Philip Polkinghorne trial: Pauline Hanna told GP of ‘suicidal thoughts’, court hears

Thursday, 15 August 2024

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

More than a year before Pauline Hanna was found dead in her Remuera home, she called her GP disclosing she had suicidal thoughts as her husband had left her and her mother was in hospital, but had no plans to act on them.

The GP, who has interim name suppression, is giving evidence at the murder trial of Hanna’s husband Philip Polkinghorne.

Polkinghorne, a 71-year-old eye doctor, has denied murdering his wife. She was found dead in the entranceway of their Remuera home. The trial is under way at the High Court in Auckland.

The Crown’s case is that Polkinghorne was living a double life, he had an 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 long history of mental health issues, was on medication, was exhausted by work and tragically took her own life.

Pauline Hanna’s mental health and medication

On December 23, 2019, Hanna called her GP indicating she was not well.

'She was my last phone call for the day. I spoke with her, she said she was not feeling well, her mother was in the hospital and her husband had left her and she has some suicidal thoughts.

'I asked if she had plans, she said 'no, I just don't feel right',' the GP recalled.

The GP organised a call with the community crisis team.

The following morning the GP checked back in with Hanna who said she was 'feeling better', had had contact with the crisis team and told her GP not to worry and to have Merry Christmas.

Prior to that the GP said Hanna had not disclosed any suicidal thoughts.

The GP said she’d been Hanna’s doctor since 2009.

The court heard how Hanna had been prescribed Fluoxetine - an anti-depressant commonly known as Prozac from 2001 through to her death.

Hanna had also been prescribed naltrexone - medication given to patients to help with alcohol withdrawal issues. .

The doctor said in 2013, Hanna 'appropriately' went to see a psychiatrist and discussed alcohol issues she had at that time. She was prescrbed naltexone for 6 months.

A letter from a psychiatrist dated February 2013, said Hanna told the psychiatrist she was drinking one bottle of wine per night, had frequent black outs and couldn't remember previous evenings.

This prompted her to seek specialist support.

Hanna also was prescribed duromine - medication for weight control.

Prosecutor Alysha McClintock asked if there was any issues with Hanna taking all these medications at the same time.

The GP said there wasn't.

'Every medication has interactions, if you look at what is written on the paper we won’t give anyone nothing - not even paracetamol.'

Under cross-examination by Hannah Stuart, one of Polkinghorne’s lawyers, the GP was quizzed on the various prescriptions for anti-depressants over two decades and questioned why there was no referral to a mental health specialist in the notes.

The GP said from 2004 there was a record Hanna was seeing a counsellor regularly, seeing many psychologists.

Stuart also listed some of the side effects of mixing alcohol with anti-depressants.

'On paper everything is like that…in real life I can tell you half patients on Prozac or any other anti-depressant do take alcohol. I advise not to do that, but reality is patients often ignore advice.'

The GP agreed with Stuart that Hanna had been prescribed an anti-depressant for mood-swings and depression.

'She had severe depression lots of relationship issues with her husband’s children. Also told she should be seen by psychologist.'

In regards to the weight-loss medication, the GP was questioned why Hanna was prescribed it when her BMI was only “slightly overweight”.

Stuart suggested one of the side-effects of Reductil was that it magnified depressive thoughts and could effect the mood.

The GP disagreed.

'You’ll be surprised how many patients take weight loss medication, have more energy and more happier because I think they are achieving the goal.'

Stuart pointed out after two months on the medication she hadn't lost any weight

In September 2004, doctor's notes said Hanna reported severe depression and having lots of issues with Polkinghorne's children.

Stuart asked if the powerful cocktail of medication and introduction of Reductil coincided with the severe depression.

'I think she had a trigger,' the GP said referring to the issues with Polkinghorne's children.

Pauline Hanna ‘had a lot to live for’

John Riordan continued giving evidence on Thursday. He’d previously told the court about a dinner he’d had with Hanna, his wife and their son in January 2020 where Hanna disclosed Polkinghorne had put his hands around her neck.

“She said: ‘He tried to strangle me’,” Riordan said. The couple were extremely concerned about Hanna and told her to pack her bags and return to Hawke’s Bay.

On Thursday, prosecutor Alysha McClintock asked about Hanna’s change around Polkinghorne.

“The first 10 years of the marriage the undermining didn’t occur or if it did it was very subtle.

“Over time it got more and more prevalent and the remarks were harder hitting,” Riordan said.

Riordan said he never spoke to Polkinghorne about the comments, but spoke to Hanna.

“All marriages take the mickey out of each other but both parties know it’s a joke… but when he said it, it always felt like she was being told off,” Riordan said.

Riordan said he’d known Hanna from university days, the pair were close and would talk about “all sorts of things”.

For a period of time Riordan took anti-depressants and spoke to Hanna about it.

Hanna told him she’d been taking the medication for years.

“If you’ve got a heart problem you take a heart tablet. Never any thought to her covering it up.”

McClintock asked if Hanna had ever indicated she might harm herself.

“No, far from it… last time I saw her, she was talking about the grand-kids… she was their grandmother and she was so excited about that whole process and being part of their lives. She had a lot to live for.”

‘The police are going to charge me with murder’

Days after the Riordans found out their friend had died, they received a call from Polkinghorne.

“When we answered the phone he was already crying… ‘my darling wife she’s gone’.

“That’s what stuck with me. He was crying. Not an unusual emotion to have if your wife has died,” Riordan said.

Riordan said Polkinghorne spoke about the loss and it was all at the same level of emotion, but when he started talking about the police “he stopped (crying) and there was no emotion in his voice whatsoever”.

“He (Polkinghorne) said ‘the police are going to charge me with murder’,” Riordan said.

Riordan was 100% sure those words were said by Polkinghorne.

Polkinghorne then returned to talking about Hanna and started crying immediately again.

Friend accused of reading media reports, amping up evidence

Under cross-examination, defence lawyer Ron Mansfield KC asked if Riordan’s fondness for Hanna made him angry, or if he was concerned to hear that Hanna’s death was treated by police as suspicious and that Polkinghorne was a suspect.

Riordan said he and his wife flew up to Auckland days after Hanna’s death to provide a statement to police.

“What I wanted was for Pauline to receive justice in whatever form,” Riordan said.

Mansfield questioned Riordan on why he’d told the prosecutor on Wednesday a more detailed version of the dinner where Hanna disclosed the strangling incident, but hadn’t detailed certain parts to police in 2021.

“Do you think you’ve read the various reports on this trial and think you can add a wee bit to what actually happened that night to improve your position for your dear friend?” Mansfield asked.

Riordan said he’d made a point of not reading anything.

“It’s just horrific… it’s not the memory of my friend,” Riordan said.

Mansfield suggested Riordan wanted to seek justice for Hanna based on his impressions of what she’d told them.

“Not based on my impressions, I want to see this court provide justice for Pauline,” Riordan said.

“Is that why you’ve amped up what you want us to accept us to say?” Mansfield asked to which Riordan replied: “I don’t think that at all.”

“Do you think that you and Pheasant [his wife] just took this claim about the strangulation to be the alcohol talking?”

Riordan disagreed.

Riordan agreed with Mansfield there was no mention of discussions between him and Hanna about her feeling threatened, violence, or her complaining about being controlled by Polkinghorne, while he was having a drink with Hanna after a dinner at Upland Rd.

“If you took Pauline seriously that night about what she said then you would have had further discussions about her and you didn’t?” Mansfield asked Riordan again.

“We did but it was on the phone,” Riordan replied.

Under re-examination, Riordan confirmed Hanna had told him she’d been strangled and he and his wife would talk about it often as it had stood out.

The friend also said the conversation was unusual as Hanna was usually very supportive of her husband.

“She always sort of backed him up. The guard came down and she poured it out,” Riordan said.

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