Dominion Post
March 16, 2004
Lawyers to meet to set out hearing process
About 15 lawyers
are expected at the first meeting of the commission of inquiry into police rape
allegations.
Next Monday's (March 22) hearing in
The hearings should begin in May and last till July.
Final figures of how many people came forward to make submissions before the
deadline at 5pm today were not available tonight, though a commission spokesman
said expressions of interest would still be accepted. The deadline had been set
to allow the commission to gauge the range of submissions likely to be made.
The Cabinet has set aside $3 million for the commission of inquiry by High
Court judge Bruce Robertson and former public servant Dame Margaret Bazley. They are expected to report back in November.
The Government established the commission of inquiry to look into alleged
sexual assaults by police and how they were investigated.
Allegations about sexual offending by police officers have surfaced since The
Dominion Post and TV One reported that Rotorua woman Louise Nicholas was
alleging she was pack-raped in 1986 by two former policemen, Bob Schollum and
Brad Shipton, and Clint Rickards, now Auckland commander and assistant
commissioner. The men have admitted having sex with her but deny rape. Mr
Rickards has been stood down.
Police have reopened a criminal investigation into her allegations. A second
senior policeman, Kelvin Powell, was stood down from all duties for the
duration of the investigation last month.