One News
February 1, 2004
Maori leaders support Rickards
Maori leaders are
showing their support for Clint Rickards, the Assistant Police Commissioner
facing rape allegations over an incident in Rotorua 18 years ago.
Rickards, along with two other men, is accused by Rotorua housewife Louise
Nicholas of sexual impropriety and the police are accused of failing to
properly investigate her complaints.
Rickards is on voluntary leave while the rape accusation against him is
investigated.
"I think the support for Clint is pretty universal," says
"He's a no-nonsense sort of person and well-known - very popular in the
communities in which he has worked...I've got great confidence in his ability
and we support him very strongly."
The accused men are Rickards, Brad Shipton, now a Tauranga city councillor, and
Bob Schollum, now a car salesman.
The trio were all police officers at the time and they are denying the charges,
emphasising they were cleared by a police investigation.
Rickards has announced he will be taking three weeks' leave from his
He says he is doing so to assist the public's perception of impartiality.
Rickards says he will be cooperating fully with the inquiry and looks forward
to the allegations being resolved once and for all.
New information comes to light
A ONE News investigation has revealed key information that the police are
unaware of.
For the first time, Nicholas' claims that she was sexually assaulted with a
police baton in 1986 appear to have been strengthened.
A former Rotorua policewoman has told ONE News that
her police baton was used for "deviant sexual behaviour".
"It was given to me with the explanation that it had been used for
sex," Carolyn Butcher told ONE News.
"I am disgusted... that there is a possibility that someone could have
used my baton in that way."
Butcher says she lost her baton at a police party in Rotorua in the mid-1980s.
One of the men named by Nicholas was in the same police squad as Butcher and it
is believed he was at that party.
Butcher would not say at this stage who gave her baton back some time later.
When asked if she had informed other police officers of the possibility that
her baton had been used for deviant sexual behaviour, Butcher replied that she
had told "plenty of people, yes".
The former policeman who headed an internal investigation into the way the
then-Rotorua CIB chief handled the rape allegations told ONE News that the
investigators did not know about Butcher's baton going missing - nor what she
was told when it was returned.
Former Detective Chief Inspector Rex Miller said the men denied the baton
incident but confirmed they had sexual intercourse with Nicholas.
Nicholas says she was raped and sexually abused in about 1986 by the three
Rotorua policemen. Seven years later she made a rape complaint to Rotorua
police.
It was investigated by Rotorua CIB head, Detective Inspector John Dewar, but no
charges followed against the three men.
In 1995 the Police Complaints Authority assigned Miller to review Dewar's
investigation.
His report concluded that Dewar did not commit any criminal or disciplinary
offence but he showed a "gross lack of judgement and competence and failed
to record and investigate Louise Nicholas' allegations against the three
officers".
Dewar did not want to be interviewed by ONE News but
said that he welcomed any new inquiry and would fully cooperate.
Rickards said in a statement that he too would cooperate fully and that he
expected to return to normal duty after his voluntary three weeks' leave.
Inquiry ordered
The government is hoping the police won't work under the shadow of these
allegations for too long.
"Obviously the sooner it can be resolved the better, but my experience
with matters like this would suggest that it may take some time," Prime
Minister Helen Clark told ONE News.
"It is very important that the police have the faith and respect of the
Police Minister George Hawkins says the government may look into the rape
allegations, but the proper processes must be followed first.
Hawkins said he is confident the Police Complaints Authority can investigate
appropriately.
He said he has known about the allegations for some years, but was assured they
were baseless.
Accusations of rape against Rickards have put his appointment as an Assistant
Commissioner of Police under intense scrutiny.
But she was told of the past sexual allegations against him when he was vying
for a different post in 2000.
"At the time Mr Rickard's name was before me as one of a possible number
of appointees to the Deputy Commissioner position. It is a matter of record
that he was not appointed to that position," she said.
Miller, who looked into the accusations in 1995, is welcoming the new inquiry.
"It's important for everyone involved that it gets put to bed once and for
all and a resolution is reached for the complainant, for the ones accused of
things and for the well-being of the police in general," Miller said.
As well as the inquiry ordered by the Prime Minister, the
police are carrying out their own review and the Police Complaints
Authority is also considering it.
And a sexual assault researcher says the three men at the centre of the rape
allegations should be treated as innocent until proven guilty.
She says an accused can often be seen as guilty, even if they are cleared.
Goodyear-Smith says if the processes are properly followed, it is not fair on
the accused to continue the allegations unless real new evidence comes to light.