“None of the people at your table were intoxicated?” Stephens asked the judge. “You must have been affected to some extent.”“I don’t accept I was disinhibited or affected by alcohol in the way you are suggesting,” Judge Aitken replied. Stephens asked the judge if she had done anything to cause Costello to look in her direction. “I don’t know why she was staring at me.”“You didn’t call out loudly or yell at the top of the stairs,” Stephens asked. “No, we don’t want to put that in the statement,” Judge Aitken recalled being told during the phone call.

Source: New Zealand Herald February 16, 2026 02:07 UTC