After weeks of evidence and addresses, the jury is now set to begin its deliberations in the murder trial of Philip Polkinghorne.
Justice Graham Lang spoke to the 11 jurors in Courtroom 11 at the High Court in Auckland this afternoon after defence lawyer Ron Mansfield finished his closing statement. Mansfield argued his client, a former eye surgeon, is an innocent man whose health boss wife Pauline Hanna died by suicide.
Crown prosecutor Alysha McClintock finished her closing submissions yesterday, arguing Polkinghorne killed Hanna at their Remuera home in April 2021.
Justice Lang delivered his summing up today.
However, he finished late in the day and sent the jury home for the night, to begin deliberating as a group tomorrow.
Judge on ‘the most important feature of this process’
Justice Lang began today by thanking the jurors for their efforts and the “huge imposition” upon them; emphasising that the “burden of proof” is on the Crown; and explaining that reasonable doubt is a “very high standard”.
“It’s not enough for the Crown to prove that he’s probably guilty or even that he’s very likely guilty.”
On the other hand, the Crown does not need to prove “mathematically” that murder had occurred and exactly how it occurred, he said.
He cautioned the jury: “You must decide the case solely on the evidence heard in this courtroom.
“You must decide this case free from any sympathy or prejudice.
“The most important feature of this process is that you don’t guess or speculate.”
If the jury deliberate for long enough without reaching a verdict, they may be asked to reach a majority verdict with 10 out of 11 jurors in agreement, Justice Lang explained — but for now, they are asked to try and reach a unanimous verdict.
Question trail
Justice Lang then gave the jury what’s called a question trail. They must first ask themselves: “Has the Crown made you sure that Dr Polkinghorne caused the death of his wife, Ms Pauline Hanna, by intentionally strangling her?”
If the jury’s answer to this question is no, then they must return a verdict of not guilty.
But if the jury’s answer to that first question is yes, then they must ask themselves a second question.
This second question would be to determine which crime Polkinghorne was guilty of, either murder or manslaughter.
The second question is: “Has the Crown made you sure that when Dr Polkinghorne caused the death of Ms Hanna by strangling her either a) he intended to kill Ms Hanna, or b) — and this contains three parts — he intended to cause Ms Hanna bodily injury, it was more than minor, and he knew that his actions — that is, strangling her with the intent to cause bodily injury — was likely to cause her death?”
The jury room
After explaining the questions that the jury must answer, Justice Lang gave a brief recap of the evidence presented by each side in the trial before sending everyone — including the occupants of the full public gallery — home for the day.
From tomorrow, the jury is expected to consider its decision in the jury room, which is through a door at the back of the courtroom.
They can ask questions of the judge and ask to hear or see certain pieces of evidence again as they work towards a verdict.
There were originally 12 jurors but one was discharged last week as they had important commitments that could not be changed.
At the end of the day, Justice Lang said addressed the jurors again.
“There’s absolutely no time limit for jury deliberations, it will take as long as it take … You are now at the most critical stage of the trial.”
