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Allegations
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Assistant Police
Commissioner Clint Rickards - committed this week to stand trial on sex
charges - remains suspended on full pay. One of New Zealand's
top police officers, Rickards is not being treated differently from any other
officer facing criminal charges, says a spokesman from police national
headquarters. Rickards, estimated to
be earning around $200,000 a year, was stood down from duties nearly 18
months ago when an investigation began into allegations by Rotorua woman
Louise Nicholas. The 44-year-old
assistant commissioner and two former police officers, Brad Shipton, 47, and
Bob Schollum, 53, were charged in March this year with a collective 20 counts
of raping, indecently assaulting and sexually violating Mrs Nicholas almost
20 years ago. All have denied the
accusations. They officially entered not guilty pleas at the end of a
depositions hearing this week after Rotorua District Court judge Chris
McGuire found they had a case to answer. A date and venue for a High Court
trial has still to be set. Asked about Rickards'
status, police national headquarters spokesman Jon Neilson said "nothing
has changed". Although suspended from
any operational involvement, he still held his rank and continued to receive
the pay and perks that were part of his employment conditions. That included a car -
although any police radio would be removed - but Mr Neilson would not say if
use of a fuel card was part of the deal. Nor would he say how
much Mr Rickards was being paid. That was a privacy matter. "We do not divulge
the nature of what is in a [employment] contract," Mr Neilson said. The status quo remained
until the case had finished going through the court process. The outcome of
that would determine any future action. "There are
employment issues as well as disciplinary issues," he said. If Rickards was
acquitted of all charges he could still face an in-house disciplinary process
over any breaches of police behaviour, standards and regulations. Dismissal of an officer
involved a "clearly defined procedure", said Mr Neilson. "The
commissioner would make the call on legal and employment advice." At the end of the
preliminary hearing - just before the judge committed Rickards, Shipton and
Schollum to trial - Rickards' lawyer John Haigh QC said it had been like
having a sword of Damocles hanging over his client's head since early last
year. He was referring to the
story of Dionysius, a Greek ruler who taught his courtier Damocles a lesson
by inviting him to a banquet and seating him beneath a sword, suspended by a
hair. He ate knowing sudden death was hanging over his head. Clint Rickards was once
considered a future police commissioner; a question mark now hangs over his
career. When Louise Nicholas,
now married and a 38-year-old mother of three daughters, went public with her
allegations of pack rape and repeated sexual abuse against the three men at
the beginning of last year, the publicity was extensive. A criminal
investigation was launched, taking up thousands of police hours and costing
more than $3 million. Thirteen months later,
in March, the men were charged. A Government-launched
commission of inquiry into police conduct has been stalled while the criminal
proceedings go through the system. Some names, details and
the evidence of several witnesses have been suppressed in a move to ensure
the three men receive a fair trial. With more than 40
witnesses listed to give evidence, the preliminary hearing was expected to
take two weeks. Instead, it lasted two days, with the bulk of the evidence
put forward in written form. |
