Days 30 - 31: Final witnesses take the stand after seven weeks of testimony

hearing evidence in the trial of Philip Polkinghorn. The former Auckland io surgeon, is accused of murdering his wife, Pauline Hannah, who was found dead on April fifth, twenty twenty one. He maintains she took her own life. In the final days of testimony, the debate over activity on Hannah's phone continued before the last two witnesses to take the stand offered their views on the state of her mental health and the risk factors that could have pushed her towards suicide.

Day thirty of the trials saw police digital forensic analyst June Lee return for further across examination. Lee was called as the Crown's last witness on Day twenty one, some weeks ago, to discuss the use of palling Hannah's phone in the hours before her death. He returned to the High Court at Auckland in week seven to continue his cross examination after the defense's IT expert at a can

at Shaho, testified on the Crown's version of events. You'll remember that data pulled from Pauline Hannah's phone appears to show that she looked up two contacts in her phone around four am on the morning of her death. Those contacts were Polkinghorn and the daughter of a family friend. The defense argument is that Hannah would have at least selected the contacts from within the messaging app, and possibly

also drafted and then deleted messages to them. The police digital forensic analyst June Lee has previously testified that the defense has misinterpreted an automatic security look up procedure to suggest the phone's messaging app was used. In fact, it was an automatic background security process. We know that, Lee said, because there are no corresponding device logs showing the phone

being moved or switched on. As Mansfield continued his cross examination of Lee, they discussed other factors, including the use of airplane mode and how police accessed Hannah's phone. Lee discussed how a program called gray Key was used, in his words, to brute force entry into Hannah's phone and extract its data, which was then analyzed by the program Celebrate gray Key and Celebright record time differently, which has led to some discrepancies between the logs for both programs.

The crux of the discussion revolved around the two interpretations of the phone's data, and neither Lee or Mansfield budged from their position at the end of hours of cross examination spread across several days in this trial, Lee's position remains that the activity at four a m was the Identitied look up service and not Hannah using the phone herself at acan. Shaho then returned to the stand to

discuss Lee's testimony. When he returned via video link to the court, Mansfield made a point of reiterating his witness's expertise when it comes to Apple products. Chaho is a registered Apple developer and has been using iOS eighteen software, which is not currently available to the public, since June. He therefore has more expertise on analyzing iPhones than Lee,

in the defense's view. Discussing the data logs for Hannah's phone, Shahos said the last entry for April fourth was ten forty seven pm and there are no device entries until April eight, which he said is quite peculiar. Mansfield then referred to a booklet of police photos showing Hannah's phone with its leather case open and the screen on about five pm on April fifth. The phone waking up and receiving text messages, as the photos show it had done,

was not recorded in the data logs. Chaho said that this perplexes him because if the device logs are correct, then they should show entries from April fifth. There should also be other logs before April eight, if the records are correct, he said, so he believes there's missing data between those dates. Shaho said that when you access a phone using a computer program like Celebride, things can happen

to the data. Under cross examination from Crown Prosecutor Alicia McClintock, Shaho said that, asides from working with Australian Federal Police on removing sex crime material from devices, he's never worked directly for a law enforcement organization. Asked on his views that Hannah accessed her phone at four am on April fifth. McClintock said that Shaho can't say for sure who would have been using it. He said, to his information, only

Hannah had access to her password and phone. McClintock said that Polkinghorn had told a friend he had accessed his wife's pass code at one point in time. Asked if he had seen the raw data analyzed by police, Shaho said the Celebrate report contained the raw data. The Crown argued that those two elements are separate, and Shaho said he has not looked at the raw data separately from

the report. The next witness for the defense is doctor David Menx, a Yale trained psychiatrist who now lives in Raglan. Due to the lengthy it testimony, Menx took the witness box late in the day on Thursday, and his testimony carried into day thirty one. He said Hannah had several risk factors for suicide on the night before her death. Continuing from earlier testimony, defense lawyer Ron Mansfield questioned him on whether the combination of Zoppa clone and alcohol helps

with getting to sleep definitely, mens said. He said tolerance to alcohol could cause the person to wake after getting to sleep because alcohol clears from the body quickly. He added, with chronic use, there's the possibility of going into withdrawal symptoms during the night, including nervousness and agitation on waking. Asked about the presentation of suicide risk, Manx explained there is no typical presentation of suicide risk. In fact, suicidal

behavior and risk varies enormously between people. When Crown Solicitor Alicia McClintock started her cross examination, she asked Manx to confirm that he couldn't be sure the combination of potential risk factors was present for Hannah on the night of April fourth, twenty twenty one. He acknowledged he could not do this. She questioned Manx on the bereavement of Hannah's mother in February twenty twenty one. He agreed not much weight should be put onto the event because it was

two months prior to Hannah's death. It was also an expected event following a long and difficult illness. McClintock pointed out there was evidence from people who knew Hannah that she was sad but philosophical about her mother's death. However, Menx pointed out Hannah had been very connected to her mother and had expressed thoughts of ending her life to a GP on December twenty third, twenty nineteen. The thoughts

were connected to her mother's deteriorating condition. We've heard earlier in the trial Hannah called her GP and expressed suicidal thoughts because her husband had left her and her mother was in hospital. It later emerged in evidence Polkinghorn said he was on a course but in fact had flown to Sydney. He was meant to attend family Christmas at their Rings Beach batch in the Coromandel. Mens was not able to say how much these events added to Hannah's

suicide risk profile. He also confirmed there was no medical evidence confirming Hannah had attempted to take her own life in nineteen ninety two. As her sister Tracy earlier testified, questioning moved on to Hannah's prescription drug use. Hannah was prescribed an amphetamine diet drug phenamine, also known as juramine. Several witnesses have questioned the practice of long term prescribing of the drug. One of the side effects is depression.

Menx agreed with McClintock the risk of depression was more likely when a person starts to take the drug. He confirmed evidence showed that Zoppa clone was prescribed to Polkinghorn, not Hannah. He commented it was discouraged for practitioners to self prescribe or prescribed to family members. McClintock asked Menx if he saw any evidence of impulsivity or disinhibition in Hannah's behavior before her death. Not so much at the

behavior of level, he said. The more striking aspect to her case was how her speech would sometimes get loosened up when she was drinking. More than one witness commented, Hannah talked more freely when she had been drinking. Wouldn't the same be true for most of us, McClintock asked absolutely. Menx replied. He confirmed there was enough Zoppa clone found in the couple's Upland Road home that it could have

been a lethal dose if taken all at once. Mens said that the major risk factor he saw in the days before Hannah's death was her disrupted sleep pattern, with the trial having heard earlier she was sending emails at all hours of the night. McClintock said that the trial has also heard Polkinghorn was sending emails late at night. Do we also take that into account in assessing Polkinghorn's risk factors for violence? She asked. Mens said that is

not something he looked at. He said methanphetamine and prior instances of intimate partner violence would be risk factors for violence. Returning for questions in reply, Mansfield asked about suicide risk and if we look at an individual or a combination of factors, Menx said it's a frustrating challenge and a person's vulnerability to the risk factors depend on context, mood,

and circumstances at the time. The trial has heard a lot from different friends and work colleagues about Hannah's behavior in the weeks and months before her death, Menx said it's difficult to say if any of them would have been able to identify those risks. For coverage of other news events in New Zealand, listen to the front page The Herald's daily news podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

After a brief statement was read to the court from Joanne Ung, an accountant with the RSM, to clarify an issue with accounting evidence raised earlier in the trial, the defense then called the final witness of the trial. Associate Professor Sarah Hettrick is an academic at the University of Auckland and is also the principal Clinical advisor at the Suicide Prevention Office. Under questioning from defense lawyer Ron Mansfield, Hetrick said it's a myth that well presenting, high performing

Type A personalities are immune from suicide. She said, there's no combination of risk factors enabling someone to say who might commit suicide. Even when directly asked, two thirds to three quarters of people who subsequently go on to take their own lives have denied feeling suicidal. We have no ability to predict suicide. The science is very clear around that, Hetrick said. Even suicidal thinking is not something that can

be used to predict the risk of suicide. She added, and there's no need for a diagnosed mental illness for someone to commit suicide. Something like forty to fifty percent of people who commit suicide in this country have had no contact with mental health services, she said. And while a person's loved ones would like there to be a note, Hettrick said, only a quarter of people leave a note, and they often don't contain any explanation. Asked about people's

reactions to traumatic events. Hettrick said people can present in a composed way even when they're feeling overwhelmed with grief, and that can impact how we recall events as well. That concludes all the witness testimony from the Crown and the defense. Over eighty people have appeared in the witness box via video link or had statements read out to

the jury. Over the last seven weeks, We've heard from police officers who arrived at the Upland Road scene of Hannah's death on April fifth, twenty twenty one, and forensic specialists who became involved in various stages of the police investigation. We've heard about Polkinghorn's increasing use of meth and sex workers, tensions at his workplace, his disappearance from Christmas twenty nineteen,

and conflicting views on how he treated his wife. We've also heard about Hannah's work stresses during the COVID pandemic at a time when her mother was slowly dying. We've heard about her reliance on medication and alcohol and an alleged suicide attempt in nineteen ninety two, and the more recent history concerning her mental health. Her brother testified for the Crown, while her sister was the first witness for

the defense. Both the Crown and defense called family, friends, colleagues, neighbors. Those Crown witnesses tended to have suspicions about Polkinghorn's absence from family events, his weight loss, his work stresses, and his treatment of Hannah, while feeling she was coping well

despite the problems in her life. While the defense witnesses hadn't noticed any changes in Polky, that he was still his usual funny, intelligent, giving work focused self, but at the same time noticed that Hannah seemed to be struggling. Forensic accountants have looked through the couple's finances. IT experts have analyzed their technology, Mental health and drug experts have weighed in. Electricity experts have debated what time the kettle

was turned on. Philip Polkinghorn himself never took the stand, but we heard his voice twice, once on day one when his one one one call was played to the courtroom, and again when his lengthy hours long police interview was shown. And Pauline Hannah was heard in her own words, recorded at her family farm, talking at length about the problems in her life, while emails and text messages gave the court insight into her state of mind over the last

few years of her life. Week eight will see the Crown and Defense deliver their closing addresses before Justice Graham lang sums up the case. Then it will be up to the jury to determine if Philip Pulkinghorn is guilty or not guilty. 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 Sills and sound engineer Patty Fox. Additional production support by Helen King. Additional reporting from The heralds Craig Captain and George Block And for more coverage of the Polkinghorn trial had to ensid Herald dot co dot enz