Philip Polkinghorne at day 1 of his trial for the murder of his wife at the High Court at Auckland. Photo: RNZ/Nick Monro
The former hairdresser of a retired Auckland eye surgeon accused of murdering his wife says he told the doctor he would not lie to police if they came asking questions.
Philip Polkinghorne is on trial in the High Court at Auckland, charged with murdering his wife, Pauline Hanna, in their Remuera home three years ago and staging her death as suicide.
On Monday morning, Hanna's niece, Rose Hanna, told the court about her aunt's financial concerns, fearing Polkinghorne had taken control of her assets, to use for investment, and that she would have no money to live on once she retired.
She spoke about helping find a divorce attorney for her aunt, who said she did not believe it would come to that.
Later, the court heard from Polkinghorne's former barber, Paul Adriaanse.
Adriaanse had met Polkinghorne anywhere from five to seven years ago through a friend, who was a prostitute who had Polkinghorne as a client.
He said he did not know how long the pair had been seeing each other.
Adriaanse said he had only cut the former eye surgeons hair about half a dozen times, and that he could come in on a monthly or bi-monthly basis.
Adriaanse recalled the only time he cut Polkinghorne's hair after Hanna's death.
He had arrived home, where he also worked, to find the retired eye surgeon waiting for him.
"I'd heard about the murder, and what have you, and he'd been arrested... And I asked him, 'What the hell has happened'?"
Adriaanse said Polkinghorne was quite upset, and did not know what had happened.
"I didn't know that Phil was married, and I guess, in the situation we were in, it was not... it didn't come up," he said.
He said the doctor was visibly distraught.
"I think he just said that he'd been advised to say nothing, and that I should probably say nothing too," said Adriaanse.
"And I said 'Well, I don't know if they're going to come and see me or not, but I don't have anything to hide..."
Adriaanse was questioned by Crown solicitor Brian Dickey, who asked if Polkinghorne had indicated what he did not want Adriaanse to talk about with police.
"No," said Adriaanse, "No I think it was just general advice, if you're going to be seeing the police, you're probably best advice is to say nothing till you've seen a lawyer," he said.
Adriaanse told Polkinghorne he would tell police his version of events.
During cross examination from defence lawyer, Ron Mansfield KC, Adriaanse confirmed that he did not see Polkinghorne after that haircut, as he was informed he would be called as a witness in his trial.
"I never heard from Phil after that," Adriaanse said.
"It's not because of your haircuts, you can rest assured," Mansfield said.
Pauline Hanna's colleague, Sarah Prentice was called next.
She was the programme lead for the vaccination roll-out in the northern region, and spoke about the many hours spent at work, with Pauline Hanna reporting directly to her.
"She's quite measured, over the time I'd known her she'd always worked incredibly long hours," said Prentice.
"I didn't notice any particular stress, she was working long hours along with many of us, but I think she had a habit of doing that regardless of what role she was in."
Prentice said she had not met Polkinghorne but knew of him as Hanna's husband.
As Mansfield cross-examined Prentice, he asked if she was aware of Hanna sending work emails during the early hours of the morning.
Prentice said this was not something she could recall, but admitted that may have occurred.
Hanna worked for Counties Manukau DHB during the vaccine roll-out, a city wide programme run by former chief executive of the Auckland DHB, Ailsa Claire.
Claire said she would see Hanna everyday during the roll-out and told the court Hanna viewed work as her happy place, as she gave evidence on Monday afternoon.
She said Hanna had been praised for her performance during the vaccine roll-out, but that she raised her habit of sending emails late at night and early in the morning.
"I indicated to her that I felt that it wasn't appropriate that she seemed to be doing long hours, and she made it clear that she wished to continue doing it, and made the comment that work was her happy place," said Claire.
"I asked her what assistance she needed, if she needed anything further, whether she was comfortable, and she said that she couldn't think of anything else that she needed to enable her to do the job, but she'd get back to me."
Claire said she could not recall seeing Hanna still at work late in the evening despite working long hours.
"I don't recall her being in the building after six very often," she said.
The trial continues.
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