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Allegations
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The jury in the Louise
Nicholas rape trial retired just before 9pm on Thursday without delivering a
verdict. Earlier the jury
requested a full transcript of the judge's summing up, but Justice Randerson
told them it was not complete and that he could repeat any legal directions
they needed from it. Lawyers on both sides
of the trial were also called in during the afternoon to talk to the
judge in chambers. It is believed the meeting was related to a question
the jury asked the judge. The jury of seven women
and five men began deliberating at 1pm on Wednesday after a two-and-a-half
week trial at the High Court in Auckland. They will resume
deliberations at 9am on Friday morning. On Wednesday they
retired to their hotel just before 10pm after also returning to the courtroom
to ask the judge questions. They wanted to know if
the police own their own uniforms and if they get to keep them. The judge
told the jury evidence given was that Rotorua CIB officers at the time of the
alleged offences were encouraged to have a uniform. 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. Friends and family of
the three accused have been waiting outside the courtroom. 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. Evidence 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. |
