Philip Polkinghorne was emotional in court this afternoon, his head in his hand and holding tissues, as emails written by Pauline Hanna that were obtained by his defence team were read.
Warning: This article contains content that could be disturbing to some people.
Polkinghorne, 71, is accused of killing his wife and staging it to look like a suicide at Easter 2021. His defence is that his wife, 63, ended her own life in their Auckland home and he woke to find her dead.
For weeks, lawyers in the trial have argued for and against Hanna’s death being a suicide.
From the trial’s first day, the Crown said a suicide does not add up.
The trial at the Auckland High Court is now in its seventh week, although it’s now fast approaching its final stages.
The emails read this afternoon in court in parts detail Hanna’s busy job as a health administrator during the Covid-19 outbreak.
In one she talks of having a horrible day and never being good enough despite her efforts, saying she desperately wanted to tell someone and cry.
She wrote about having three glasses of wine and not knowing what to do with herself.
“So I will go to bed and not sleep, very unusual for me … who knows what might follow … had to tell someone,” she wrote.
Polkinghorne listened, head down and gazing at his desk, as his lawyer Ron Mansfield read the long series of emails.
Earlier today, a second high-profile pathologist gave evidence to the trial via video link from Canada’s capital Ottawa.