Philip Polkinghorne murder trial: Mental health experts raise concerns about coverage

Within days of the Crown's opening address about a wealthy woman's suspected murder having been staged as a suicide by her then-surgeon husband, mental health experts raised concerns about the media's coverage of the case.

From day one, the high profile criminal trial of Phillip Polkinghorne centred on whether his wife's death was suicide or murder staged as one.

The jury in the High Court at Auclkand on Monday found Polkinghorne not guilty of murdering his wife, Pauline Hanna

It was theatre staged in court, unpeeling the couple's facade of success to reveal layers of marital distress - Polkinghorne's meth habit and secret financial support of sex workers.

The trial filled the public gallery and press benches for the entire eight weeks, justifying live blogs by seasoned court reporters, multiple podcasts and a NZ On Air grant for a documentary.

As Crown prosecutor Alysha McClintock addressed the jury to open the trial, reporters squeezed elbow-to-elbow knew the following days and weeks would take a deep dive into the mechanics and potential reasons for a person to take their life and how that might be staged as a murder.

Behind the scenes, newsroom bosses ensured content warnings were attached to stories covering the trial which was, first and foremost, about a death treated as a suspected murder.

Media reporting of suspected suicides are governed by the Coroners Act and guidelines developed by the Mental Health Foundation in partnership with media prevent journalists reporting on the method of self-inflicted deaths. Such deaths are often reported as having no suspicious circumstances.

The police, within hours of arriving at Polkinghorne's house after he called 111 to report Hanna's death as a suicide, raised their suspicions over her death.

His trial began on the last Monday in July and within three days the Mental Health Foundation wrote to the judge presiding over the trial, Justice Lang, asking if the court could "encourage media discretion when reporting on this case".

Its senior media advisor Mark Wilson said he had serious concerns about the reporting of proceedings at the trial.

"The exposure to such detailed court evidence could well elevate risk in people vulnerable to suicide," he warned, adding the foundation's main concern was the New Zealand Herald live feed.

"Media plays a critical role in suicide prevention. It is recognised globally that safe media coverage can reduce the risk of further deaths by suicide. There is robust evidence showing that news stories about suicide or suicidal behaviour can be followed by further suicides."

Wilson said although the court proceedings were not specifically about suicide, "repetitive information and detail from the scene of the death has the potential to elevate risk to those people living with suicidal thoughts".

The New Zealand Herald's counsel Genevieve O'Halloran submitted a response to the Mental Health Foundation's letter, saying reporting on the work of the courts was part of the media's role as the eyes and ears of the public.

She said Hanna's death was treated as a suspected murder and was not referred to the coroner as a suspected suicide, and that warnings had been placed at the top of its stories and ahead of videos.

"Its coverage of the trial is neither sensational nor graphic; it is simply a straight report of proceedings."

O'Halloran said court reporters routinely applied discretion when reporting content likely to distress readers but this was balanced against their duty to accurately and faithfully convey the case for both the defence and the prosecution.

Justice Lang issued a minute acknowledging the concerns, but said the court had no power to dictate the manner in which accredited news media organisations reported proceedings in court.

"This reflects the fact that such organisations are the primary means by which court proceedings are reported, and thereby made transparent, to the community at large," he said.

"The court will generally only interfere when a proceeding is reported in a manner that may jeopardise the defendant's right to a fair trial or where wider concerns arise as to the administration of the criminal justice process.

"The reporting of proceedings in the present case has not yet engaged either of those principles."

Media organisations' live blogs of the trial covered the case in great detail, a rigourous job best left to experienced court reporters.

As the trial unfolded, the Crown called witnesses including the medics and police officers who were first at the scene, a rope expert, a pathologist, and family and friends of the couple.

Meanwhile, suicide prevention experts had been monitoring the media's coverage.

Suicide Prevention Office principal advisor Tania Papalii wrote to Justice Lang, urging the court to consider the risk of "suicide contagion" arising from the media's reporting.

"I appeal to the court to consider the advice provided from senior international and national experts in suicide prevention, which outlines the evidence that shows the association between the methods of suicide being portrayed publicly and further imitative deaths," Papalii wrote.

"The suicide prevention sector is particularly worried about there being further deaths associated with this case, [and] has initiated an intervention to monitor for any associated death, particularly by the method being described in significant detail."

Papalii included advice from four experts in Auckland, Melbourne, Vienna and Toronto; each voiced concern about repeated reporting that referred to methods of death associated with suicide.

Justice Lang requested the information be provided to media and counsel.

By week four of the trial, defence lawyer Ron Mansfield KC had started to call witnesses to the stand.

Two weeks later, on 4 September, Justice Lang suppressed publication of evidence about the mechanics of committing suicide by partial hanging, given by a pathologist, Professor Stephen Cordner.

"It has been agreed that the news media can report that, on the defence case, it would have been relatively easy for Ms Hanna to achieve a partial hanging in terms of its mechanics. However, the media cannot report anything more general that addresses the issue of the mechanics or methods by which it is possible to achieve suicide by partial hanging."

After the closing statements, Justice Lang made the same suppression order for the cross-examination by Mansfield of Dr Kilak Kesha, who carried out the autopsy examination of Hanna.

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