Glenn claims extortion

The Herald reports:

Sir Owen Glenn is adamant his $2 million inquiry into family violence in New Zealand will go ahead, and says accusations that he hit a woman in Hawaii more than a decade ago are completely false. …

He told Campbell Live last night the accusations were fabricated by the American woman, his former personal assistant, to extort money.

He implied she had psychiatric issues and said she re-ignited the claim 10 days ago hoping for another payout.

He continues:

Two Hawaiian policemen knocking on his door at 1.30am said the woman had filed an assault complaint against him and took him into custody. He was released on bail the next day. The woman dropped her claims, and the case never went before a judge, he said.

“There was subsequently no case to answer. If both parties agree there is no case to answer, it’s no contest,” he said.

However, he said she then filed a lawsuit against him for unfair dismissal.

“She was a case of extortion, I said I wouldn’t pay her out. But [the employment mediator] said ‘look, have a small settlement, whatever I can get it down to’ so I agreed to that in the end only because of the length of time and the harassment etcetera, but I only paid that strictly – and it’s in the court papers – for payments of her psychiatric bills.”

The settlement was $80,000 as opposed to the $300,000 she was seeking.

Inevitably, I imagine she will sell her story to a media outlet.