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Allegations of abuse
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Further allegations of group sex
by police officers in the 1980s have emerged at the start of a Hamilton man's
trial on charges of attempting to obstruct the course of justice. The Crown alleges former Rotorua
CIB head John Buchanan Dewar, 55, tried to cover up Louise Nicholas'
allegations of sexual offending by Assistant Police Commissioner Clint
Rickards and former police officers Brad Shipton and Bob Schollum. While Dewar claims his
relationship with Mr Rickards, Shipton and Schollum was purely professional,
in the High Court at Hamilton yesterday it was alleged Dewar and Shipton had
group sex with a Bay of Plenty woman near the end of 1987. Dewar has denied four counts of
attempting to obstruct or defeat the course of justice relating to Mrs
Nicholas' claims that she was raped by Mr Rickards, Schollum and Shipton
while they were stationed in Rotorua in the 1980s. The men were acquitted of those
charges after a trial last year. Crown prosecutor Mark Zarifeh said
Dewar headed the investigation into two complaints of sexual offending
against Mrs Nicholas by police - one involving an officer in Murupara when
Mrs Nicholas was about 14, and the other by Mr Rickards, Shipton and Schollum
at a police house in Rutland St, Rotorua, where she alleged the group used a
police baton on her. However, Mr Zarifeh said Dewar
never took a written statement from Mrs Nicholas about the Rotorua
allegations, instead telling her they should pursue the Murupara case. "The Crown says he actively
sought to suppress, discourage, and prevent any formal investigation or
prosecution of them," Mr Zarifeh said. Instead, the officer at the centre
of the Murupara allegations was used as a "sacrificial lamb", and
charged with indecent assault. "He was promptly prosecuted to satisfy
Mrs Nicholas and to keep her from pursuing her complaint in relation to
Messrs Rickards, Shipton and Schollum," Mr Zarifeh said. Dewar was alleged to have
subsequently twice given inadmissible evidence at that officer's trials,
causing two mistrials. The officer was acquitted and
given permanent name suppression at his third trial. An investigation into Dewar's
conduct was launched following the two mistrials, which was later expanded to
include Mrs Nicholas' allegations against Mr Rickards, Shipton and Schollum. As part of that investigation, led
by Detective Chief Inspector Rex Miller, Dewar was alleged to have convinced
Mrs Nicholas to sign a statement which said she had not told him of the
Rutland St allegations. "This statement was worded
and constructed by the accused to exonerate himself and to derail the Miller
inquiry," Mr Zarifeh said. Following a 2004 television interview
where Dewar claimed to have no personal relationship with Mr Rickards,
Shipton and Schollum, a Bay of Plenty woman said she engaged in group sex
with Dewar and Shipton near the end of 1987. Mrs Nicholas spoke yesterday of
her frustration at Dewar's reluctance to listen to her allegations against Mr
Rickards, Schollum and Shipton. "He just kept brushing it
over. He managed to talk me out of my anger, he got me calm enough. I pretty
much gave up." She said when Dewar produced a
statement for her to sign for the Miller inquiry, she "skimmed
over" it, but signed because she wanted to help Dewar. Dewar's lawyer Paul Mabey, QC,
said Dewar never received a complaint from Mrs Nicholas about the alleged
offending in Rotorua, and the threesome with Shipton and the Bay of Plenty
woman never happened. "He had nothing to do
whatsoever with this woman with or without Shipton. It didn't happen,"
he said. The trial, before Justice Hansen
and a jury of seven women and five men, is expected to involve more than 20
witnesses and take up to three weeks. |
