|
|
Allegations
of Sexual Abuse |
|
|
|
|
Jury members
considering the fate of Assistant Commissioner Clint Rickards and two former
policemen have been told to put aside their moral views on sex as they decide
whether Louise Nicholas was raped. The jury of seven women
and five men retired for the night about 10pm after deliberating from 1pm
yesterday to consider 20 sex-abuse charges against Rickards, Bradley Shipton
and Robert Schollum. It will resume deliberations today. It was standing room
only in the High Court in Auckland yesterday as Justice Randerson summed up
the case on day 11 of the trial. Rickards' family stood outside courtroom 12
and said a karakia. The extended families
of Shipton and Schollum were also there in force. Court staff had to provide
extra chairs, taking the number of seats to about 90. Two hours after jury
members retired they were back in court with questions for the judge. Besides
wanting a whiteboard and a break, they wanted information that had not been
directly covered in evidence, including whether police officers owned their
own uniforms. The judge said witness
Ray Sutton had said detectives were encouraged but not required to own
uniforms. Nicholas alleges
Rickards and Shipton visited her at her Corlett Street flat in Rotorua
between six and 12 times in the mid-1980s for sexual intercourse and oral sex
without her consent. She had testified they
sometimes wore their police uniforms and other times were dressed in suits. Rickards and Shipton
told the court they had consensual sex with Nicholas, but they were CIB
officers and were never dressed in police uniform. Rickards gave evidence
in his own defence last week and said he never wore police uniform during the
time he was alleged to have raped Mrs Nicholas. Rickards and Shipton
were both uniformed police in the early 1980s. Rickards defence lawyer
John Haigh QC said on Tuesday Nicholas was lying when she said she saw
Rickards in police uniform and her evidence had gaps "a mile wide".
Nicholas has also
alleged she was violated with a police baton, which left her bleeding for
days. Earlier yesterday, the
judge told jury members to base their verdicts only on the evidence presented
in court and to put aside their own moral views about sex and stay focused on
the law. The jury had to be sure of the defendants' guilt to convict, and
each charge against each accused required its own "mini-trial". A critical issue for
the jury was whether it found Nicholas to be both truthful and reliable --
that she did not hold genuine but mistaken beliefs. There was no direct
evidence to corroborate her evidence but that was not required under law. Shipton and Schollum
had not given evidence but that could not be held against them. Rickards' evidence
about his achievements as a police officer was primarily relevant to his
credibility and could be taken into account when considering whether he was
the type of person to commit the crimes alleged. "But good
character was not in itself a defence as good people can fall from
grace," the judge said. There could be many
reasons why a complainant did not immediately come forward and there was no
time limit, the jury was told. But delay could affect memories. It could make
it more difficult to prepare a defence. It meant the jury had to scrutinise
evidence with particular care, he said. -- Dominion Post Caption: Family support:
rape-accused Clint Rickards enters court yesterday. |
