Harassment claims part of 'nightmare' campaign, says Colin Craig's wife

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15 May, 2017 05:00 PM2 mins to read

Colin Craig and his wife Helen Craig. Photo / Nick Reed

Colin Craig's wife has called a blogger's claims of sexual harassment by her husband "appalling" and a "triumph of lies over truth".

Whale Oil blogger Cameron Slater, in a series of posts in 2015, claimed former Conservative Party leader Mr Craig sexually harassed his former press secretary Rachel MacGregor.

Ms MacGregor resigned suddenly two days before the 2014 election, having worked closely with Mr Craig from about the time he founded the Conservative Party three years earlier.

Mr Craig is suing Mr Slater for defamation over his blog posts, while Mr Slater is counter-suing Mr Craig over allegations the former politician made in a 12-page pamphlet he sent to 1.6 million homes trying to defend himself.

On Monday Mr Craig's wife, Helen, told the High Court at Auckland Mr Slater's posts were part of a "nightmare" campaign aimed at her husband that were not based on facts.

As an example, she cited a post in which she said Mr Slater accused her of standing by her husband, despite the sexual harassment allegations, because he was rich.

Mrs Craig glared at Mr Slater in the courtroom gallery, saying she could not believe he would publicly broadcast damaging comments about her and her husband when he did not know them personally and had never approached them for comment.

She said the situation was a "nightmare" because she never knew what allegation Mr Slater would make next.

The ensuing "media firestorm" not only ruined her husband's political career, but cost their business clients and affected their relationship with friends, she said.

Mr Slater's lawyer, Brian Henry, later quizzed Mrs Craig, asking why she thought Whale Oil, a small blog site, had cause of all these problems when New Zealand's major media players had also written about the allegations.

He also sought to find out what information and when Mrs Craig knew about her husband's relationship with Ms MacGregor.

This led to him at one point asking Mrs Craig if she had not been intrigued to read a copy of a letter sent to his "blonde" and "younger" press secretary.