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Allegations
of Sexual Abuse |
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Historic sex
allegations against one of New Zealand's top police officers was a case
"at best, built on straw", the Rotorua District Court heard
yesterday. There was no substance
to charges of rape, indecent assault and sexual violation faced by Assistant
Commissioner Clint Rickards, Judge Chris McGuire was told just before he
committed Rickards and two former policemen, Brad Shipton and Bob Schollum,
for trial. All three pleaded not
guilty to a collective 20 charges involving Louise Nicholas, then aged 18. In an unorthodox
submission, Rickards' lawyer, John Haigh, QC, asserted that the case against
his client was propped up by an obsessive and flawed police investigation
with "no objectivity whatsoever". He said it was an
investigation in name only and an accumulation of "stale,
unreliable" evidence. Mr Haigh also hit out
at the "extreme public clamouring" of the complainant, Louise
Nicholas, who had appeared on television and in print "time after time,
attacking Assistant Commissioner Rickards". Mr Rickards had been
stood down from his position since early last year and charged in March this
year after a 13-month inquiry. He could do nothing to
maintain his integrity and reputation, watching that "slide away"
under a barrage of allegations which became embedded and accepted as fact, Mr
Haigh said. The allegations had
been denied and the assistant commissioner waited for justice to take its
course. Mr Haigh said the
police investigation had, by the beginning of this year, cost $3 million and
taken thousands of hours. At least 14 police officers had been working on it
"while most New Zealanders would struggle to see one [officer] if they
had a burglary or anything". Mr Rickards now faced a
lengthy delay before he would be tried, said Mr Haigh, who accepted that it
was "inevitable" after the depositions hearing that the case would
go to the High Court. However, the lawyer
said, as a matter of principle he would not concede that there was a case to
answer. After Mr Haigh's
speech, Judge McGuire said to him: "I think you will accept that almost
all of what you say is outside the particular statutory task that I have,
which is to decide if there is enough evidence to place the defendants on
trial - and I do so find." Neither Paul Mabey, QC,
representing Schollum, nor Bill Nabney, for Shipton, argued against a prime
facie case being established. A date and venue for a
High Court trial will be determined on September 1. Judge McGuire carefully
outlined various suppression orders again yesterday, saying he wanted to make
it very clear that, as far as the depositions hearing was concerned, he would
be punctilious in ensuring the orders were obeyed. "This is, first
and foremost, about a fair trial for the accused. There is nothing that is
going to challenge that within the parameters of my jurisdiction," he
said. "This is a very
serious case for all those involved." In written evidence,
Louise Nicholas told of how Shipton and Rickard - both "large in stature
- I was very intimidated by them" - repeatedly visited her when the then
18-year-old was alone in her flat during the day. They came specifically for
sex and would ignore her refusals and pleas to be left alone. "I was very
intimidated and scared of them both. I felt this way because of who they were
[police officers] and their physical size compared to me. At that time I was
slim and only lightly built, weighing about 47kg," she said. "They didn't use
physical force - they just made me do what they wanted." Her 32-page written
statement told in detail of an occasion when Schollum - who had been a family
friend for some years - offered her a lift home and instead took her to
another house where she was allegedly raped and violated by the three
defendants, despite her protests and tears. A fourth man whom she
did not know stood in the bedroom doorway and watched. Before then she had not
seen Schollum as a threat "like I did Shipton and Rickards". At one stage Schollum
was holding her and telling her repeatedly "it will be all right". Afterwards he told her
to have a shower. He said nothing as he
drove her home but when she was getting out of the car he said "Sorry
Lou". Shipton and Rickard
continued visiting her uninvited after that, Mrs Nicholas said. "I had got past
protesting or begging them not to do these things to me. I was like a little
girl, hoping they would stop. "I never, ever
gave consent to any of the defendants to have sex with me. They just took me
for granted. "I went along with
what they wanted because they were policemen. I felt I had no way of stopping
them and there was nothing I could do," she said. "They scared the
living daylights out of me." If she didn't comply
with their demands, she feared, they had the power "to put me
away". "I was frightened
for myself." THE CASE Complainant She alleges she was
raped and sexually abused by three police officers in Rotorua nearly 20 years
ago. Case so far After a two-day
depositions hearing all three men were committed to stand trial in the High
Court on a date still to be set. Preliminary evidence
produced by the Crown was from 44 witnesses, with the majority by way of
written briefs. Strict suppression
orders covering some details remain in force. |
