A senior engineer has told the Philip Pokinghorne trial it was possible for the accused murderer’s wife to die the way he says she did.
Warning: This article contains content that could be disturbing to some people.
Andrew McGregor has been giving evidence at the High Court in Auckland. His company, ProSolve, specialised in forensic engineering.
Polkinghorne, 71, denies Crown allegations he fatally strangled his wife Pauline Hanna and made it look like a suicide at Easter 2021.
The Crown has said from the trial’s outset that the death of Hanna, 63, doesn’t “add up” as a suicide. It says Polkinghorne was caught in a web of money troubles, infidelity and meth use.
But his defence says he simply woke and found her already dead before he called 111 to report she had hanged herself.
The couple’s home in Remuera, Auckland, was at the core of McGregor’s evidence on Tuesday in the trial’s sixth week.
He was tasked with investigating whether Hanna’s death could have happened as Polkinghorne described. Part of this included conducting simulations.
By order of Justice Lang the simulations could not be reported on, other than to say they were done and what the results were.
The engineer said his testing showed there was sufficient force.
Photographs of the simulations were handed to the jury but not put on courtroom monitors, to protect the public.
McGregor, under cross examination, said Polkinghorne was at home during the simulations but not directly present for them.
“You’ve had to rely entirely on his account of things in order to do what you did?” Crown prosecutor Alysha McClintock asked.
“Yes, that’s correct, I had to rely on the statement that he gave to the police, his video interview and so on,” McGregor said.
“There are some things you couldn’t quite be sure of based on what he was saying, is that right?” McClintock said in reply.
“That’s correct,” the witness said.
McGregor said to get conclusions, he had to work with some assumptions which he had been open about.
He confirmed he did not hold any pathology qualifications.
The jury has also been told Crown prosecutor Brian Dickey would no longer be at the trial because of a previous long-standing commitment.
The judge was earlier made aware this would happen.
Fellow prosecutors Alysha McClintock and Pip McNabb continue in his absence.
Earlier on Tuesday, the trial heard from Pauline Hanna’s hairdresser and the couple’s accountant who were called as defence witnesses.
