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Allegations
of Sexual Abuse |
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Lawyers for three police
officers accused of historic rape and sexual abuse charges will make their
closing arguments today. The trio, assistant
police commissioner Clint Rickards and former policemen Brad Shipton and Bob
Schollum, face a total of 20 charges of raping and sexually abusing Rotorua
woman, Louise Nicholas in 1985 and 1986 when she was 18. Yesterday in his final
argument in the High Court at Auckland, Crown prosecutor Brent Stanaway asked
the jurors to remember the "anguish and very real pain" Mrs
Nicholas showed when she was in the witness box. He said she had lost
the power of control and could not say no when the three men raped and
sexually abused her, once in a Rotorua house with a police baton. Today lawyers for all
three men are expected to tell the jury Mrs Nicholas lied about what happened
and sex was consensual. Justice Tony Randerson
will sum up the case tomorrow before the jury retires to considers its
verdicts. |
