NZ Herald
May 28 2004
Inquiry into police rape allegations delayed
NZPA
The head of a commission
of inquiry into police conduct confirmed today there will be no evidential
hearings next month.
The commission was
established after Rotorua woman Louise Nicholas alleged in January she was packraped and violated with a police baton by three police
officers in 1986, when she was 18.
The commission is to look
at evidence relating to Ms Nicholas' and other similar cases and has indicated
women will get a chance to tell their stories if they wish.
However, commission head
Justice Robertson said today that evidential hearings planned for June would no
longer go ahead.
"It will be
necessary to allow sufficient time for people, whose acts or omissions are
complained of, to have the opportunity to respond and to have their responses
assessed for evidential value," he said in a statement.
"We repeat that we
are convinced that the interests of justice and equity require that we should
not embark on any public hearing with regard to any alleged incident unless we can
hear all versions and facets of it."
Funding problems for some
of those wishing to appear before the commission were also a potential cause
for delay, he said.
The commission had no
budgetary allocation to assist with this.
However, Justice Robertson
said he and fellow commissioner Dame Margaret Bazley
would still try and meet their November 1 reporting deadline unless delays were
"absolutely unavoidable".
The pair would meet again
with lawyers for all parties involved in the commission on June 16 to see if it
was possible to set down any new hearing dates.
He also directed that the
identity of those giving evidence before the commission be kept confidential
before their appearance unless they "unequivocally waive that right
themselves".
That would give people
the chance to apply to have their identities or parts of their evidence
suppressed by the commission, he said.
The measure was necessary
to protect police staff who had given confidential evidence to the Police
Complaints Authority (PCA) under the understanding their identity would be kept
secret.
This month Parliament
rushed through a law allowing the commission access to PCA files for the
purpose of its investigation.
- NZPA