NZ Herald
February 10 2004

What Louise Nicholas says


Louise Nicholas

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 Auckland's top policeman, Assistant Commissioner Clint Rickards, Brad Shipton, now a Tauranga City councillor, and Bob Schollum, a used car salesman in Napier.

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.