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The lawyer for the former
Napier policeman facing charges over historic offences committed against
Rotorua woman Louise Nicholas may apply to have the case thrown out. Robert Francis
Schollum, 52, appeared in the Tauranga District Court yesterday alongside
former colleague and co-accused Bradley Keith Shipton, 46. The nature and number
of charges against the two men were suppressed by Judge Russell Callender. In Auckland, judge
Simon Lockhart, presiding over the appearance of Assistant Commissioner
Clinton John Rickards, one of the country's highest-ranking police officers,
also suppressed the information. Despite the unusual
order, his lawyer Paul Mabey, QC, said today he was concerned whether
Schollum could get a fair trial anywhere in the country after extensive
publicity about Mrs Nicholas' allegations, although other factors would also
be examined. "A stay of
prosecution is being considered and extensive pre-trial publicity is only one
of the factors relevant and we're considering all of them at the
moment," Mr Mabey told Hawke's Bay Today. Schollum joined the
police force in 1977 before being posted to Murupara in 1980, then Rotorua,
where the incident prompting the charges was alleged to have taken place. In the late 1980s he
transferred to Napier where he was a sergeant and occasionally acting senior
sergeant before becoming a police prosecutor and resigning in the late 1990s.
In 1999 he applied for
a licence to sell used cars and worked at Stephen Hill Motors in Hastings
until recently. He lives in Greenmeadows with his family. The three accused were
arrested yesterday. After handing over their passports and agreeing to
residential conditions, Schollum and Shipton were remanded on bail to appear
in the Rotorua District Court on March 30. Rickards would appear in
the same court next month, where all three are expected to deny the charges. Detective
Superintendent Nick Perry said the arrests followed investigations by
Wellington and Rotorua-based police who had worked on the case for more than
a year. Canterbury University
media law expert John Burrows said the suppression orders imposed were
unusual, because it was usually the name of the accused that was suppressed.
But such decisions were made only after careful consideration. "The judge has had
everything explained to him," Prof Burrows said. "It is based on
the information he has got." |
