Stuff
February 7, 2004

Inquiry team trying to find 'fourth man'
NZPA

An unidentified "fourth man" said to have witnessed an alleged pack-rape by police officers could be critical to the two official inquiries launched this week.

Deputy Police Commissioner Steve Long's team investigating Louise Nicholas' claim that she was pack-raped is trying to identify the man who she says witnessed it.

Mrs Nicholas claims Assistant Commissioner Clint Rickards and two others who are no longer in the police force raped her in a Rotorua police house in 1986 when she was 18.

All three strenuously deny rape and say any sex was consensual. They have told police no fourth man was present.

The fourth man is critical to both sides as his evidence could confirm whether the sex was consensual or rape.

Mrs Nicholas last week reiterated her claim and urged the man to come forward.

She said she did not know the fourth man but had always thought he was a friend of the others and a policeman.

She said he wore a police shirt and mufti trousers.

"If you can find that guy and he's got a conscience and he's willing to state what happened, well then...

"I don't remember him doing anything to me, but he was there. He knew what was going on."

Mrs Nicholas was unsure if she would still recognise the witness now, but said she might have in 1993 when she complained to Detective Inspector John Dewar.

"If he had been doing his job, he could have pulled out some photos of the police in Rotorua at that time."

Michael Player, a spokesman for Police Commissioner Rob Robinson, confirmed that the new inquiry team was attempting to establish if a fourth man was present and to try to find him.

On Tuesday, Mr Robinson ordered a new criminal investigation into the pack-rape allegation.

The same day, Prime Minister Helen Clark announced a commission of inquiry into how police handled Mrs Nicholas' case and the wider culture in the police force at the time.

Mrs Nicholas has made allegations against seven police officers relating to alleged incidents in Murupara and Rotorua in the 1980s, some when she was aged 12 to 15.