One News
March 4, 2004

Time limit in police rape inquiry

People wanting to make submissions to an inquiry into police rape claims have less than a fortnight to say they want to be heard.

The commission of inquiry, sparked by a Rotorua woman's pack rape claims, is setting March 15 as the deadline for registering interest.

High court judge Bruce Robertson and former top civil servant Dame Margaret Bazley are the two commissioners who will look into the police handling of sexual assault allegations made against serving officers.

They are yet to get a permanent offices, but in just two days they will be calling for submissions from the public. Ads will appear in weekend newspapers giving people less than a fortnight to indicate they want to put in a submission.

"We've asked people to register their interest so there will be time for the commission to hear all the submissions that people want to make," says commission spokesperson Colin Feslier.

Although they have only 10 days to register their interest, the commission says they will have plenty of time to register their submissions.

The inquiry was prompted by allegations made by Louise Nicholas against three Rotorua police officers in the mid 1980s.

It's calling for any relevant complaints about sexual assaults by police officers and the way they were investigated.

The commission is due to report back to the government by November.

But a separate police investigation is under way, as well as another by the Police Complaints Authority. And if any charges result, legal rules could prohibit the commission making hearings public.