Philip Polkinghorne. Photo: RNZ/Nick Monro
- Former Auckland Eye Surgeon Philip Polkinghorne denies killing his wife, Pauline Hanna, in April 2021
- Polkinghorne had earlier pleaded guilty to possession of methamphetamine and a pipe
- The Crown argues a combination of financial problems, infidelity and drug use led to Polkinghorne murdering his wife
- The defence argues Hanna committed suicide after struggling with depression for many years
The trial of a murder-accused former Auckland eye surgeon has heard methamphetamine testing revealed concerningly high levels of the drug at his workplace, suggesting it had been used there.
Philip Polkinghorne is on trial for the murder of his wife, Pauline Hanna in 2021 and staging it as a suicide.
The High Court in Auckland heard on Tuesday how an investigation was launched after a pipe, used for smoking the drug, was found at Auckland Eye, where Polkinghorne worked, in October 2020.
Clinical services manager Janet Wigmore told the jury she found the pipe in a consultation room while showing two staff members around the premises.
"Just as I walked in ... there was a little sort of brownish top table, immediately on your right as you come through the doorway. There was a glass pipe and a lighter, but it wasn't like a small Bic lighter, it was a chunky thing that was about the size of the palm of my hand."
Operations manager Tracey Molloy told the court the pipe was taken to her office while they called lawyers and police.
"Deb and I called the police and they said to me, had we had a break in? I said no, we hadn't had a break in. I told them obviously what we found. And then they said, well, you know, return it to the person who it belongs to. We said, well, we don't know who it belongs to.
"So they said we'll throw it out. So I threw it out."
The pipe was later recovered and taken to Newmarket Police Station.
Police did not conduct an investigation, so the chief executive of Auckland Eye at the time, Deborah Boyd, asked their lawyer to conduct an internal investigation.
Boyd, Polkinghorne, and three others had been at the practice over the weekend before the pipe was found.
Under cross-examination, Ron Mansfield KC established they could not be certain who entered the consult room where the pipe was found - but Auckland Eye staff told the court Polkinghorne used it most often.
Mansfield asked Molloy to read out what was written on the side of the pipe - the words 'Sweet Puff'.
"Are you aware, from making some enquiring yourself perhaps after the pipe had been found, that such a pipe is readily available as 'sweet puff pipes' online, including from Ali Express?" Mansfield questioned.
"Sorry, I've not ever googled searching for a 'sweet puff pipe'," Molloy said.
Nine months later in July 2021, Boyd hired a drug testing agency to confidentially test the Auckland Eye rooms near to where the pipe had been found for methamphetamine.
The testing officer, Jeremy Hill, told the jury he took 14 swabs from four rooms in the premises.
In one consult room, where the pipe was found, levels of methamphetamine found were above safe levels, he said.
"We report back and advised the client that there was one particular area that had a level of concerning contamination, which was [consult room four] on the heat pump grill."
In September 2021, Hill returned to Auckland Eye for follow-up testing to see if cleaning of the rooms had been successful.
This time, he took a swab from the printer tray.
"That returned a result of 100.
"That's quite a high result, being that 1.5 is considered a safe level. Anything over 1.5 is considered contaminated."
The trial continues on Wednesday.