Allegations of Sexual Abuse in NZ
	False Allegations - Index
	Cases - 2005
	Otago Daily Times May 30 2005 Policeman asked why he was in shower area Trial into sexual violation of prisoner continues NZPA Rotorua: A police officer accused of sexually violating a woman prisoner in Tauranga police station cells was quizzed by the prosecution on Friday about what he was doing in the female shower area. Crown prosecution Jonathan Temm questioned the movements of Senior Constable Fredrick John Follas around the cell block at Tauranga Police Station on the morning of February 5 last year. In the High Court at Rotorua, Follas has pleaded not guilty to one charge of sexual violation by unlawful sexual connection. Follas is alleged to have sexually violated the prisoner, first with a cake of soap and then with his hand, while she was taking a shower in the female section of the cell block. Mr Temm asked Follas, who was watchhouse day-shift supervisor on February 5, why he had returned to the shower block that day after he had already made a mental note to be careful of the woman’s behaviour. The jury earlier heard that two days before her complaint of sexual misconduct, the woman allegedly danced a jig in front of Follas and asked if he had “time for a quickie”. Follas said he had decided not to return to the female cell block unless he knew the woman was fully dressed. But that morning the woman asked him for a cake of soap. When he got back to the shower, the woman had undressed and was wearing a towel. Follas said he was annoyed by her behaviour and, after he checked the water temperature at her request, left the room to make tea or coffee for the prisoners. “Ten minutes earlier she had annoyed you, compromised you, now you’re getting her coffee?” Mr Temm asked. “If I was to stay angry with everybody in the cell block who annoyed me, the job wouldn’t get done,” Follas responded. Follas said he felt “disappointed and angry” when he was told the complaint had been laid against him. He reiterated his innocence to the jury: “Simply to reaffirm my original denial. Everything I did I acted totally professionally with this woman throughout my dealings with her.” The trial continues this week.