The Dominion Post
May 24 2004
The Main Players
by Haydon Dewes
Police will explain how
they are supposed to deal with sexual complaints against fellow officers at a
commission of inquiry hearing today.
It signals the start of
31/2 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.
The commission was
sparked by allegations made in The Dominion Post in January by Rotorua woman
Louise Nicholas that she was pack-raped and violated with a police baton in
1986, when she was 18, by three police officers.
Two, Bob Schollum and
Brad Shipton, have since left the police and the third, Clint Rickards,
Auckland commander and an assistant commissioner, has been stood down on full
pay. All deny the allegations.
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 policeman, 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, and was
passed earlier this month.
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, QC, 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 New Zealand
to meet those people and record their stories.
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.
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THE MAIN PLAYERS
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Louise Nicholas: Alleges
she was pack-raped and violated with a baton by Rickards, Schollum and Shipton
in Rotorua in 1986.
--------------------
Clint Rickards: Auckland
district police commander and assistant commissioner. Joined
Rotorua police in 1979. Currently stood down on full
pay.
Brad Shipton: Tauranga
city councillor. Policeman for 18 years, who was based in
Rotorua in 1986.
Bob Schollum: Hastings
used-car salesman. Joined police 1977, posted to Murupara
1980, then Rotorua.
Kelvin Powell: Waikato
district commander, stood down on full pay while allegations of sexual
offending in the 1980s are investigated.
John Dewar: Former head
of Rotorua CIB. Accused of failing to properly investigate
Nicholas' 1986 allegations.
Rex Miller: Retired
detective chief inspector who led Police Complaints Authority inquiry into
Dewar's handling of Nicholas' complaint.
Bruce Robertson and Dame
Margaret Bazley: The High Court judge and the
no-nonsense civil servant appointed to head the inquiry.
Rob Robinson: Police
commissioner. Promoted Rickards.
Nick Perry: Southern
district commander tasked with leading the criminal investigation into the
pack-rape claims.
--------------------
Judith Garrett: Came
forward after Mrs Nicholas' claims became public alleging a Kaitaia
constable handcuffed and raped her in a police station in March 1988.