Hand on heart I was going to cancel my subscription to the NZ Herald because fuck them taking money for that hateful Hobson’s pledge advert!
How the Christ can anyone pretend that some Pom who was in the country for 5 days and warbled ‘we are all one people” at the signing of the Treaty in Māori somehow means Māori ceded sovereignty is one thing but pretending that ‘da Maaaaris is stealing da beaches’ as their advert insinuated is a total fabrication and malicious lie!
So fuck the NZ Herald.
Unfortunately the unbelievable Polkinghorne trial had erupted and bloody Steve Braunias was covering it.
I just can’t cancel until the end! Braunias has a way with language, a way with words where crucial moments in this terrible torrid awful murder trial are painted by him as painfully human and gloriously divine in equal measure.
The tender contempt Braunias has for the oafish Law students, the parasitically ghoulish mainstream journalists, the great unwashed who congregate to gawk.
It’s all so awful in a beautifully awkward kiwi way.
A loquacious gaucheness that stumbles and gapes at a murder trial that manages to boil down the facade of the Professional Middle Class Boomers into a puddle of drug fuelled orgies on a burning planet at the end of Late Stage Capitalism.
Murder or suicide.
What a bleak Claytons choice.
Now.
I have not hung on to every word, I’m no childless cat lady True Crime devotee, I’m not on the jury.
But I’ve seen the news stories and read the trial through the eyes of Braunias, and I am astounded that this case made it to Court because the Prosecution has not in my mind managed to even get close to proving their case.
I have been genuinely surprised by the lack of solid scientific evidence that connects him to strangling her in a meth rage, moving her body, staging the suicide and then calling the Police.
Most killers in a meth rage go troppo with violence to the body, none of that remotely happened here.
It is far more likely that this caring 60 year old woman, who had done all she could for this lewd leprechaun privileged Boomer, simply took her own life out of the empty hollow sadness her life had become because of his addictions.
I don’t think he murdered her, but I certainly think he killed her.
I think the police were so taken aback by his double life they immediately assumed he could have murdered his wife.
The Officer who finally made the decision to arrest and charge Polkinghorne was either:
a) An easily shocked pearl clutching Christian.
b) Shocked by how much it had cost to date and demanded a prosecution to justify the cost.
c) Bored True Crime Podcast enthusiast.
I think Polkinghorne is the voyeuristic trial we need as the planet burns during late stage capitalism.
Bloated with privilege Boomers, pumped full of money and power, denigrating the personal lives of their loved ones for vice and orgiastic greed ending in a murder or suicide.
Is there a more fitting tawdry crassness for a country with all the active culture of yoghurt?
This is a sad grim story of addiction, privilege and terminal sadness that I don’t believe we ever needed to know or hear about because the idea that he murdered her and dragged her into a faked suicide scene simply hasn’t been proved anywhere near beyond reasonable doubt.
I think there are going to be some real question marks over why this case needlessly exposed Pauline Hanna’s lonely and intimate pain.
I want one of the muffins Steve Braunias baked. Does it taste like justice?
Increasingly having independent opinion in a mainstream media environment which mostly echo one another has become more important than ever, so if you value having an independent voice – please donate here.
If you can’t contribute but want to help, please always feel free to share our blogs on social media
The coverage verges on trial by media.I don’t know if he did or didn’t do it but I’m definitely upset by the coverage which verges on women in the front row knitting.
Agree. The voyeurs following this sad situation, and especially for media fodder, are sickening little buggers themselves, but that’s New Zealand “ journalism” today.
Bob the first – My feelings too.
typical of extreme conservative nonces wanting to shut down the media. “I don’t like it – I don’t want to know the facts, make it go away”
Well all that meth in the country has to go somewhere…a sad tale of humans doing what they seem to do best–inflicting suffering.
“He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.”–Samuel Johnson.
Have tried to ignore this tawdry case, which is not easy given saturation daily media channel coverage and two podcasts.
The Police case is “he’s a dodgy sex fiend and a drug user, so he did it”.
Sadly, Kiwi jurors have a long history of judging the accused’s life and not the actual evidence because the jurors trust Mr Plod.
You have accurately described our courts. I must admit that I had presumed his guilt upon first hearing about his arrest but just seeing the various headlines has me thinking that it might be that his actions caused his wife to commit suicide.
It’s a very sad situation and her friends will feel the pain the most.
Bonnie. The lady in the piece, RIP, spent many many thousands on hair do’s, beauty treatments, dry cleaning, and other luxury doings beyond the reach, or the want, or the time, of everyday people. The male looks like a sex addict, possibly with a drug-addled brain, and importantly, nether of them appearing or behaving in the sober discreet sort of way which professional persons traditionally behave. One can’t presume that his actions drove her to suicide, it’s much more complex than that, and the police would have had to tread mightily carefully when confronted with such an odd couple.
probably the average rich family .They have to do something with all that money so shopping sprees hookers and drugs are just everyday life for them .
Ada. “ Judging the accused life? “ No, by and large jurors decide cases on facts, hence the importance of competent legal representation by both the prosecution, and the defence. A prominent criminal lawyer topped himself in Wellington, noting that he was haunted by the ghosts of victims of some he had defended.
Many facts re the accused’s life are withheld from the court in case jurors are wrongly influenced, and disclosed only when it comes to sentencing.
Always good to hear the Bar Association’s viewpoint.
Ada. “Always good to hear the Bar Association’s viewpoint.” Maybe so. But if this is what you think, then I suggest that you ask them for it.
Well said Brigid, Ada’s comments on what she believes rather than facts.
” No, by and large jurors decide cases on facts, hence the importance of competent legal representation by both the prosecution, and the defence”
Woah, I sprayed my coffee reading that.
Mr Plod has blown it…when I heard the knot Google bazinga!! I thought…guilty…then they asked Mr plod…oh it was 12 years ago, yes it was fishing knots, yes he was at Coro Bach… that’s the moment it turned.
And mr Plod reckoned he remembered this in a meth-fuelled rampage!
‘Gloss’ meets ‘Eyes Wide Shut’.
Real life soap opera, thats what it is.
I am staggered to say it but I agree with Bob the First. I have only been reading the headlines but they make for very uncomfortable reading.
To be fair, voyeurs are a pet subject for Bob, he’s an expert.
The most amazing thing to me was that thr dead wife’s family had a tape recording of a meal they had discussing her situation. Who the fuckk records their family conversations. Totally unbelievable. The drug use, the domination, falling in love with the whore, all believable plot lines; but the recording come on.
yes thats fucken strange
Agree, there is no way that this has a snowballs chance in hell of being anywhere near guilty beyond reasonable doubt, and so will be justice or otherwise by a coin toss.
“Bloated with privilege Boomers, pumped full of money”
In the case of eye surgeons it’s a good thing they are pumped full of money if that is what it takes to attract the best and brightest to the profession.
Beyond reasonable doubt has nothing much to do with it.
The courts know it, prosecution know it, defence know it.
It’s can be as simple as being about persuasion, appealing to prejudice, emotion and indignation. Even the defendants’ weight and appearance.
And once a conviction is entered reasonable doubt will have nothing whatsoever to do with the possible overturning of a conviction. The courts will wash their hands of any responsibility toward that standard, claiming that as having been a matter for the jury, they will double and triple down on upholding what can sometimes be obviously and absurdly indefensible positions. Only process will matter to the courts, believing they must maintain the myth of infallibility when in reality they pull the curtain back on their own self interest.
We’ve already watched the scenario play out over and over again.
spot on there Richard. BUT you have ALL missed the key evidence including Bomber.
It has been clear from the get go the Crown had no case so the tried and true number one tactic of the world’s most reviled profession ( the Law) that of character assassination has been on full display. And let’s face it folks it what the fuckwits of the NZ Justice system do as a matter of course.
Polky has been played by Madison to e nth degree, only drop kick blokes can’t see this. She’s a gold digger who has been sued more than once by the families of stupid old men on Viagra.
However the most damning testimony is that of the psychiatrist on Friday afternoon. Do read it folks. Ms Hanna was far more drug addled than her dick head spouse. But she was a Health Professional who didn’t know she was alcoholic and and that the medications she was on were dangerous poisons that not only cancelled each other out but created the misery she was suffering from. The dodgy as fuck GP who unquestioningly fed Hanna anything she asked for is so typical of a Health system that destroys peoples health. Oh the IRONY!! Great to see Prozac finally on record for the psychosis it induces. We are so fucking backward in this shitty little country.
All involved must uphold the integrity of the Crown, its agents and its processes. Same as His Majesty’s loyal opposition in parliament.
Its entertainment, its theatre, its farce but it keeps the great unwashed from storming the castle. Plus it keeps the boys and their enablers in jobs for life.
We can do better, but do we deserve better ?
well we fucking pay the bastards well enough to get this stuff right and they just keep churning out the same old stuck in a bubble haven’t got a fucking grip on reality shit. So no we don’t have to accept it and judges need to be fired every now and then!!
just to keep the arrogant fuckers on their toes!!
Sadly, that is the truth about our higher level Judiciary.
Martyn – What is it with Eye Surgeons? In Christchurch, they imprisoned a Eye Surgeon for attempted murder this year, and the current case in Auckland shines a painful light on this Eye Surgeon…
This clearly needs looking into.
Chris Harris – Nice
+1
lols
Oh my God. All the flies are buzzing around the raw meat.
And I thought The Daily Blog was above the gutter.
get your hand off it Country Boy! Attempting worthless loftiness does you no credit.
Meanwhile….
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/new-zealands-standard-of-living-going-backwards-amid-rising-debt-report/H677TGAM35AY3PBDO57KJYS5L4/
We always get this with National and right wing governments.
But the Tax Cuts were going to help all of us, I think I get an extra $15 per week enough for 2.5 Flat whites or 2 x Big Mac’s.
I can only afford the instant shit, and at home.
In the next while Edmonds will be finance minister and like Cullen and Robertson will be called upon to sort out the debt left by National’s tax cutting and their will be nothing Left in the kitty for the people.
If only she had Cullen’s intellect but sadly she doesn’t know shit but how to count the money. So very very very DULLL!
Probably end up doing what Starmer and Reeves are doing in the UK. I never thought that I would see a UK Labour PM further to the right of Blair, but here we are.
Just the pics of old guy in Court was enough to put me off. There are so many old men who are totally self-occupied – they vote for Gnats and the right wing. Better to watch sport, plenty of smooth admirable bodies there and a recent woman runner with no side to her running singlet at all right to the hip,. I think there has been a film made of another oldie which may entertain you if you follow this sort of thing. As for encouraging Bob1st, why praise him for coming up with the predictable, conventional line?
Long before 50 Shades of anything, New Zealander and teenage dominatrix Renee Chignell was at the center of a moral firestorm, charged with the murder of cricket umpire Peter Plumley-Walker.
Watch Mistress Mercy Season 1 | Prime Video – Amazon.com
https://www.amazon.com › Mistress-Mercy-Season-1
If you want to feel what being shocked is – read Malcolm Evans on Zionism meets Naziism.
As for encouraging Bob1st, why praise him for coming up with the conventional line?
Jeez, had forgotten about “Plumley”, that story was all over the media too, “cricket Umpire” and Dominatrix were always included.
At the time I thought the whole Plumley Walker incident illustrated a society that displayed quite a quite a permissive attitude toward the characters involved. The double life of the victim was intriguing but any outrage was directed at the violence rather than their occupations.
Ok, let’s talk about the Polky……….
Let’s not. Let’s just wait for it to go through the process, and sentencing (if guity), then debate our reckons.
I avoid MSM stories like this as I do the plague – as in those that frame them as salacious and accent an appeal to the emotional.
OBVIOUSLY, the guy is a wanker and a prick. So was Arthur Allen Thomas in a sad sort of way.
Just another of life’s casualties in this Wonder Whurl we’ve created. Pay it no mind pilgrims – keep shopping
If Polky wasn’t a rich prick eye doctor, we wouldnt be on bail during his trial.
Just saying.
I think these ‘Truth’ style stories are useful to understand the world through the personal. Why I like biographies. Well, ‘liked’ biographies — lost the book-reading ability 4 years ago. Got Janet Frame’s autobio in the loo?
lost the book-reading ability 4 years ago?? yet you can read articles and comments??? just wondering.
Have you considered audiobooks?
they call me trinity. “ Just wondering” ? Let me help you. Devices such as the one which I am currently using allow the reader to enlarge the print, hence persons like sumsuch can read articles, and the comments here. Books don’t possess this feature, and many eye glasses and magnifying glasses aren’t hugely helpful. Font sizes, depth of colour, and alignment vary enormously too in printed material.
What a cock up! is the prosecutor on meth too ?