another "prominent New Zealander" heading for court?

Hot on the heals of "prominent New Zealander Graham Capill, who pleated guilty to sexual abuse, we have another prominent New Zealander who is said to have defamed the top cop.

That person is the top politician, Helen Clark.

The original case against the Sunday Star-Times followed a story that contained statements allegedly made by the then commissioner when a car in which he was a passenger was stopped by a patrol car on 27 November 1999. I remember the night well, it was a Saturday night. I was at a wedding. Doone was said to have instructed a cop " that won't be necessary" when the young cop asked to breath test Doone's driver.

Those comments led to him losing his job. Except, he didn't make those comments. Doone dropped his lawsuit against the SST on the basis that he had seen evidence which identified a prominent New Zealander as the apparent source of alleged defamatory statements run by the newspaper.

Miss Clark confirmed the story. The story was wrong, Doone was forced to resign. Miss Clark never did get on with Doone so she was probably quite happy. The SST later ran a correction.

Miss Clark is now being sued for defamation - again. This time for knifing the top cop in the back.

No wonder she wants an early election. She was approached for an interview but she was asleep in Turkey. How appropriate. Asleep and in Turkey.