say back to them, how do you know?

Speaker 2 (04:02):
Well, I made my own inquiries. I didn't know this either,
but apparently a a dose is usually around a tenth
of a gram.

Speaker 1 (04:09):
Right, okay. And meanwhile, all this that you are seeing
is going to be made into a podcast, Yes Accused.

Speaker 2 (04:16):
The Pulkinghorn Trial. You can find it on the front page,
podcast feed or on iHeartRadio or wherever you get.

Speaker 1 (04:24):
Your podcast Telsea. Thank you for you. See you again tomorrow.

Speaker 4 (04:28):
For more from Hither Duplessy, Allen Drive listen live to
news talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio