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NZ Herald
September 29 2005
Former policemen face High Court in rape case
By Elizabeth Binning
An
assistant police commissioner and two other men will go to trial in March
accused of pack-raping Rotorua woman Louise Nicholas.
The trial will be heard in the High Court at Auckland and is set down to last
three weeks.
It will follow four days of pre-trial applications which are scheduled to be
heard in the same court next month.
The accused, Clinton John Tukotahi Rickards, Bradley Keith Shipton, and Robert
Francis Schollum, face a total of 20 charges of rape, indecent assault and
unlawful sexual connection.
It is alleged Mrs Nicholas was forced to have sex with Shipton and Rickards
between six to 12 times and that she was also taken to a house and pack-raped
by the three accused on a separate occasion.
The alleged offending took place in 1986 when Mrs Nicholas was 18 and the
three accused were working as police officers in Rotorua. The three accused
have strongly denied the allegations and one of their lawyers described the
case as being "at best, built on straw".
Historic case
The accuser:
* Louise Nicholas, 38, married with three daughters. She went public with her
allegations at the beginning of last year.
The accused:
* Clint Rickards, 44, assistant police commissioner, suspended on full pay.
* Bradley Shipton, 47, former detective sergeant, ex-Tauranga city
councillor.
* Robert Schollum, 53, former sergeant, police prosecutor and car salesman.
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