The Dominion Post
January 31, 2004
Woman accuses top officer of teen pack-rape
by Philip Kitchin
The man being groomed to be New Zealand's next police commissioner, a Tauranga city councillor and a Napier used car salesman
have been accused of pack-raping a teenage girl when they all served as police
in Rotorua.
The woman making the allegations, Louise Nicholas, says she sought help at the
time of the incidents, but was ignored.
In 1993 she went to Rotorua police station intending
to make a formal complaint, but was advised by then CIB chief Detective
Inspector John Dewar not to make a written complaint.
Now she believes he manipulated her in order to protect his police colleagues.
She says that after the pack rape, Mr Rickards and Mr
Shipton would from time to time arrive at her home
uninvited, and always demand sex.
Two years after she complained to Mr Dewar, then Detective Chief Inspector Rex
Miller and other senior police were brought in by the Police Complaints
Authority to conduct an investigation.
Their inquiry, though thorough, was stymied because Mrs Nicholas, who then
believed Mr Dewar had been sympathetic to her, did not want him criticised, and
protected him.
The PCA inquiry, whose existence has never before been made public, looked at
whether Mr Dewar conspired to cover up the allegations, but found that he had
not committed any criminal or disciplinary offence.
But his failure to record and investigate the allegations showed a gross lack
of judgment and competence, the inquiry found.
Now, nine years after that investigation, Mr Miller has spoken out, saying Mrs
Nicholas was "moulded like play dough" into not making a complaint.
After seeing police documents obtained by The Dominion Post, Mrs Nicholas, now
36, believes Mr Dewar, who lives in
She wants Parliament to order an independent inquiry, saying she no longer
trusts the police to investigate the matter.
Reliable police sources say Mr Rickards is expected
to replace Police Commissioner Rob Robinson when he retires.
In a statement issued last night in response to questions from The Dominion
Post, Mr Robinson said police would study what was published.
"Should matters be disclosed which materially call into question the
integrity of police members' actions or investigations, then I give my
assurance that these matters will be thoroughly looked at."
A two-year investigation by The Dominion Post has revealed that police did not
follow usual rape complaint procedures.
The newspaper's investigation reveals:
·
Mr
Dewar appointed himself investigator even though he had close associations with
Mr Rickards and Mr Shipton.
·
Mr
Rickards, Mr Shipton and Mr
Schollum admitted having sex with the complainant
when she was about 18; however, they said it was consensual. They denied her
claim that a baton was used.
·
The
three were disciplined by "counselling" -- effectively a telling-off
-- after the PCA inquiry.
·
A
senior sergeant's notebook recording some of the first written details of the
rape allegations disappeared.
·
When
he learned of the accusations, Mr Shipton asked Mr
Dewar to take over the investigation from a female detective.
·
Mr
Dewar's diary -- the only record of an unusual formal police interview he had
with Mr Shipton -- was lost.
·
The
three men were "evasive" when asked by police to name a fourth man whom
Mrs Nicholas says was a witness to the alleged pack-rape.
·
The
PCA inquiry into Mr Dewar's failure to act said he was arrogant and displayed a
gross lack of judgment and competence.
·
The
inquiry found that he acted unprofessionally and offensively by taking a
statement from Mrs Nicholas when he was himself being investigated for failing
to act on her complaint.
·
The
house in which Mrs Nicholas alleges she was pack-raped was owned by the police
department, and occupied by Mr Shipton, at the time
of the alleged offence.
Mr Rickards, Mr Schollum and Mr Shipton declined to be interviewed by The Dominion Post
but, in statements released on their behalf by their lawyer, each vehemently denies
Mrs Nicholas' allegations.
Mr Rickards said a full police investigation had
cleared him of any wrongdoing and any publication of the allegations would
"inevitably cause great harm and distress to my family and me".
Mr Schollum said that he, too, had been subject to a
thorough investigation and was completely cleared. "Her allegations have
absolutely no foundation."
Mr Shipton said he had been cleared of all
allegations. "I denied the allegations absolutely then, and I deny them
absolutely now."