Lawyer Ron Mansfield representing Philip Polkinghorne at the High Court at Auckland. Photo: RNZ/Nick Monro
Philip Polkinghorne's lawyer says the Crown has wrongly painted the former eye surgeon as a villain.
A hand to his head, Polkinghorne hid his face from the jury as defence lawyer Ron Mansfield KC read his closing address on Tuesday.
Polkinghorne is accused of killing his wife, Pauline Hanna, while Mansfield hoped to convince the jury her death was a suicide.
The former opthemologist had few secrets left, after countless intimate details were revealed and repeated over an eight week trial.
Philip Polkinghorne had extramarital relationships with three women, including an affair with sex worker Madison Ashton.
He was using meth, and had 37 grams worth over $13,000 hidden throughout his home.
Mansfield said the Crown had used that information to cast him as the villain in a murder mystery.
"It's convenient for the Crown to paint him as the villain," he told the jury.
"Certainly the Crown has spent considerable time during the course of this trial to place before you evidence which is likely to lead you think less of him than you might if you were to meet him [in person]."
But he urged the 11 jurors not to let moral judgments cloud their vision.
"His entire lifestyle has been laid bare, and some of you will naturally feel a sense of disdain towards him," Mansfield said.
"But the important thing to remember when we're in a court of law is we don't impose our own lifestyles and values on other people."
Throughout the trial, the Crown had suggested Pauline Hanna couldn't divorce Polkinghorne due to a lack of financial resources.
Mansfield sought to challenge that idea.
"There was over $10.5 million worth of assets that would have been divided between the two of them, there wasn't a need in poverty to stay together," he said.
"And she made it clear there were other men, other suitors who were interested in her if she wasn't with Dr Polkinghorne."
Turning to Polkinghorne's meth use, Mansfield acknowledged the drug could cause violent behaviour.
But he noted that only happened in a minority of cases.
"If everyone who used methamphetamine, in the kind of way we know Dr Polkinghorne used methamphetamine, became violent or homicidal... Our courts would be even fuller than they are, and considerably so."
Several containers of methamphetamine were found throughout Polkinghorne's home, but Mansfield said its unclear how often the drug was actually used.
"There is no other reliable evidence as to how much and how often he would use methamphetamine," he said.
"In fact, you might think the way in which the methamphetamine was found in these containers around various parts of the house reflects it had been put away and wasn't used very often."
He reminded jurors that none of the evidence had shown Polkinghorne was on meth the day Hanna died.
"Unless he can be shown to have used methamphetamine that night and that was a feature of some interaction with Pauline, his use of methamphetamine, whilst of interest and whilst it might cause you to dislike him, has no relevance at all," he said.
"You need to be very careful before you jump to the conclusion he was high on P and it had a piece to play in what occurred in relation to her death absent any evidence, because that would be illogical."