More love letters sent from former Conservative Party leader Colin Craig to his then-press secretary Rachel MacGregor have been revealed.
More love letters sent from former Conservative Party leader Colin Craig to his then-press secretary Rachel MacGregor have been revealed.
More love letters sent from former Conservative Party leader Colin Craig to his then-press secretary Rachel MacGregor have been revealed, including one of more than seven pages that contained poems describing his wish to be in a relationship with her and descriptions of her physical attributes.
One of the letters was signed off with: "Love you Rach oooox".
Another contained a poem that described all of the parts of MacGregor's physical appearance that Craig liked.
The poem was titled WAWAB and started by listing 10 reasons why MacGregor was wonderful. It then went on to list the ways MacGregor was "beautiful".
Beautiful. (Please skip this section if inappropriate) Your eyes are lovely You look unbelievable in your new dress Your lips are so amazing to kiss Your skin is so soft You have the most perfect... (LOL...ok I deleted a couple of lines and stopped this section). Please know that you are beautiful.
The letters repeatedly described MacGregor as wonderful, beautiful, precious and amazing and Craig said many times how grateful he was to have her in his life.
That was reiterated in a second poem he wrote for her, titled Two Of Me.
It read:
There is only one of me, it's true But I wish that was not the case because I wish I could have you If instead of me I was two That would be one for all the others and one of me for you
Both poems and a series of lengthy and gushing letters from Craig to MacGregor were read in the High Court at Auckland on the third day of a defamation trial against Craig.
Taxpayers' Union executive director Jordan Williams alleges Craig defamed him at a press conference last year, and then again in a pamphlet that he paid to have published and distributed to more than 1.6 million New Zealand households.
Craig claimed Williams was one of a group of "culprits" who were spreading "false accusations" against him in a bid to remove him as the leader of the Conservative Party.
Craig vowed to take action against those he believed were lying about him.
The so-called lies related to Craig's alleged sexual harassment of MacGregor, who left her role suddenly, just before the 2014 general election.
MacGregor turned to Williams in the aftermath, sharing letters Craig had sent her and revealing she had made a sexual harassment case against her former boss to the Human Rights Commission.
Former Conservative Party leader Colin Craig and wife Helen Craig.
Williams, concerned about Craig's behaviour, approached several members of the Conservative Party to "warn" them. He felt it was "the right thing to do" given Craig was leading a party based on Christian family values.
Craig held the press conference soon after.
Over the past two days Williams has read Craig's letters in a bid to prove he did not lie or fabricate material pertaining to his alleged sexual harassment and "persistent" pursuit of a relationship with MacGregor.
He told the jury he could not sit by and let a nationally known politician claim he was dishonest and that is why he had filed defamation proceedings.
"I am telling the truth. I did not lie, I made up nothing about Mr Craig, I relied upon his own written words," Williams said.
He said he presented the letters, most handwritten and signed by Craig, to show the jury that he was telling the truth.
"I want to make it absolutely clear under oath that none of the material I have just read to you as far as I am aware is fabricated in any way," he told the jury.
"They are Mr Craig's own words. I certainly did not fabricate Mr Craig's handwriting. Mr Craig said in his press conference that if he is wrong, then I have been wronged. Mr Craig is wrong to allege that I have lied or fabricated that material. I did not."
