One News
January 31, 2004

Woman alleges brutal police rape

A woman is seeking justice, 18 years after she alleges she was raped and sexually assaulted with a police baton at a Rotorua house.

Louise Nicholas has told ONE News that Assistant Commissioner Clint Rickards and two former policemen, Brad Shipton who is now a Tauranga city councillor and car salesman Bob Schollum, raped her with a police baton in 1986.

No charges were laid against the men after a police inquiry, but they were formally reprimanded.

The Rotorua housewife has told a ONE News special investigation that she was raped by the three officers at a police force house now in private ownership in Rotorua.

Nicholas, now married with three children, said she has got nothing to be ashamed about.

"I've done nothing wrong. These guys are the ones that have done the damage," she told ONE News.

"I'm not going to sit back and let the demons of the past be buried with me."

Nicholas was about 18 when she claims she was taken to the house by Bob Schollum, a family friend and off duty policeman. She said two other off duty policemen, Clint Rickards and Brad Shipton, were waiting there. She said two of the policemen had previously had sex with her - sex she said she had not freely consented to. But she claims a brutal incident followed.

"I was led into there and my clothes were removed...I started saying come on guys, I don't want this to happen...and then I know I was on the bed and the baton was produced and I just knew then, Jesus Christ...and I asked them not to use that, but they did...they made me get on all fours and they used their baton."

Nicholas' therapist Margaret Craig, assigned by the Accident Compensation Commission, told ONE News that she imagines as the process of disclosure and investigation evolved Nicholas began to see the "absolute injustice of her situation" and that nobody seemed to want to listen.

"We're not talking about a church leader or a schoolteacher - we are talking about the New Zealand Police Force," said Craig.

It was eight years before the incident became the subject of an internal police inquiry.

John Dewar, who was then head of the Rotorua CIB, appointed himself the investigator.

Three years later he was officially reprimanded for failing to properly investigate Louise Nicholas' complaints.

In a hidden camera meeting with Nicholas, Dewar talked about the claim that the alleged baton incident was consensual.

When Nicholas said she was "hacked off" because it wasn't consensual Dewar said: "I certainly know the part regarding the baton wasn't consensual", adding "it would be hard to understand why you would consent to that".

Nicholas said when people think of a pack rape they're thinking Mongrel Mob and really bad people.

"These guys are in the New Zealand Police Force. They don't do things like that and that's the scariest part of all...is that they did," Nicholas said.

"They're worse than these Mongrel Mob members - sick."

The three men have strongly denied the allegation, issuing a statement through their lawyers.

Rickards said the recent serious allegations about events nearly 20 years ago have "no substance whatsoever". He said a full police investigation in the early 1990s "completely cleared me of any wrongdoing".

Schollum said the serious allegations were first made and dealt with by the police 10 years ago. He said he was then a police officer and underwent a "careful thorough investigation by senior police officers". He said he was completely cleared of the allegations which have "absolutely no foundation".

And Shipton said he absolutely denied the allegations then and now, also referring to the police investigation 10 years ago in which Shipton said he was completely cleared.

Nicholas said she took eight years before she formally approached police because she was manipulated into not making a complaint at the time by John Dewar.

She said she didn't scream or run away because they were policemen and she was scared.

Her counsellor, Margaret Craig, said Nicholas has never said any of the acts were consensual.

Craig said Nicholas' response was typical of a young person who lived in a small community and had been victimised by people that she was supposed to trust.

Nicholas believes she was manipulated into not making a complaint at the time by John Dewar.

Former Detective Chief Inspector Rex Miller headed an investigation because of unease over Dewar's handling of the allegations.

Miller believes Nicholas was very naive. When asked by ONE News if it was appropriate for Dewar to investigate serious allegations against fellow police officers when they were his close associates, Miller said that would be unprofessional.

Nicholas told ONE News she is now prepared to go any tribunal to get justice.

"Why should I fear that blue uniform? What the hell did I do to deserve this?"



Investigation ordered

Police Commissioner Rob Robinson has ordered an immediate police investigation into what he describes as the "serious historical sex allegations".

Deputy Commissioner Steve Long will head a team of senior investigators on the police inquiry.

Robinson said he has known about the allegations regarding Rickards since the late 1990s. He said he was aware that they had been investigated and that those investigations had been reviewed and "taken to resolution".

Robinson said what is new is that the integrity of the earlier investigations has been called into question.

He said the matter of the command of the Auckland City District (where Rickards is currently commander) will be reviewed on Monday.

The Police Complaints Authority says it will be reviewing its files in the wake of the revelations.

The current head of the PCA, Judge Ian Borrin, said he will be looking at the files over the weekend.