The Herald
February 4, 2004
Former policeman said to have made deathbed confession
NZPA
A former policeman
made a deathbed confession saying he was warned to keep quiet about rape claims
made by Louise Nicholas, the Dominion Post reported today.
The newspaper said a friend of the policeman, Louise Nicholas' brother Peter
Crawford, said that the week before former Rotorua policeman Trevor Clayton
died last year, Mr Clayton broke down and said he wanted to ask for forgiveness
from Mrs Nicholas and her family.
Mrs Nicholas alleges she was violated with a police baton and pack-raped by
three police officers, Clint Rickards, Bob Schollum and Brad Shipton, when all
were Rotorua police in 1986. She says that Mr Rickards and Mr Shipton continued
on occasions to have sex with her against her will.
All three strenuously deny the allegations.
Mrs Nicholas said she asked Mr Clayton, whom she knew through her family, to
try to make his fellow officers stop, the Dominion Post reported.
Mr Clayton was integral to the original police investigation of the case, the
newspaper said.
Yesterday that investigation was reopened by police, at the same time as the
Government announced a commission of inquiry into the matters.
The man who assigned himself to investigate the original allegations, former
head of Rotorua CIB John Dewar, said in a police document obtained by The
Dominion Post that Mr Clayton told him Mrs Nicholas had complained to him about
what some Rotorua policemen were doing to her.
In the document, Mr Dewar is alleged to have said that Mr Clayton said there
could have been criminal implications to Mrs Nicholas' complaints.
He said Mr Clayton had said he was prepared to lie on oath to "protect his
mates" if asked about Mrs Nicholas in court.
But Mr Crawford told The Dominion Post that, as Mr Clayton lay dying, he wanted
to come clean about what he knew.
Mr Crawford said he became "best mates" with Mr Clayton during a
20-year friendship. Mr Clayton had been a groomsman at his wedding.
Mr Crawford said he knew his sister made allegations that police officers in
Rotorua had sexually assaulted her in the mid to late 80s. Because of their
divided loyalties, Mr Crawford and Mr Clayton did not discuss the allegations
in great detail until a few days before Mr Clayton died.
Mr Crawford said that Mr Clayton's partner telephoned him saying Mr Clayton
wanted to see him.
"Trevor was gravely ill. Everybody that had anything to do with Trevor
knew he didn't have long to go. He had cancer ... I shot round there to visit
him and we sat down and caught up on some old times and then he quite suddenly
got quite emotional," he told The Dominion Post.
"I felt he wanted to get something off his chest with me. He broke down
and held my hand and basically he wanted to come clean with the issues
regarding my sister.
"He asked me for forgiveness and Mum and Dad's forgiveness and Louise's
forgiveness ... like I say, he wanted to come clean on the whole deal but he
told me he was gagged, that he was told to shut up and it was quite emotional
for him.
"It was one of the hardest things I've had to listen to ... and he never
actually got that chance in the end. He passed away approximately a week
later."
The Dominion Post: "There was no doubt what he was telling you was that these police officers had acted unlawfully in the
way they treated Louise?"
Mr Crawford: "Definitely, yes ... I think, with Trevor being out of the
police force, his relationship with his mates in the police force became
strained over the issue.
"He certainly wanted to clear, have it all out in the open and have it
cleared up and he was definitely gagged. Threatened maybe.
"He said, 'There's definitely been a cover-up' ... he was definitely
having trouble coping with it because he knew it was illegal."
Mr Crawford said that, though it was difficult knowing that Mr Clayton had
known things about his sister, he remained his friend because he had tried to
make clear his conscience. "Yeah, we were, we were mates."
Mrs Nicholas said she had forgiven Mr Clayton.
Mr Dewar said yesterday that he had fully investigated Mrs Nicholas' complaints
and welcomed any inquiry into his actions.
Mr Dewar has been accused of manipulating Mrs Nicholas in order to protect his
colleagues. However, in a brief statement yesterday, he denied all allegations
of wrongdoing and said he had not compromised his inquiry into Mrs Nicholas'
complaints.
He would co-operate fully with any inquiry and looked forward to being
exonerated.