Philip Polkinghorne appears at the Auckland High Court on 29 July, 2024. Photo: RNZ/Nick Monro
An alleged murder victim was captured on CCTV a day before her death in possession of an orange rope found hanging from a balustrade in her home, a jury has heard.
Former eye surgeon Philip Polkinghorne is on trial at Auckland High Court for the murder of his wife, Pauline Hanna, at their Remuera home in April 2021. The Crown says he staged her death as a suicide. He has pleaded not guilty.
The defence disputes the Crown's claims, saying Hanna had her own mental health struggles but the couple had been "perfectly happy" together.
The start of Friday's proceedings were briefly delayed as staff attempted to restart the court's IT systems following a power outage earlier in the morning.
Sergeant Christian Iogha returned to the stand for a third day to be cross examined by Polkinghorne's lawyer, Ron Mansfield KC.
But as Mansfield and Iogha reviewed photos taken at the scene, a second power cut forced court to be adjourned.
As staff attempted to restart their systems a second time, their progress was undone by yet another blackout.
Justice Graham Lang said he still planned to continue with the day's proceedings.
Following the disruptions, Mansfield presented CCTV footage captured the day before Hanna's death at Enviro NZ Onehunga, a recycling station.
Hanna was seen driving a red ute, which Iogha confirmed he had seen at Polkinghorne's house, carrying an object tied down with what appeared to be the same orange rope found at the scene.
"It's clear that on 4 April 2021 between 2:15pm and 3:09pm at Enviro NZ Onehunga we know [Pauline Hanna] was in possession of the orange rope... she has handled that orange rope," Mansfield told the jury.
Crown prosecutor Alysha McClintock asked Iogha to detail the various medications found throughout the house, noting that police specifically sought to identify medications when a death had been reported as suicide.
Among several medications, he identified "one box containing a blister pack of Fluoxetine... in the name of Pauline Hanna. There were two capsules present."
Fluoxetine is a common antidepressant.
The Crown's next witness was forensic scientist Fiona Matheson, who examined the scene.
"The bulk of the work that I've done relies on searching and testing for blood... and trace DNA samples," she explained.
Matheson clarified she was not personally involved in testing any of the drugs found in Polkinghorne's home.
She explained her method of testing for blood.
"Once I've identified a stain... I have chemical tests I can use. They give a positive result with blood, but they can also give positive results with other substrates," she said.
"Using a combination of the colour and appearance, and a positive result with the test, I can call a stain as being blood."
Matheson said she identified a number of possible blood stains throughout the house, but many of her tests were inconclusive.
She said Hanna's left hand appeared to have blood on it.
"There was staining with the appearance of blood [on her left hand]," she said.
"[But] I didn't carry out any presumptive testing to confirm it was blood... It's not normal for me to take samples from bodies at scenes."
A handrail above Hanna's body was also tested for blood.
"There was staining detected on that handrail. That particular stain was recorded as possible blood, it's inconclusive in that other substances can give positive results."
She explained that "possible" or "probable" blood stains returned positive test results but did not necessarily have the appearance of blood.
In the bathroom and laundry, Matheson identified probable blood around the edges of two drains.
"Blood was probably present on the silver ring around the plughole in the vanity basin," she said.
"Probable blood was [also] found on the plug hole within the laundry tub. I took a sample of that. The buttons for the controls of the appliances were tested, but no blood was detected."
She also noted blood stains on Polkinghorne's landline phone.
"Blood was detected on the 7 and star buttons," she said.
"Blood was probably present on the buttons that were 1, 2, 4, 6, 8 and the hash button. No blood was found on the 3, 9 and 0 buttons."
The trial will resume on Monday with Matheson's cross-examination.
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