WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT 

The last known video of Pauline Hanna before her suspicious death three years ago was played for jurors today in the ongoing murder trial of her husband, retired Auckland eye surgeon Philip Polkinghorne. 

The grainy CCTV footage, filmed from afar, showed Hanna, 63, unloading items from her red ute at a South Auckland rubbish tip on April 4, 2021, the day before she was found dead at the couple’s Remuera home. 

Defence lawyer Ron Mansfield KC played the video during a third day of questioning Detective Christian Iogha. Mansfield pointed out to jurors that Hanna appeared to be using orange rope to secure items to her vehicle. The Crown didn’t dispute the fact or put any significance on it, asking no follow-up questions about it after the video was played. 

Police found two orange ropes near Hanna’s body when they responded to their home the next morning. Polkinghorne told police he had discovered that his wife hung herself with the rope after going downstairs that morning to make her breakfast. 

But throughout the first week of what is expected to be a six-week trial, the Crown has suggested the suicide report was all a charade. Polkinghorne, now 71, is accused of having fatally strangled his wife - possibly while high on methamphetamine and during an argument about finances or his money spent on prostitutes - before staging the scene to look like suicide. 

There has been an intense focus on the orange rope found at the scene in recent days, with two detectives explaining how the rope knotted to an upstairs bannister did not appear tight enough to support a person’s weight. It was the first indication, they testified, that the death might be suspicious. The Crown also called a rope expert from Canada who agreed that the knots would not have supported the weight of a person in the position police found them in. 

Philip Polkinghorne appears in the dock at the Auckland District Court charged with the murder of his wife Pauline Hanna. Photo / Michael Craig 

The defence, however, has suggested that Polkinghorne gave a credible explanation to police from the get-go. After discovering his wife’s body, he ran upstairs to “undo” the rope, he said in police statements. So the knot that was seen by police and later analysed by the expert would have been different when Hanna’s body was discovered, Mansfield has suggested. 

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• Polkinghorne 'reasonably calm' with unexplained scratch on head at death scene - paramedic

Detective Iogha’s testimony today was marred by several momentary power cuts that caused lengthy delays after courtroom equipment had to reboot. Other areas outside the courthouse had also been hit with the power cuts, Justice Graham Lang assured the jury. 

Forensic scientist Fiona Matheson, who spent days examining evidence at the Polkinghorne home, is expected to testify for most of the afternoon. 

She has so far explained to jurors how she tested for blood and DNA, and how she made a 3D scan of the house. The sample results have not yet been discussed. The 3D video, which took about 100 separate scans consisting of about 10 minutes each, was played for jurors earlier this week. 

Craig Kapitan is an Auckland-based journalist covering courts and justice. He joined the Herald in 2021 and has reported on courts since 2002 in three newsrooms in the US and New Zealand. 

The Herald will be covering the case in a daily podcast, Accused: The Polkinghorne Trial. You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, through The Front Page feed, or wherever you get your podcasts.