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Allegations
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The jury considering its
verdict in the Louise Nicholas rape trial has come back into court to ask
questions. The jury has been
deliberating at the High Court in Auckland since shortly after 1pm on
Wednesday but returned about 3.30pm to ask questions. They wanted to know if
the police own their own uniforms and if they are expected to keep them. They also asked a
question in relation to the evidence of a suppressed witness. Assistant Police
Commissioner Clint Rickards and former officers Bob Schollum and Brad Shipton
denied charges of rape, sexual violation and indecent assault during the
1980s. In summing up the judge
said the jury must put aside any moral judgement on the behaviour of the
three accused and consider whether the evidence amounts to any criminal
offending. Closing his case
Rickards' lawyer said that if the allegations made by Nicholas were not so
tragically serious, they would be laughable. John Haigh QC told the jury that
Nicholas may be deluded, or that she may be a consummate liar. He detailed
what he called "gaps a mile wide" in her evidence. The lawyer for Bob
Schollum said the evidence against his client was not good enough to convict
him and there were many things that did not stack up. During its closing
address, the Crown said Nicholas was ill-equipped to deal with the predatory
advances of the three police officers when she was 18 years old. Prosecutor
Brent Stanaway said that the credibility of Nicholas was central to its case.
He said she was not eloquent, cultured or educated, but someone with a nuggety,
down-to-earth personality.
Louise Nicholas, her
husband and mother-in-law were among those who gave evidence for the Crown.
Both Nicholas and her husband Ross were overcome by emotion while in the
witness box. Nicholas said 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. She also described in emotional detail an incident when she was
allegedly raped and assaulted with a police baton. Ross Nicholas testified
in the first week of the trial, crying as he detailed a visit to his
wife-to-be by two of the accused. He was overcome with emotion as he talked
about a muslin dress he had given his wife as a present - the dress Louise
Nicholas claims she was wearing when all three accused allegedly raped her
and assaulted her with a police baton. Neither Schollum or
Shipton gave evidence during the trial, but Rickards did, repeatedly telling
the court that Nicholas' allegations were lies. Rickards told the court
that sex with Louise Nicholas was consensual, that it was a fun and jovial
time and it happened on two occasions in the evening. He also denied ever
being involved in any group sex at the Rutland St police house or using a
police baton during sex. Many of the witness
testimonies were suppressed. |
