Dominion Post
May 24 2004
Police on mat over sex complaints
Police will explain
how they are supposed to deal with sexual complaints against fellow officers at
a Commission of Inquiry hearing today, convened after allegations of sexual
offending by police officers.
The commission signals the start of 3½ months of hearings that will put police,
and the way they have handled complaints of sexual abuse by their own during
the past 25 years, under the spotlight.
In January, Rotorua woman Louise Nicholas alleged she was pack-raped and
violated with a police baton by three police officers in 1986, when she was
aged 18.
Two of the officers, Bob Schollum and Brad Shipton, have since left the police.
The third,
Former Rotorua CIB chief John Dewar is accused of having failed to properly
investigate Mrs Nicholas' original complaints.
In the wake of the allegations, another senior police officer, Kelvin Powell,
has also been stood down on full pay while police investigate complaints of
sexual offences.
The commission will start its hearing behind schedule after initial information
gathering was delayed by blanket secrecy provisions in the Police Complaints
Authority Act that protect the anonymity of informants.
In the commission's first public meeting in March, High Court judge Justice
Bruce Robertson, who heads the inquiry with Dame Margaret Bazley,
said he was unsure whether it could report back to the Government by its
November deadline.
A law change was rushed through Parliament to allow commission staff to peruse
the files.
The commission will hear how police officers were expected and required to
respond when an allegation of sexual assault was made against another police
officer.
Police lawyer Kristy McDonald will be calling Superintendent Dave Trappitt, for the Office of the Commissioner, as a formal
witness to explain procedures.
The hearing should take a day.
A commission spokesman could not say when evidence from those alleging their
complaints were mishandled would be heard, because it was still being
collected.
Since a call for submissions was made in March, three interviewers have flown
around
The number of people who have come forward is not being made public, as the
commissioners try to reassure potential informants that unnecessary information
will not be made public.