There were colourful scenes at the High Court in Wellington on day two of Sir Bob Jones' defamation case today.
The property tycoon had a mishap with his hearing aid but the show went on, as the 80-year-old accused filmmaker Renae Maihi of damaging his reputation by calling him racist.
He was ready for cross-examination when he lost his hearing aid.
Court stopped while his team went to find it and an hour later, the court had to improvise with headphones.
Ms Maihi launched a petition in 2018 calling for Sir Bob to be stripped of his knighthood after a controversial newspaper column.
Sir Bob Jones accuses Renae Maihi of damaging his reputation when she labelled him racist.
He was cross-examined about it by Ms Maihi's lawyer today and when asked if he'd read the petition, he said no.
"The base proposition is dishonest in my view. I don't have to read the detail," he told the court.
Lawyer Davey Salmon pointed to media reporting negative public reaction before Ms Maihi's petition.
"You're suggesting why didn't I sue or complain about these people - well, I didn't know about them," Sir Bob told the court.
Sir Bob says Ms Maihi orchestrated a campaign against him.
At times, Sir Bob wasn't the only one who got a grilling as the judge queried the relevance of Mr Salmon's questioning.
There was also a swipe at the defendant from Sir Bob.
"Had she never been born, none of this would have happened," he said in court.
Sir Bob's evidence continues into day three tomorrow.
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