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Allegations
of Sexual Abuse |
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After intense cross examination
Louise Nicholas finished giving evidence on Wednesday in the trial involving
three police officers who she says raped her 20 years ago. Assistant police
commissioner Clinton Rickards and former police officers Bradley Shipton and
Bob Schollum are accused of committing 20 sex offences between 1985 and 1986.
They deny the charges of rape, indecent assault and unlawful sexual
connection, including the use of a police baton. The offences are
alleged to have taken place when the three accused were working in Rotorua
and Nicholas was 18. Nicholas began her
testimony on Tuesday, telling the court how she was forced to have
intercourse and oral sex with Shipton and Rickards between six and 12 times.
She said they would often turn up at her Rotorua flat unannounced, wanting
sex. Nicholas then went on
to describe in emotional detail an incident involving all three men when she
was allegedly raped and assaulted with a police baton. Under cross examination
on Wednesday, she told the court that she did not tell anyone about the
assault with a baton for a year. Nicholas said she suffered internal injuries
following the incident but never saw a doctor and continues to suffer lower
back pain today. She said she felt she
couldn't tell anyone about the rape. "I didn't tell my
boyfriend...I didn't want to tell anyone, I was afraid no one would believe
me," Nicholas said. She also said she felt
conditioned to the rape and that whenever the three men arrived she felt she
lost all control over the situation. Rickard's lawyer John
Haig QC read evidence from a woman who knew Nicholas, who said that when the
men came around for sex it was consensual and there was a happy atmosphere. The flatmate said in
regards to the accused that "whenever those fellows called they were
always welcomed into the house, there was always a friendly atmosphere of
laughing and joking. "Louise never said
to me she was unhappy about the sexual encounters with those guys...I never
saw Louise visibly upset when they left." John Haigh QC repeatedly
grilled Nicholas, suggesting that the other woman's recollection was correct
and that her own was contrived. In response Nicholas
said "I do not accept that, no," and denied anyone else was there
during the encounters which took place during the day when she was off work Her parents are
expected to be called as witnesses on Thursday. |
