Mahvash Ikram
NZ First’s party secretary and deputy chief of staff has been accused of providing an exaggerated and untruthful account of Judge Ema Aitken’s conduct at the Northern Club in November 2024 in order to gain some form of political leverage.
Aitken’s lawyer, David Jones KC (pictured), was questioning Holly Howard during the third day of a hearing convened by the Judicial Conduct Panel to consider whether it should recommend the judge’s removal from the bench.
Jones put it to Howard that her recollection of events on the night in question, when Aitken is alleged to have loudly disrupted a NZ First event and heckled party leader Winston Peters, was “rubbish”.
“Is that because you want to increase the focus on the judge and so NZ First can get some leverage in terms of judicial activism?” he asked.
Howard – the first witness to give evidence at the inquiry – denied that was the case.
“We get no leverage from this,” she said.
‘Heightened awareness’
Howard told the panel that she was seated inside the function room when she first noticed a woman in a yellow dress making her way to the bathroom.
At the time she did not recognise the woman as being Aitken.
“As the woman walked past our function, she slowed down and looked into the Wintergarden room doorway as she made her way to the bathroom,” Howard said.
“She did not say anything and walked past, but she was paying us more attention than other guests had done.”
Howard said she was already in “a heightened state of awareness” because of disruption by protestors during the previous month’s NZ First party conference in Hamilton.
Aitken’s unusual behaviour prompted her to stand near one the doorways, she said.
A short while later, Howard said she heard a commotion.
“I turned around and saw the woman. She was yelling and walking down the stairs.”
At this point, Howard said she decided to deploy a common de-escalation technique – holding her arms out and moving forward to prevent the judge from entering the function room.
Howard said she noticed Aitken had turned her attention to another guest, Customs Minister Casey Costello, and heard her ask the minister, “how can you let him say that?”
As Howard ushered Aitken away, she said the judge told her in a “threatening and aggressive manner” that there was “a room full of judges next door who would be interested in what the Deputy Prime Minister said”.
Jones pointed out there were apparent discrepancies between the version of events Howard had provided to the Northern Club in a letter dated 27 November 2024 and a statement she read to the Judicial Conduct Panel on Wednesday.
He said her statement that the judge was “yelling” during Peters’ speech was inconsistent with the version of events she had given to the club.
Howard conceded there were “errors” in the letter but was adamant that she had told the truth at all times.
“When I wrote this letter, my focus was [to]… help identify who these individuals [causing the disruption] were… rather than a blow-by-blow of exactly what they did, because it wasn’t actually relevant to [the staff]”.
‘Not Denny’s’
Aitken is not the only person who is said to have caused disruption at the NZ First event.
Michael Reed KC was attending another function at the Northern Club that night, along with a group of judges including Aitken.
He is also alleged to have tried to gate-crash the NZ First event.
In her evidence, Howard said Reed demanded to know what was happening in the room. He wanted to talk to Peters and became hostile when asked to leave.
Howard said he took photos and threatened to sue her and another staff member “for a lot of money” if they touched him.
A video of this exchange was played to the judicial panel on Wednesday.
Howard said such conduct was unexpected at a venue like the Northern Club.
“This is not Denny’s.”
On the video, Reed can be seen dropping his phone before being escorted away from the function room.
“Can you be quiet… I’m not disturbing anyone… I didn’t say a word,” he can be heard saying. “Not a word. I just stood there, I was just interested in seeing what was happening.”
‘An elderly, small man’
Howard said she felt Reed’s behaviour was significantly threatening.
Jones asked if she believed he was carrying a weapon. “It’s possible,” Howard said. “Political violence happens around the world we are in and we have to be careful.
“When you have somebody enter a private space, refuse to leave, act entitled to be there and start taking photos of you. What’s he doing with those photos? I don’t know…
“I understand that he is smaller than I am. That does not mean he’s not a risk to me. That does not mean he’s not a risk to my guests. It does not mean he is not a risk to any of our ministers…
“Sure, he’s [an] elderly, small man. I don’t know his character. All I know is he is being entitled, refusing to leave and he ended up becoming quite aggressive.”
No record
Dorothy Jones, a NZ First board member and the wife of NZ First deputy leader Shane Jones, told the hearing she called the Northern Club the day after the event to discuss what had happened.
Jones KC put to her that the club’s written summary of the call did not record any yelling by a woman in a yellow dress.
Dorothy Jones said the record was not accurate and maintained she had mentioned the incident. But she accepted she did not raise the omission with the club or ask for the record to be corrected.
Next witness
Minister Casey Costello is scheduled to give evidence on Thursday, along with Aitken.
However, the Chief District Court Judge will not be taking the stand.
Last month Aitken said she wanted the panel to issue a summons to her boss, Chief District Court Judge Heemi Taumaunu, to appear as a witness.
LawNews understands she subsequently decided not to pursue the matter.
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