Philip Polkinghorne trial: Forensic scientist details what was and wasn’t found at Remuera home

Monday, 5 August 2024

In Philip Polkinghorne's trial, first responders testified about the scene of his wife's death, which he claims was a suicide. Police initially found the situation suspicious, noting injuries and inconsistencies.

Health boss Pauline Hanna was found dead on April 5, 2021 at the Remuera home she shared with her husband.

After an extensive and lengthy police investigation, her husband, eye surgeon Philip Polkinghorne, was charged with murder.

Polkinghorne has pleaded not guilty and the trial is under way at the High Court at Auckland.

Warning: The details of this case may be distressing for some readers.

Two days after eye surgeon Philip Polkinghorne called emergency services to tell them he’d found his wife dead, a forensic pathologist wrote in her notes after a police briefing the death was been treated as a homicide and the suicide had potentially been staged.

Philip Polkinghorne denies killing his wife.

But the forensic scientist said she still kept an open mind as to the cause of death throughout the examination of the Remuera home over the following days.

Polkinghorne, a 71-year-old eye doctor, has admitted charges of possessing methamphetamine and a pipe to smoke the A-class drug but has denied murdering his wife. Hanna was found dead in the entranceway of their Remuera home on April 5, Easter Monday, in 2021.

The Crown’s case is that Polkinghorne was living a double life, he had obsession with sex and meth and was in a covert relationship with an escort in Sydney. It argues Polkinghorne murdered Hanna before staging their home to make it look like suicide.

Polkinghorne’s defence is that Hanna had a history of mental health issues, was on medication, was exhausted by work and tragically took her own life.

The trial, now in its second week, continued hearing from forensic scientist Fiona Matheson on Monday.

The bedroom where Pauline Hanna is said to have slept the night before she died.

She was cross-examined by Ron Mansfield KC regarding the time she spent at the Remuera home. Matheson was called to the Remuera home at lunchtime on April 5, 2021 by Detective Senior Sergeant Chris Allan.

He’d told her police were at the property and there was a consideration at the time that the scene may be suspicious.

On Friday, Matheson took the jury through the various rooms in the house where she conducted the testing and her analysis.

On Monday, Matheson agreed with Mansfield that it was a very long period of time to be at a residential scene.

“That is at the upper end of the scale of the amount of time I would spend at a scene,” the scientist said.

She also agreed a significant amount of resource was placed into this investigation.

The white dressing gown Pauline Hanna was found in after she died on April 5.

Matheson told Mansfield she was briefed on the information around the possibility Hanna may have died by suicide, hence why she was at the scene.

“I was also informed for whatever reason there was some suspicious circumstances and police were looking to potentially answer whether it was a suicide or not,” Matheson said.

But two days after Hanna’s death and after pathology findings which didn’t support suicide by hanging, Matheson wrote in her notes after a police briefing that she was to treat the examination as a homicide, but it was still very early on in the investigation.

Matheson said it was easier to start processing the scene as a “homicide whodunnit scenario and then you can downgrade, it is very difficult to carry out a scene from reverse.”

The forensic scientist told Mansfield she covered all her options regardless of the outcomes later down the track and had both the defence and prosecution in mind.

“I was using that to balance my examinations to see if I could obtain any evidence to support one scenario over another,” she said.

On Monday afternoon, Mansfield spent some time looking at the dressing gown Hanna was found in. Matheson noted it appeared there was yellow staining on the white terry towelled bathrobe, but couldn’t say it was urine for sure.

It is common for bodily fluids to leak onto clothing or surfaces after someone has died.

Matheson said there was extensive staining on the robe.

The Upland Rd home was examinaed by police and forensics for a number of days after Pauline Hanna’s death.

Mansfield suggested the staining of the urine on the robe suggested Hanna died sitting down after hanging herself, which is what Polkinghorne told police.

“Based on the images before us staining appears to be on the lower end of the dressing gown,” Matheson said.

The forensic scientist was also asked whether the chair, found at the top of the stairs, swabbed in order to see if urine could be identified.

“No samples were taken from the chair, primarily because we don’t have a chemical test to prove urine is on an item,” Matheson said.

Matheson said there was no obvious urine staining underneath Hanna’s body where she was found lying.

Under re-examination by prosecutor Alysha McClintock, Matheson said she made no notes about any potential staining underneath or on the chair.

The forensic scientist said she was also “very reluctant” to comment on the potential staining on the dressing robe if Hanna had been lying down given the number of variables.

Earlier on Monday, Mansfield took Matheson through her analysis and testing of each room in the Remuera home.

There was also a probable blood stain on the bedding in the bedroom Polkinghorne said Hanna slept the night before. Mansfield said the court would hear later that the blood was Polkinghorne’s. Matheson said she couldn’t age the blood stain.

The jury was shown a video of Pauline Hanna visiting a rubbish tip the day before she died.

“It didn’t appear to be old is the best I can say. It could have been there for minutes, hours or days or potentially since the item was last washed. It is a continuum as to how long it could have been there,” Matheson said.

No other blood staining was found in that bedroom even with luminol testing, the scientist said.

Mansfield asked Matheson about her examination of the white walls on the landing and near the stairs.

“No blood was seen by me or my colleague during those examinations.

“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?” Mansfield asked.

Matheson said there was no damage, blood or bodily fluids.

The Crown case is the room Hanna slept in was dishevelled with sheets taken off the bed and an ottoman overturned which could explain a violent episode between the pair and the reason Hanna is dead.

Mansfield questioned Matheson about her examination of the toilet in the en suite of this bedroom.

“I took a sample of the liquid inside the toilet bowl which had the appearance of yellow…samples were taken from the toilet seat, underside, top of toilet bowl along with the flush button,” Matheson said.

The scientist said this was done in an attempt to show who may have contacted those particular areas. The court has previously heard traces of methamphetamine was found in the liquid sample.

No blood was found in the master bedroom where Polkinghorne told police he slept the night before he found his wife dead.

Matheson said as she was conducting testing in the en suite of the master bedroom she moved a blue towel to look for any possible blood stains. She found none, but as she moved the towel a small empty point bag fell out.

The court heard traces of meth were later found inside the point bag.

The trial, which is expected to last for at least 6 weeks, before Justice Graham Lang and a jury continues.