Philip Polkinghorne’s defence has continued grilling the officer who analysed phones belonging to the murder accused man and his dead wife.
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Detective Andrew Reeves is in the witness box for another day at the High Court in Auckland.
The Crown says Polkinghorne, 71, murdered Pauline Hanna at Easter 2021 and staged it to look like a suicide.
His defence is that he woke to find her already dead in their Remuera home in Auckland.
Reeves earlier told Crown prosecutors of web searches made by Polkinghorne.
He had looked up “leg edema after strangulation”.
Polkinghorne had also looked up how to delete iCloud storage through the privacy-orientated search engine DuckDuckGo.
Continuing a lengthy and detailed cross-examination of the detective, Polkinghorne’s lawyer raised these searches. He said there were two searches on DuckDuckGo made the day after Hanna’s death and Polkinghorne’s voluntary police interview.
“So he knows at the time of making these searches that the police are investigating his wife’s death as suspicious and he is a potential suspect, correct?”
“Correct,” Reeves replied.
The detective also confirmed these were not the only searches done through the DuckDuckGo site.
Mansfield also said police had seized Polkinghorne’s laptop the day after Hanna’s death.
“So if he was to purchase a new laptop… he might need to transfer his iCloud to a new laptop, correct?” he asked.
The detective replied this was correct.
On the “leg edema after strangulation” search, Mansfield said this search was also made by Polkinghorne after he knew he was a potential suspect.
“But there was no such search around strangulation or the effects of strangulation or what someone might look like after strangulation… prior to his wife’s death on the 5th, correct?” Mansfield asked.
“I could not see a search like that in the data,” Reeves said.
“Only a search the day after when he’s a potential suspect for taking his wife’s life, correct?” Mansfield inquired.
“Correct,” the officer replied.
Messages typed but not sent
Mansfield presented evidence of what he said suggested Pauline Hanna’s phone being used in the hours before her death was reported.
He asked the officer if he was aware logs were kept when an iPhone message starts to be typed and before it is sent.
Reeves said he did not know about this.
Mansfield said there were two messages, at about 4am on April 5 2021, that began being typed but were not sent.
One message, Mansfield said, was drafted but not sent to Polkinghorne, and the other message was very shortly after to another person.
Reeves said repeatedly he could not confirm whether these did show Hanna’s phone being used in the early hours.
“But if I’m right, that would need to be included on your timeline, some activity around 4am by Mrs Polkinghorne [the defence refers to Pauline Hanna by her husband’s surname], if it’s her on her phone?” Mansfield asked.
“Again, if it can be confirmed she was actively using her phone and it’s not a background process, then yes,” Reeves replied.
Reeves said Hanna had “a very simple password” on her phone.
“I know that much,” he said.
The trial began on July 29 and is nearing the end of the Crown case.
Polkinghorne’s defence will then begin presenting its case.
The Crown says Polkinghorne was caught in a web of methamphetamine, infidelity and money woes.
His defence has pointed to Hanna’s years of depression and prescription drug use, earlier suicidal thoughts, and an earlier attempt in 1992.
Officer asked about ‘asphyxiation’ search
Under re-examination by the Crown, Reeves was asked about a search on Pauline Hanna’s phone for “asphyxiation”. The detective said, in the context of other searches around that search, he felt Hanna was simply “looking to see what that word meant”.
After further questions from prosecutor Brian Dickey, Detective Reeves, who has been in the witness box since Friday, was able to finish his days of evidence.
The trial resumes on Wednesday.
