Kiyota. I'm Chelsea Daniels and from the team behind the front page the New Zealand Herald's daily news podcast, This is Accused the Polkinghorn Trial. Over the next six weeks, in conjunction with our usual daily episodes, we'll be bringing you regular coverage as one of the most high profile trials of the year makes its way through the High Court at Auckland. A warning, this podcast contains disturbing content. Philip Polkinghorn is accused of murdering his wife, Pauline Hannah,
but he's adamant she took her own life. Last week we heard the Crown's opening address, all of the things it intends to prove led to the death of the DHB boss and potentially why. It says polking Horn strangled his wife as he found it harder to keep his double life of sex and meth use intact. Over the next six weeks, we'll hear from friends and family who will claim the pair's relationship was on shaky ground and that Hannah was finding it difficult to deal with his
aggression and daily sexual demands. But he says she hung herself. She had a history of depression and the continued stress of her high profile work was too much. He maintains their relationship was loving, quite good, perfect. Last week we heard from those first on the scene who almost immediately deemed it suspicious. The rope tied to the upstairs balustrade was too loose, the tension to lax. But why on the morning of April fifth, twenty twenty one did police
deem the scene suspicious so quickly? Polkinghorn was cooperative, gave a statement and explained how he'd found his wife slumped in a chair in the entrance way after he'd started on a breakfast of tea and toast. Day six began with a cross examination of ESR forensic scientist Fiona Matheson, who started her testimony on Friday or Day five. This cross examination is a chance for the defense to question
the crown witness. You'll remember last week the jury heard how police and forensic scientists spent eleven days at the scene. Defense lawyer Ron Mansfield has suggested forensic scientists were at the Upland Road scene for an extraordinarily long time. Usually in a homicide inquiry they're gone after two or three days. He has characterized their work as a desperate but largely futile effort to find evidence of a struggle.
I think on our quick can I said, it's crude telling it's like an excessive fifty three hours at the address. Would you have a better figure for me?
Not without sitting and doing, particularly what you've just done. Certainly I was the for from Monday through to Sunday. Some days were longer than others. So yes, potentially it is close to fifty to sixty.
Hours, and you and I would agree that that is a very long period of time for a residential address.
That based on my experiences at the upper end of the scale for the amount of time I would normally spend it a scene.
Matheson was at the scene to scour it for clues as to whether Hannah's death was a suicide or something more sinister. She was already aware police deemed the scene suspicious. We already know the Crown isn't relying too much on forensics done at the scene. Alicia McClintock has already made that clear in their opening address. But it's important for ESR to walk the jury through what they didn't find
just as much as what they may have. Mansfield questioned, matheson on whether she'd found any stain on the bed and what samples were taken from the guest room where Hannah had supposedly slept the night before. Mansfield's point here is that there was a lack of bodily fluids, hairs, or blood spatter on the carpet in her room or on the route to where her body was found.
Was there any blood other than that identified?
The only blood identified in this room was that that we've just talked about on the sheet. The examinations of the room included a luminal examination and no blood was detected on any of the flooring surfaces.
So no splatter, no smears, no drips, nothing, no blood was detected.
A brown stain found on a fitted sheet in Hannah's bedroom, repeatedly referred to by witnesses last week, was found to belong to Philip Pulkinghorn, not his wife Pauline Hannah.
It could have been there for minutes, hours, or days, or potentially since the item was last washed, and pining on how well the item is washed, it may not have been removed and washing, so there's a continuum of how long it could have been there.
So in short, it's stopped the pulping horns.
Blood.
We'll get that confirmed, but we don't know when it was deposited and or how long it's been there.
No, we do not.
Ron Mansfield pointed out no blood was found on the pristine white walls of the Polkinghorn home, which is decorated in various shades of white or cream, or on the route from Hannah's bedroom to the downstairs area where her body was found.
Yes, an examination was carried out both with and without a light to see whether or not there was any staining that could be attributed to blood on those walls.
So first with the naked eye, was any blood scene on that journey and that cureful examination through that journey.
No blood was seen by me or my colleague during those examinations.
So there was no damage in the bedroom or on that route that might have been caused by some sort of fight, assault or the moving of a body. And we already know from last week's testimony that there was no drag marks found either. Mansfield foreshadowed some evidence to be examined later in the trial. During his cross examination of Matheson, he mentioned, we're going to hear from some power experts concerning when the washing machine and dryer might
have been turned on. Last week, there was a lot of tiptoeing around the three slices of bread found in the toaster. Was it toasted or lightly toasted given the setting was pictured as being on one. We'll also likely hear more about the significance of the acrylic toeenaw found in the washing machine. In amongst women's exercise gear and teetowels, Mansfield also gave another glimpse into the contents of Polkinghorn's videoed police interview, which will be played to the court
later in the trial. In asking Matheson about her examination of the blue ottoman found on its side in the guest room Hannah had been in the night before her death, he mentioned Polkinghorn said he used it to reach to the top cupboard in the wardrobe to fetch three stuffed animals his wife had requested. These three toys can be seen in photos on the side table next to the bed where Hannah had slept in the afternoon's evidence centered around a dressing gown Hannah was wearing when she died.
It's white, made of terry toweling, one size fits all. It was stained yellow from urine, which isn't unusual given just before death or just after a body's muscles relax and bodily fluids can be discharged from the body. The court was shown a photo of the gown where it appears urine was heavily stained across the back at the bottom of the robe. Mansfield said, if someone was lying on the ground when the urine was released, then the urine would go between their legs and perhaps further up
the dressing gown. If someone was seated in a chair at the time of death, then it would go through their legs onto the seat, moving down the garment.
But here, if we look at the photograph, it appears at the urine staining. If we look at the belt, is underneath the belt down to the very bottom of the robe.
Correct, Yes, there is yellow staining on the what would be Miss Hannah's left side, towards the base of that front, and then on her right side there is extensive yellow staining covering the bulk of that lower side of the dressing gown.
Matheson said, if Hannah was sitting in a chair when she died and urinated, you would expect the chair to also be stained with urine. The seed of the chair was not swabbed for urine because ESR doesn't have that kind of chemical test.
There may be some tests available internationally. I know that ESR investigated using the main test that was used by the majority of the laboratories. We found that we got false positives with hand sanitizers, so that's the test we have access to. I'm to be fear I'm uncertain of the availability of other tests.
But anyway, it wasn't swabbed, so it couldn't later be tested correct.
No examination as such, and that for that manner was carried out on the chair.
There was no obvious urine below her body, staining where her body was removed. This testimony is important because of Polkinghorn's account of finding his wife in a chair. He's the only person with this account given. By the time first responders arrived at the scene, she was lying on the entranceway floor with a duvet over her a pillow under her head. On re examination from Crown Solicitor Alicia McClintock, Matheson was asked about a scenario where Hannah died lying down.
She said she's not confident she could say given the variables she'd have to consider, like how much urine had been released or the path of it. She's also not sure she would have seen urine staining on the chair or floor of the entrance way, and what about under the chair?
Did you lock them under the chair as well? Yet, certainly, as we talked about I was down looking at that general area, there was no specific staining noted on the ground in that area.
The Crown then called ESR forensic scientist Nicholas Kerno, whom Matheson earlier mentioned would be better place to answer questions around DNA. Both standard DNA analysis and the male specific ystr analysis were done. This is where they look for the Y chromosome only found in males. At the time, the samples from Hannah's neck were given a weak positive result and reported as possibly a blood stain. ESR has since updated its guidelines, meaning this would now be reported
as inconclusive for blood. Kerno went through his analysis of different samples taken from the Remuwaer home methodically. It included a sample from the left side of Hannah's neck found low level DNA from at least two people, explained by mixing of DNA from Hannah and Polkinghorn. Probable blood from the inner tip of the belt found in the kitchen was found to have had low level DNA from two people, a mix of Hannah and Polkinghorn.
The DNA detected in the probable blood from the plug hole could have originated from mister Polkinhorn.
He also analyze a sample taken from the top of the plug in that bathroom.
I did.
In was it using the standard DNA analysis?
Yes, belt please, the DNA detector could have originated from mister Polkinhorn.
Mansfield asked Kerono why protocols changed? Why is probable now inconclusive? Kerno said DNA testing is very sensitive and the male specific test is even slightly more sensitive. They're also not able to age DNA samples. Mansfield said, so it could have been there for minutes, hours, or days, or even much longer than that, to which Kern affirmed yes. The
trial continues tomorrow. You can listen to episodes of Accused the Polkinghorn Trial through the front Page podcast feed or find it on iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts. This series is presented and produced by me Chelsea Daniels with producer Ethan Seles and sound engineer Patty Fox. And for more coverage of the Polkinghorn trial head to enzidherld dot co dot enz