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This page last
updated March 29 2006
2006-0319 - Sunday Star Times - Porn and
the silent three
by Steve Braunias - Steve Braunias reports on the first week of the rape
trial in Auckland's High Court……… It felt like pornography from beginning to
end. Porno, porn, hardcore and relentless, this position and then that
position, so much group sex - the threesomes, a foursome. It was a shock when
pleasure was mentioned, briefly…… Acting for Rickards, John Haigh, QC, tall,
dark, and lugubrious, cross-examined Nicholas, and asked her to explain the
"vast discrepancy" in the versions of events told by her and her
flatmate. Nicholas said, "There's no discrepancy. That's her
recollection. It's not mine... I've always stated she was not there when
these men called."
2006-0318 - NZ Herald - Accused tell
of sex encounters
 by Nicola Boyes - The High Court
at Auckland yesterday was read statements the men made in 1995 about the
allegations. All of the accused said Mrs Nicholas had consented to any sexual
encounters they had and said an alleged incident in which she was sexually
abused with a police baton was a fabrication.
2006-0318 - Dominion
Post - Nicholas 'enjoyed sex'
by Deborah Diaz - The men accused of raping Louise Nicholas told investigators
that the 18-year-old enjoyed casual sex encounters and was keen to experiment
with group sex…….. In May 1995, senior police officers were given the task of
confronting Clinton Rickards, Bradley Shipton and Robert Schollum – all
policemen at the time – with allegations they had raped and abused Mrs
Nicholas in Rotorua in 1985 and 1986. The three investigators, now retired,
were called as prosecution witnesses yesterday in the trial in the High Court
at Auckland and read transcripts to the jury.
2006-0317 - Newstalk ZB -
Rickards says sex was consensual
Assistant Police Commissioner Clint Rickards says Louise Nicholas used to
play up to him. The High Court trial into Mrs Nicholas' rape allegations has
been read a statement by Rickards. In 1995 Rickards told detective
superintendent Ira Lines he had had consensual sex with Louise Nicholas on
two occasions
2006-0317 - One News - Officers to
testify at rape trial
Retired police officers are to give evidence on Friday at the trial of three
men accused of raping a Rotorua woman 20 years ago
2006-0317 - Otago Daily Times -
Nicholas’ family members give evidence
NZPA - Louise Nicholas’ husband broke down in tears in court yesterday when
he was asked about the dress his wife was wearing when she was allegedly
raped and sexually abused with a baton by three policemen.
2006-0317 - Dominion Post
- Flatmate tells of loveless sex visits
by Deborah Diaz - A former flatmate of Louise Nicholas told investigators
that police officers would come to their house and have loveless sex with
both teenagers, then aged 17 or 18. The woman was so ashamed of what had
happened in the teenagers' Rotorua flat that she eventually left the country
and "blanked it out".
2006-0317 - NZ Herald -
Flatmate unhappy with police version of her statement
 by Nicola Boyes - Since 1995 the
woman, who has name suppression, has made a series of statements to police
about Mrs Nicholas' claims that Assistant Commissioner Clint Rickards and
former police officers Brad Shipton and Bob Schollum raped her. The woman was
quoted in a 1995 statement to Detective Inspector Rex Miller as saying both
she and Mrs Nicholas had sex with the men and Mrs Nicholas "certainly
wasn't saying no". In a 2004 statement read to Justice Tony Randerson
and the jury yesterday, she said she was not happy about how her words had
been taken down. All she could say was that Mrs Nicholas was not
"kicking and screaming".
2006-0317 - NZ Herald - Husband
tells of dress gift for Louise Nicholas
by Claire Harvey - The thought of a white dress, a dress he bought his young
girlfriend 20 years ago on holiday, makes Ross Nicholas cry.
Ross Nicholas
Photo by Greg Bowker
2006-0316 -
Newstalk ZB - Louise Nicholas' flatmate gives evidence
A former flatmate of Louise Nicholas says she had no way of knowing whether
her friend was happy about having sex with the men she has accused of rape. A
statement from the woman who flatted with Mrs Nicholas in 1985 and 1986 has
been read to the High Court. In it she says two of the accused, Bob Schollum
and Brad Shipton, would come around to their flat and have sex with one or
both of them.
2006-0316 - One News -
Husband overcome at rape trial
There was more drama at the rape trial of an assistant police commissioner
and two former officers on Thursday as the husband of the alleged victim took
to the stand……Ross Nicholas spent the afternoon giving evidence, 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 raped her and assaulted her with a police baton
2006-0316 - Newstalk ZB -
Louise Nicholas' family give evidence
Louise Nicholas' mother-in-law says she twice saw marked police cars pulling
away from her daughter-in-law's flat during the period she claims police
abused her. Phyllis Nicholas said on two occasions around 1985 she arrived to
pick up her son's then-girlfriend and saw police cars leaving the house.
2006-0316 - Stuff - Nicholas'
brother appears in rape trial
The older brother of alleged Rotorua rape victim Louise Nicholas has told a
court it was hard to accurately recall events which happened 20 years ago.
Peter Crawford was giving evidence in the trial in the High Court at Auckland
today of three men Ms Nicholas says raped and sexually abused her when they
were serving policemen in Rotorua in 1985 and 1986.
2006-0316 - NZ Herald - Rape
accuser's brother struggles with 20-year-old events
The older brother of alleged Rotorua rape victim Louise Nicholas has told a
court it is hard to accurately recall events which happened 20 years ago…….. Mr
Crawford moved to Rotorua about 1985 and used to drink at the Rotorua police
bar and Cobb & Co with all three accused during the period the alleged
rape and abuse occurred.
2006-0316 - One News - Mother-in-law
saw police cars at flat
Louise Nicholas' mother-in-law has told a rape trial in the High Court in
Auckland that she saw marked police cars parked outside her daughter-in-law's
flat……. Nicholas' mother-in-law, Phyllis Nicholas, has told the court she was
phoned by Louise on three occasions on one day from her Rotorua flat, back in
the mid 1980s.
2006-0316 - Otago Daily Times -
Credibility of rape accuser attacked
Louise Nicholas’ credibility was repeatedly attacked in the High Court at
Auckland yesterday in a day where defence counsel revealed her former
flatmate said she saw her having sex with police officers she has accused of
raping her 20 years ago and she certainly wasn’t saying no.
2006-0316 - One News - Parents of
Nicholas to take the stand
The parents of a woman who says she was raped and assaulted by three
policemen in the 1980s are expected to be called as witnesses in the High
Court in Auckland on Thursday
2006-0316 - Southland
Times - Defence grills Nicholas over recollections
by Deborah Diaz - Defence lawyers have grilled Louise Nicholas about
fabricating abuse as a way of dealing with a sexual history she was ashamed
of. She was asked to explain how counselling in the early 1990s had filled
"black holes" in her memory and why a former flatmate remembers her
as being friendly and having sex with the men accused of raping her.
2006-0316 - NZ Herald - Bitter
memories revisited with weary determination
Louise Nicholas has been here before. Over and again, she has told her story
of rape and degradation, listed dates and addresses and names, tried to
explain why she stayed silent for so long. Through three trials, 19 police
statements, counselling sessions, media interviews, through years of
retelling it all, she has talked and talked.
2006-0316 - NZ Herald -
Ex-flatmate says Louise Nicholas 'wasn't saying no'
by Nicola Boyes - Louise Nicholas' credibility was repeatedly attacked in the
High Court at Auckland yesterday when a former flatmate was said to have seen
her having consensual sex with policemen she alleges raped her 20 years ago.
A defence lawyer revealed that the flatmate had said Nicholas "certainly
wasn't saying no" during sexual encounters with the policemen.
2006-0316 - Dominion
Post - Nicholas grilled on memory 'black holes'
by Deborah Diaz - Defence lawyers have grilled Louise Nicholas about
fabricating abuse as a way of dealing with a sexual history she was ashamed
of. She was asked to explain how counselling in the early 1990s had filled
"black holes" in her memory and why a former flatmate remembers her
as being friendly and having sex with the men accused of raping her.
2006-0315 - One News - Accuser
grilled in rape trial
After intense cross examination Louise Nicholas finished giving evidence on
Wednesday in the trial involving three police officers who she says raped her
20 years ago……..Rickard's lawyer John Haig QC read evidence from a woman who
knew Nicholas, who said that when the men came around for sex it was
consensual and there was a happy atmosphere. The flatmate said in regards to
the accused that "whenever those fellows called they were always
welcomed into the house, there was always a friendly atmosphere of laughing
and joking
2006-0315 - Newstalk ZB -
1994 statement contradicts today's evidence
The defence case has begun to emerge in the trial of a top police officer and
two former policemen on historical sex charges……… It has been put to Louise
Nicholas that she told police in 1994 in a signed statement that she had
consensual sex with the accused Bob Schollum after a party in Rotorua. Mrs
Nicholas denies ever willingly having sex with any of the men. Paul Maybe QC,
lawyer for Schollum, has put the statement to Mrs Nicholas. Louise Nicholas
has replied that in the statement she must have said it, but she does not
recall. It has also emerged a former flatmate of Mrs Nicholas will tell the
court the two women had consensual group sex with at least two of the accused
men.
2006-0315 - Newstalk ZB -
Nicholas "knew she would be raped"
Louise Nicholas says she knew she was going to be raped when she was taken to
a police house twenty years ago……… Mr Haigh has now raised the evidence of a
woman who says she can recall a time when she and Mrs Nicholas had group sex
involving at least two of the accused. Mr Haigh says the woman will tell the
court Mrs Nicholas was 'certainly not saying no'. Louise Nicholas replied
that the woman was never present when she had what she says was'
non-consensual' sex with Rickards and co-accused Brad Shipton.
2006-0315 - Stuff - Nicholas
continues account of sexual abuse
Louise
Nicholas
NZPA - Rotorua woman Louise Nicholas has told a High Court jury she had lost
the power to resist when she was taken into a Rotorua house, raped and
sexually abused by three policemen 20 years ago
2006-0315 - NZ Herald - I lost the
power to resist, Louise Nicholas tells court
Rotorua woman Louise Nicholas has told a High Court jury she had lost control
and lost the power to resist when she was taken into a Rotorua house, raped
and sexually abused by three policemen 20 years ago
2006-0315 - NZ Herald -
AccuserWeeps.htm
Louise Francis Nicholas
Picture by Kenny Rodger
by Nicola Boyes - The woman who has accused one of the
country's highest-ranked police officers of rape is today expected to face
gruelling cross-examination from lawyers for the suspended Assistant
Commissioner Clint Rickards and his two co-accused. Louise Nicholas yesterday
broke down in tears as she described an alleged rape by Rickards and two
other police officers 20 years ago.
2006-0315 - NZ Herald -
Composure falters as sex claims recalled
by Julie Middleton - Louise Nicholas enters courtroom 12 with her eyes fixed
on the floor. The slender 38-year-old is diminutive against a landscape of
eight bat-winged lawyers, several black-robed court attendants and Justice
Tony Randerson at his raised desk. She doesn't look in the direction of the
three men on her left, all dressed in dark suits, who are accused of raping
her 20 years ago.
2006-0315 - Dominion Post -
'They scared the living daylights out of me'
by Deborah Diaz - Louise Nicholas has broken down in the witness box as she
outlined how three police officers had sex with her against her will while
she was a teenager. Mrs Nicholas told a jury in the High Court at Auckland
yesterday of how she had nowhere to turn because the men were police officers
who "scared the living daylights" out of her. The three men's size
– she weighed 47 kilograms at the time – and their job were enough to make
her "playdough" in their hands.
2006-0314 - One News - Nicholas
takes stand in rape trial
Louise
Nicholas arriving at Court
(One News)
Louise Nicholas has broken down in tears in the dock while giving testimony
about allegedly being raped by three police officers……..Nicholas took the
stand on Monday afternoon and spoke of how 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. Nicholas
then went on to describe in emotional detail an incident involving all three
men when she was allegedly raped and assaulted with a police baton
2006-0314 - Newstalk ZB - Louise
Nicholas breaks down
Louise Nicholas has broken down in court as she described how former
policeman Brad Shipton allegedly sexually assaulted her with a police baton.
Mrs Nicholas has begun giving evidence at the trial of Assistant Police
Commissioner Clint Rickards, and his former police colleagues, Brad Shipton
and Bob Schollum, on the historical sex abuse charges
2006-0314 - Newstalk ZB -
Baton incident did not happen - Defence
Defence lawyers for the three men accused of raping Louise Nicholas and
abusing her with the police baton say the incident did not happen………In their
opening statements, the trio's defence lawyers have all said that the
incidents Louise Nicholas alleges took place in a Rotorua house in 1986 simply
did not occur. ……..Mrs Nicholas is due to take the stand this afternoon
2006-0314 - Stuff - Court hears
details of alleged rape
NZPA - A jury of seven women and five men has been given graphic details about
how three policemen allegedly raped and sexually abused a woman in Rotorua
more than 20 years ago……… Crown prosecutor Mark Zarifeh told the jury in the
High Court at Auckland Louise Nicholas never consented to sex but when she
told the three men that, it made no difference. She was intimidated by their
large stature and that they were police officers.
2006-0314 - NZ Herald - Court
hears details of alleged rape by policemen
by NZPA, Newstalk ZB - A jury of seven women and five men has been given
graphic details about how three policemen allegedly raped and sexually abused
a woman in Rotorua more than 20 years ago. One of the men is now Assistant
Police Commissioner Clint Rickards. He and two others were all serving police
officers in Rotorua when they used their physical size and the fact they were
policemen to force her into having sex, the High Court at Auckland was told
today.
2006-0314 - One News - Rickards
faces uniform dressing down
The top police officer facing rape and indecent assault charges in the High
Court in Auckland may face a reprimand for wearing his police uniform
in the dock……. Rickards appeared on the first day of the trial on Tuesday in
uniform but regulations forbid officers from wearing their uniforms while
suspended.
2006-0314 - Stuff - Rickards'
uniform earns reprimand
NZPA - Rickards could face police disciplinary action for breaching police
regulations but his lawyer, John Haigh QC, said that issue was trivial
compared with the seriousness of the trial.
2006-0314 - Newstalk ZB -
Rickards opts for civvies
Clint Rickards has been back in court this morning on day two of his rape
trial - but he is not wearing his police uniform
2006-0314 - Southland Times
- Top officer pleads not guilty to rape
by Deborah Diaz - Assistant Police Commissioner Clint Rickards wore his
police uniform on the first day of his trial for the rape of a Rotorua
teenager, Louise Nicholas. Some 20 years after the alleged sexual abuse, he
stood in the dock of the High Court in Auckland as the indictment outlining
charges against him was read. He answered each charge in a clear, strong
voice: "Not guilty."
2006-0314 - Timaru Herald -
Historic rape trial under way
by Deborah Diaz - Assistant Police Commissioner Clint Rickards wore his
police uniform on the first day of his trial for the rape of a Rotorua
teenager, Louise Nicholas…….. He answered each charge in a clear, strong
voice: "Not guilty." ….His plea was echoed by two former police
officers standing in the dock next to him, Brad Shipton and Bob Schollum.
Defendants:
(from top): Clint Rickards, Brad Shipton, Robert Schollum (NZ Herald)
2006-0314 - NZ Herald - Uniform in
dock is out of order
Rickards may face a reprimand for appearing in the dock in uniform
2006-0314 - NZ Herald -
Rickards rape trial accuser to take stand
The woman who has accused Auckland's top-ranked policeman and two of his
former police colleagues of raping her two decades ago is today expected to
give evidence. Louise Nicholas, from Rotorua, will be one of more than 40
witnesses called to give evidence in the trial against Assistant Commissioner
Clint John Rickards, who was in charge of the Auckland police district, and
former police officers Bradley Keith Shipton and Robert Francis Schollum, on
historic sex offences
2006-0314 - NZ Herald - The
charges
Summary of charges against the three defendants
2006-0314 - Dominion Post -
Police chief pleads not guilty
Lawyer John Haigh with Clint Rickards
(Dominion Post)
by Deborah Diaz - Assistant Police Commissioner Clint Rickards wore his
police uniform on the first day of his trial for the rape of a Rotorua
teenager, Louise Nicholas. Some 20 years after the alleged sexual abuse, he
stood in the dock of an Auckland courtroom yesterday as the indictment
outlining charges against him was read. He answered each charge in a clear,
strong voice: "Not guilty."
2006-0314 - Newstalk ZB -
Police rape complainant to have her day in court
Opening arguments are due to be made today in the trial of one of the
country's top police officers on historical sex abuse charges. Suppression
orders surrounding the allegations against Assistant Commissioner Clint
Rickards and two former police colleagues were lifted yesterday
2006-0313 - One News - Historic
rape charges detailed
Some suppression orders have been lifted in the trial involving one current
and two former policeman……. The three men face a total of 20 charges relating
to a period between 1985 and 1986 when the complainant was 18-years-old. They
are accused of indecent assault, rape and unlawful sexual connection and the
charges include two counts of indecent assault using a baton.
2006-0313 - Newstalk ZB
- Suppression orders lifted in rape case
Assistant Police Commissioner Clint Rickards has pleaded not guilty to
indecently assaulting Louise Nicholas with a police baton…….Justice Randerson
has lifted suppression orders which until today prevented the media from
reporting the nature of the allegations. The trio face a total of 20 sex
charges, eight of them representative, relating to a period of five months in
1985 and 1986. They include two charges against all three of the men of
indecently assaulting Mrs Nicholas with a police baton
2006-0313 - Newstalk ZB -
Rotorua police rape case in court
A jury of seven women and five men has been empanelled in the trial of a
senior police officer and two former officers on rape charges at the High
Court in Auckland………..Dressed in his police uniform, Rickards firmly and
loudly pleaded not guilty to each charge as it was read
2006-0313 - Newstalk ZB
- Strict suppression orders in rape case
The three-week trial was shifted last year from Rotorua to the High Court at
Auckland. Despite the publicity since the case first hit the headlines more
than two years ago, the media is under strict suppression orders and cannot
reveal the history of the case. Permission to record or film inside the
courtroom has also been denied.
2006-0313 - NZ Herald - Sex trial
to begin
The trial of a senior policeman and two former officers on sex charges is due
to start in the High Court at Auckland today. Clinton John Tukotahi Rickards,
Bradley Keith Shipton, and Robert Francis Schollum are accused of a number of
sexual offences against Rotorua woman Louise Nicholas in the 1980s.
2006-0311 - NZ Herald - Top
policeman to face court on rape charges
NZPA - One of the country's top policemen will stand in the dock at the High
Court in Auckland on Monday and tell a jury he is not a rapist. Assistant
commissioner Clint Rickards is one of three men accused of numerous sexual
abuse charges, including the pack rape of Rotorua woman Louise Nicholas.
Clinton John Tukotahi Rickards, Bradley Keith Shipton and Robert Francis
Schollum, have all denied the charges and their trial in the High Court in
Auckland has been scheduled for three weeks.
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