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Allegations
of Sexual Abuse |
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The three men Rotorua woman
Louise Nicholas has accused of raping her 20 years ago have said in
statements that she consented to all their sexual encounters, enjoyed them
and at times instigated the contact. Assistant Police
Commissioner Clint Rickards and former police officers Bob Schollum and Brad
Shipton face 20 charges between them including the rape, indecent assault and
sexual violation of Louise Nicholas between 1985 and 1986. Mrs Nicholas has said
she was intimidated by their size, stature and the fact that they were policemen
and that they forced her to have sex. The High Court at
Auckland yesterday was read statements the men made in 1995 about the
allegations. All of the accused said Mrs Nicholas had consented to any sexual
encounters they had and said an alleged incident in which she was sexually
abused with a police baton was a fabrication. Rickards' statement
said that he had sex with her twice and that she had played up to him. He said he was
"embarrassed" the inquiry had gone as far as it had with the
evidence of an unreliable witness being preferred over that of three police
officers. In their statements,
the men detailed where they had sex with Mrs Nicholas, Shipton saying she was
a casual sexual acquaintance of his. "She loved
policemen, and it was obvious," he said in the statement. Schollum said he had
been a family friend of Mrs Nicholas' father, who was involved in Search and
Rescue. He said when Nicholas
was 16 and living in a caravan park with her parents he had seen her while
working a night shift. He said he had arranged to meet her at the caravan
where they had sex in the awning. The trial will continue
on Monday. |
