NZ Herald
February 2, 2004
Police cover-up allegation
What Louise Nicholas says
Louise Nicholas has alleged that she was raped and violated by three police
officers in Rotorua in 1986 when she was 18 years old, and that another officer
covered up her allegations to protect his colleagues.
The men she has named have vehemently denied the allegations.
The three alleged to have raped her are
Mrs Nicholas, 36, says she sought help at the time of the incidents but was
ignored.
She alleges that after the pack-rape Mr Rickards and Mr Shipton would come to
her house and demand sex.
In 1993 she went to Rotorua police station to make a formal complaint but says
she was advised by then CIB chief Detective Inspector John Dewar not to.
Two years later the Police Complaints Authority began an investigation but it
was hindered because Mrs Nicholas, who then believed Mr Dewar had been
sympathetic to her, had protected him from criticism.
Mrs Nicholas now believes she was played "like a puppet" by Mr Dewar
and wants an independent inquiry as she does not trust police to investigate.