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.