Woman hid at Field house, court told

Police asked former MP Taito Phillip Field why a Thai woman was hiding at his house from immigration authorities, a jury hearing bribery and corruption charges has been told.

Detective Superintendent Malcolm Burgess wanted to know why Phisamai Phothisarn was staying at his Prangley Ave, South Auckland, home when a removal order had been issued against her.

The interview, over 8 hours, was shown yesterday to the jury in the High Court at Auckland, where Field is defending 12 charges of corruption and bribery as an MP and 23 charges of obstructing the course of justice.

"Did you have any concerns that ... at least one person subject to a removal order was using your property as a hideout?" Mr Burgess asked during the interview in February 2007.

Field's reply was that he separated what happened at work, where he had many requests for assistance from people, from what happened outside.

He did not attach the name to a face because he mainly dealt with people's circumstances.

Field said he saw so many people he could not remember them all.

Mr Burgess asked him if, because he divorced the two roles, that made it okay for someone to effectively hide out in his house away from the immigration service.

Field said it was not and that he had not been aware of the removal order.

The court heard that Ms Phothisarn and her partner were moving into Prangley Ave about the same time Field was writing to the Associate Immigration Minister Damian O'Connor and the immigration service about their cases.

They did some maintenance work at the property.