NZ Herald
October 20 2004
Rape claim against police under investigation
NZPA
A
Niki Koster, 38, decided to go to police
to complain after Louise Nicholas went public in January with allegations she
was pack-raped and violated with a baton by three police officers in Rotorua in
1986.
Mrs Nicholas accused Assistant
Commissioner Clint Rickards, and two men who have since left the police -
former Tauranga city councillor Brad Shipton and salesman Bob Schollum - of the
pack-rape. The trio have strenuously denied raping
Nicholas.
Ms Koster claimed the officer who
raped her had been drinking with two senior officers earlier on the night in
1987 when the incident took place.
She was taken to a house in Rotorua
to sleep off a night of heavy drinking and woke to find the officer having sex
with her.
Too drunk and scared to fight him
off, her pleas for him to stop went unheeded, she claimed.
"I suppressed it for a lot of
years and now I want to talk about it. I feel I have a story. You don't know
who you can trust - even if they have got a uniform on," Ms Koster said.
Mr Wright-St Clair had not yet spoken
to Ms Koster, but had received a file from
Mr Wright-St Clair would not provide
any information on the case or the police officer accused by Ms Koster while
the investigation was under way. He would not confirm if the police officer
accused was still in the force.
Ms Koster was working at a
She had been visiting Rotorua. She
said after the rape, nothing was said between the pair and she left. She had
not talked to the police officer since.
"Back then I didn't take note
of a policeman's name or anything like that."
Ms Koster had been reluctant to
complain for several reasons. She had worked as a prostitute, used drugs and
had convictions for drug offences and doubted anyone would believe her,
especially given it was a police officer she was accusing.
She could not recall all of the
details about the night she claimed she was raped and she also feared
retribution from police.
"The Rotorua police was like a
gang. Just the way they acted. It was quite scary."
Ms Koster wanted to see the man she
accused punished.