Day 8 of the ongoing coronial inquiry into the death of Pauline Hanna was like a beautifully scripted pause. The hearing was adjourned on Wednesday morning at 10:47. It held the tension, kept it stored in the Newmarket courtroom overnight, just as things have reached a sharp, fine point, just as the heat has been turned up on the man suspected of killing his wife.
There has been an unexpected twist. Remuera eye surgeon Dr Philip Polkinghorne, author of such papers as Studies on blood from patients with dominantly-inherited retinitis pigmentosa, was due to continue being cross-examined on Wednesday. He was sworn in to give evidence on Tuesday. He will resume his seat in the witness box on Thursday. He got off the day off inbetween so that the coroner can watch TV. No, really. There have been many times in this honest-to-God sensational case when the consensus has been you cannot make this stuff up.
In an epic, avidly observed High Court trial in 2024, a jury found Polkinghorne not guilty of murder. Pauline’s death has been referred to the coroner to establish whether the cause of death was self-inflicted or involved someone else. The first week of the inquiry was like a condensed version of the trial. The information was crucial but much of it has been heard before. What I’m trying to say is that it wasn’t very interesting. But Polkinghorne has not been heard from before in court—he elected not to give evidence at his trial—and his evidence on Tuesday was very interesting, very interesting indeed, including a moment that foreshadowed Wednesday’s surprise adjournment.
Central to the police theory is methamphetamine. Polkinghorne pleaded guilty to possessing 37 grams of that white ruin of entire towns in New Zealand. At trial, the Crown argued that he was out of his mind on the drug, and killed his wife to be with the apparent woman of his dreams, Madison Ashton, who has become the most famous sex worker in New Zealand history. She has given quite a few interviews over the years about her involvement with Polkinghorne and claimed he was a drug pig forever snuffling at a methamphetamine trough.
But at the coronial inquest on Tuesday, Polkinghorne distanced himself from the drug. The subject was raised during his cross-examination by Crown solicitor Alysha McClintock. She asked him about traces of methamphetamine found in an unflushed toilet in the ensuite of Pauline’s bedroom.
McClintock: You see, doctor, we’ve got this situation, haven’t we? Someone has urinated in this toilet, and what I’m suggesting to you is the person who passed that methamphetamine into the toilet in the ensuite bathroom was you. The person who pleaded guilty to possessing a total of 37.7 grams.
Polkinghorne: I reject that notion.
McClintock: The reason that you’re so keen to distance yourself from that methamphetamine result is that it would place you in that ensuite, and that would be contrary to your interests. Do you agree?
Polkinghorne: I disagree.
McClintock: Your counsel has led you in evidence at the beginning of this hearing that you weren’t under the influence of methamphetamine that night.
Polkinghorne: Correct.
McClintock: In your brief of evidence on April 14 this year, you say you smoked methamphetamine with Pauline a handful of times.
Polkinghorne: Yes.
McClintock: But when you were interviewed for a documentary, did you absolutely deny ever using methamphetamine?
The Coroner: Mr Mansfield, have you seen this documentary? Are you aware of this?
Mansfield: I’m aware of it, yes.
The Coroner: So this won’t be surprising.
Mansfield: Well, it’s not in the bundle, but my learned friend wants to utilise it, and I’m not going to try and stop her.
McClintock: Thank you. Doctor?
Polkinghorne: I’m not sure what context that was in. I haven’t watched it.
McClintock: We might be able to come back to that tomorrow.
Tomorrow never really came. Morning sessions at court begin at 10 sharp. But the doors were locked on Wednesday, and the media, unusually, were kept out. We had to slum it with the peasantry. The natural order of things seemed to have been resumed when the doors opened just after 10:30am. Media sat at the press bench. Polkinghorne sat next to his lawyer Ron Mansfield, whose brutish demeanour was softened by a lovely lilac shirt and tie. In the row behind them sat McClintock, who wore a suit with green piping that matched her green handbag.
Coroner Tania Tetitaha appeared, and said she had to take the day off to watch the entire four-hour footage of an interview Polkinghorne gave for a TV documentary made by Mark McNeill, who has attended most of the coronial hearing.
“This phase of the inquest is…whether I have sufficient evidence that satisfies me that I understand what led to the death of Ms Hanna. The footage of the interview with Dr Polkinghorne is potentially evidence that may assist me in my determination. As a consequence, I’ve made a direction for Mr McNeill to produce the raw interview footage of Dr Polkinghorne, including any transcripts he may hold.
“It will take some time to provide that material to court, and it will then need to be distributed to counsel. It’s estimated this may be completed today, but it does mean that today’s hearing time has unfortunately been wasted and we are unable to continue until that documentary footage is available. So the decision has been made to adjourn for today.
“My apologies to those who have come today expecting more information, but unfortunately, this is the reality of an inquest. I’m trying to get the best evidence I can to make the best decision I can.
“So hopefully this short adjournment will mean that we get the best evidence of Dr Polkinghorne, at least in terms of what he says he found on the day his wife died.”
The court was cleared. McClintock’s cross-examination will resume on Thursday, and sometime after she finishes it will be the turn of Pauline’s brother, Bruce Hanna. The prospect seems to have given him renewed energy in the past couple of days. He has never believed his sister took her own life. He has waited quite a long time to put questions to his estranged brother-in-law. The heat is about to be turned up, again.
