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Allegations
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Louise Nicholas The jury in the Louise
Nicholas rape case has been urged by the Crown to remember the anguish and pain
in the voice of Mrs Nicholas when she gave evidence against the three
defendants last week. Assistant Police
Commissioner Clint Rickards, 45, and former police officers Brad Shipton, 47,
and Bob Schollum, 53, face 20 charges among them including the alleged rape,
indecent assault and sexual violation of Louise Nicholas between 1985 and
1986. In his closing
statement to the High Court jury, Crown prosecutor Brent Stanaway said that
while the accused men said Mrs Nicholas was a liar and a serial false accuser
of police officers, the Crown argued that at the time of the alleged
incidents, she was an unfortunate teenager ill-equipped to deal with the
predatory advances of the three men. The Crown case hinged
on Mrs Nicholas' testimony, which he described as "compelling and at
times chilling". "She was not an
eloquent, cultured or educated person. "She has a nuggety
and down-to- earth personality and turn of phrase. "That was no
performance. That was a woman, in my submission, who had waited 20 years to
face these three men in court and tell a jury what they had done to
her." He said the accused had
traded on an "imbalance of power" and Mrs Nicholas had found it too
hard to make a complaint. "Louise Nicholas
was effectively playdough in the accused's hands." Defence suggestions
that she was somehow revisiting a past she was embarrassed by were
"untenable", he said, questioning why Mrs Nicholas would put
herself through a trial and maintain her stance for 20 years. "It just doesn't
wash." He said she might be
mistaken in aspects, but the core of her recollections was consistent and had
been since the allegations arose. Defence suggestions
that Mrs Nicholas had enjoyed media attention over the past two and half
years were also denied. Mr Stanaway told the
jurors they should be unimpressed with Rickards' "extraordinary
reluctance and dogmatic performance" when he gave evidence in his
defence last week. Mr Stanaway said
Rickards' "mantras or chants" denying the allegations against him
and repeatedly saying "Louise Nicholas is lying" were not the
responses of a credible witness. Picton resident
Kerrianne Best, who was matron of honour at the wedding of Mrs Nicholas'
brother in February 1993, was called to give evidence for Schollum yesterday
before the defence finished its case. She told his lawyer,
Paul Mabey, QC, that she had seen Mrs Nicholas and Schollum laughing at the
reception and Mrs Nicholas had pulled up her skirt showing Schollum the lacy
top of her stockings. Lawyers for the three
defendants will give their own closing statements to the jury today, and
Justice Tony Randerson is expected to sum up the case tomorrow. - additional reporting:
NZPA |
