Defence lawyer Ron Mansfield continued his closing statement this morning as the Philip Polkinghorne murder trial drew nearer to an end.
The Crown yesterday closed their case, arguing Polkinghorne was a “master manipulator” who led two lives that were on a “collision course” before he killed his wife Pauline Hanna in April 2021, possibly under the influence of meth or while coming down from a high.
Mansfield said this morning that the pathology evidence showed “nothing incompatible” with suicide, emphasising the “absence of defensive injuries” that might’ve been present if there had been a struggle.
He said that, whenever evidence was “inconvenient” for the Crown, they called people “liar” or “advocate”.
But actually, investigators had a “passion to try and find evidence of a crime that had not been committed”, Mansfield said, defending Polkinghorne’s character and pointing to the various forms of help he provided to sex workers: “He wasn’t just turning up, taking and leaving.”
He said defence witnesses knew they would be in the spotlight when they gave evidence, and did so anyway, arguing that “says a lot about them but it also says a lot about him” and they “came and they were honest”.
Polkinghorne had “high standards and didn’t tolerate mistakes” in work, driven by “wanting to do a good job for patients”, Mansfield continued.
That commitment “tells you a great deal about this man, his foibles aside”, Mansfield said.
‘He is a man of respect and who respects others’
Mansfield this morning painted a picture of Polkiknghorne as a polite and kind man who the Crown attacked because “they need you not to like him and not to respect him” – when in reality “he is a man of respect and who respects others”.
“I don’t consider that you can do justice fairly if you just focus on the negative.”
He said Polkinghorne was interviewed by police voluntarily on the day emergency services were called to the home.
Mansfield said the defendant acted in a way consistent with a grieving husband in shock – not consistent with the actions of a “master manipulator”.
“He just did what you and I would do.”
‘Stiff upper lip’
The court heard evidence about Polkinghorne’s behaviour after his wife’s death earlier in the trial.
Mansfield said Polkinghorne was “presenting a brave face” at times – but being on the phone with friends and family prompted more emotion.
“That is how we are,” the defence lawyer said. “We all try to keep a brave face, this British stiff upper lip we’re told we should have from being kids.
“There are times when you can’t control it.
“He loved this woman,” Mansfield added. “They were each other’s bricks and they were together for a long time.”
