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Allegations
of Sexual Abuse |
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A former flatmate of
Louise Nicholas told investigators that police officers would come to their
house and have loveless sex with both teenagers, then aged 17 or 18. The woman was so
ashamed of what had happened in the teenagers' Rotorua flat that she
eventually left the country and "blanked it out". When investigators came
asking questions nine years later, she fobbed them off at first, but later
talked about it because her name and whereabouts would be kept secret. The woman gave two
statements to the police, in 1995 and 2004. These were read out yesterday in
the High Court at Auckland, at the trial of Assistant Commissioner Clinton
Rickards and former policemen Bradley Shipton and Bob Schollum on charges of
sexually abusing Mrs Nicholas 20 years ago. Mrs Nicholas has
testified that she never had consensual sex with the men and that she was
always alone in the flat when Shipton and Rickards dropped by and raped her. At the time Schollum
was 33, Shipton, 27, and Rickards, 24. All three men are also
accused of forcing Mrs Nicholas to have group sex in a house in Rutland St,
Rotorua. But the flatmate says
that both teenagers had sex with Shipton and Schollum. Her 2004 statement
said memories were hazy but there had been three or four encounters over five
to six weeks. The woman could not remember Rickards visiting, or having sex
with him. "The problem is, I
could have and just don't remember." Contact started when one
of the men gave the teenagers a ride home after a night out. Then the men
started coming round for sex. "They saw a good opportunity to carry
on." There would be a little
small talk – then sex, not lovemaking, the former flatmate said. "It was more physical
sex than emotional sex." She could not recall if
the men would remove all their clothing, ever stayed to shower, or if they
used condoms. Once, when Mrs Nicholas
was in the bedroom with Schollum – "the quiet one" – Shipton
badgered her for sex in the lounge. "He kept on at me and I did
it." The flatmate could not
remember why the visits stopped, but Shipton gave her the creeps and she once
hid. Mrs Nicholas never
mentioned being abused. The woman took issue
with the wording of her 1995 statement – taken by Detective Chief Inspector
Rex Miller – that made it sound as if she had been in the bed while Mrs
Nicholas had sex with one of the accused. The 1995 statement said
Mrs Nicholas "certainly was not saying no" and that the flatmate
had never heard her object to the sex. Probably the flatmate had just walked
into the room and what she meant was that Mrs Nicholas "was not kicking
and screaming". It was in the shorter
1995 statement that the woman said she was ashamed and wanted no contact with
people from that part of her life. She had known all three accused and
remembered the men coming around in pairs. There had been a friendly
atmosphere, with laughing and joking. In other evidence
yesterday, Mrs Nicholas' husband, Ross, broke down as he remembered buying
her the white muslin dress she says she was wearing during the alleged
Rutland St attack. He told the court he
remembered that Shipton and Rickards had once dropped by during the day while
he was home alone in her flat with a sore back. |
