Craig battle in top court

The battle over how much former politician Colin Craig must pay to a man he was convicted of defaming has reached the Supreme Court.

Craig’s alleged message saying he dreamt he was sleeping between his then-press secretary’s naked legs has been resurrected in the argument over whether $1.27 million is too much to pay in damages.

The former Conservative Party leader was ordered to pay the amount to New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union executive director Jordan Williams after distributing pamphlets to 1.6 million homes across the country, as well as allegedly defaming him in a press conference. The pamphlets came as a response to Williams’ allegation that Craig had sexually harassed his former press secretary Rachel MacGregor — who had told Williams that Craig had sent her unsolicited cards, letters, compliments and romantic poetry. She resigned just two days before the general election in 2014.

After a nearly four-week defamation trial in the High Court at Auckland in 2016, a jury awarded Williams the $1.27m, the highest amount awarded in defamation damages in New Zealand’s legal history.

Earlier this year the Court of Appeal said that award was “excessive or wrong” and ordered that it be set aside, saying a more appropriate amount would be up to $260,000. Williams is appealing that decision, while Craig is cross-appealing.

Craig’s lawyer, Stephen Mills QC, told the Supreme Court about messages Craig was alleged to have sent to MacGregor, including: “I slept well because I dreamed that I was between your naked legs”.

Mills said messages such as these were recorded from Williams’ conversations with MacGregor and were used in the trial, despite no “assurance of accuracy” being given.

He said the notes were being taken as an “aidememoire”, or an informal note or book to aid memory, but had been used for an entirely different purpose.