After consulting with St Joseph’s principal Aroha Stewart, Hewison advised the offer was not acceptable. Earlier in the day, Hewison attempted to have a statement from Stewart and another concerning the state of the town read out, but this was rejected by Kelly. Riches said he had not seen the statements, the application had been heard, this was an appeal and the statements would constitute new evidence.
MATTHEW LITTLEWOOD/Stuff
Mandeep Singh and his lawyer Andrew Riches. In his submission to the hearing, Hewison said the key issues were compatibility having a bottle store in that location, and the fact the bottle store would be in clear line of sight from the school playground and classrooms approximately 60 metres away.