Surprise Crown witness confident Hanna's phone not used to draft messages as alleged by defence

That's the end of the trial for today. 

Court will resume at 10am tomorrow for Ron Mansfield's cross-examination of the final Crown witness, analyst Jun Lee.

Lee was a surprise addition to the witness list after Mansfield's contention yesterday that Hanna's phone was used to draft two unsent messages, to her husband and the daughter of a family friend.

Lee said the logs the defence IT expert used to come to this conclusion were from an automatic look-up process that occurs in the background without the phone being used.

He said that if the phone had actually been used to draft a message, there would be logs showing it had been picked up and unlocked.

These logs were missing, Lee said.

As a result, he told prosecutor Brian Dickey he was confident the phone was not used by Hanna or anyone else after 10.47pm.

Lee says the iOS operating system has no draft feature, so if someone exits the messaging app, a draft is discarded, unlike Androids, says Lee.

However, there would still be a record of the draft message being created, Lee adds. 

Mansfield raises the possibility the text could have been deleted.

"So what's the question there?" asks Justice Lang.

"I'm just trying to learn, sir," says Mansfield.

Lee says the iOS operating system has no draft feature, so if someone exits the messaging app, a draft is discarded, unlike Androids, says Lee.

However, he says there would still be a record that a draft was created but it will be a blank spot - not a log that the message  was typed and deleted.

Mansfield raises the possibility the text could have been deleted.

"So what's the question there?" asks Justice Lang.

"I'm just trying to learn, sir," says Mansfield.

Log accuracy questioned

Are you saying the entries relating to a phone turning on, being picked up and the screen coming on are always accurate? Mansfield asks.

"Yes," says Lee again.

Lee says he has never seen an example of such activity not being recorded when a phone is used.

Analyst to be recalled tomorrow

What if, asks Mansfield, someone goes into messages and simply selects a contact or number. Will that create a log entry? 

Yes, says Lee.

Mansfield says that's as far as he take it without some further advice.

The witness, digital forensic analyst Jun Lee, will return for more cross-examination after Mansfield consults the defence IT expert overnight.

The Crown will then close its case, after a little over 22 days of evidence.

After Mansfield persists in this vein of questioning, Dickey objects that the witness is being asked the same question again and again.

Justice Lang interjects: "I think, Mr Mansfield, if you want to explore it further at this point you really should put it a bit more directly."

Mansfield then asks if there is always a record of the phone turning on and the screen coming on.

"Yes," says Lee.

He has already said Hanna could not have drafted the messages because there are no logs of the phone being picked up or turned on.

What the phone logs said

Mansfield's expert told the court yesterday that the phone logs suggested Hanna was drafting 4am messages on April 4 before she died.

Ordinarily, asks Ron Mansfield, if I start to type a message on my phone to a recipient using an Apple product, my phone will check their authority to receive an iMessage?

Jun Lee agrees.

So if Mansfield starts sending Brian Dickey an iMessage, his phone will check if Dickey's phone is authorised to receive an iMessage? he presses.

Lee agrees.

And would my phone start going through my contacts to check if Dickey is an iPhone user? the defence lawyer asks.

Yes, says Lee.

And if I decide I don't want to send a message to Dickey after all, would there just be a log of the phone checking through the contacts to verify if his phone can receive an iMessage? Mansfield asks.

Lee confirms that's right.

How iPhones communicate

Mansfield asks Lee to confirm that when messaging iPhone to iPhone, the iMessage facility shows when the other user is typing or drafting a message.

Lee agrees but says it only works between two iPhones.

Surprise Crown witness casts doubt on claim Hanna's phone was used to draft 4am messages

Lee says confirming Hanna did not use the phone after 10.47pm  was a straightforward analysis.

Justice Lang explains to the jury that Mansfield isn't in a position to cross-examine Lee fully because he only got the analyst's brief this morning.

Mansfield will ask a few questions now, consult the defence IT expert, then finish his cross-examination tomorrow. 

The Crown will then close its case.