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Nicholas vs John Dewar |
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Louise Nicholas told a court today
that any statements she made, denying telling former policeman John Dewar
about alleged sexual assaults on her by three policemen, were made to help
him. Mrs Nicholas was being
cross-examined over claimed inconsistencies in her statements to police and
the media. John Buchanan Dewar, 55, of
Hamilton, denies four charges in the High Court at Hamilton of attempting to
obstruct or defeat the course of justice between 1993 and 1995. Judge Rodney Hansen was this
morning forced to excuse a sick juror, reducing the jury to 11, in order to
let the trial continue. Defence lawyer Paul Mabey QC today
questioned Mrs Nicholas about a statement she signed on June 20 1995, but did
not write, for the Miller Inquiry, which was set up to investigate police
conduct into the three trails of the policeman. In the statement, which praises
Dewar's handling of the investigation, Mrs Nicholas also denies she ever told
Dewar about being sexually assaulted by Clint Rickards, Brad Shipton and Bob
Schollum. Dewar wrote the statement and
typed it for Mrs Nicholas. Mrs Nicholas said she only
"skimmed" through the statement at the time and had been happy to
sign it but when she read it years later, she realised parts were incorrect -
specifically a paragraph which said she had never raised the allegations
about Mr Rickards, Shipton and Schollum with Dewar. Mr Mabey asked why Mrs Nicholas
checked and signed statements when she was interviewed about the first rape
trial but was prepared to sign an inaccurate statement, which she had barely
read. Mrs Nicholas said she held Dewar
in the highest regard at the time. "He asked me if I would sign
this statement," she said. "I was prepared to walk the
ends of the earth for him. He had arrested the man that raped me, that was huge,"
she said. "But this is the same man who
would not pursue Rickards, Shipton and Schollum?" Mr Mabey said. "You didn't ever tell Dewar
that Rickards, Shipton and Schollum had raped you or did anything improper
with you, did you?" he asked. "I told him at the first
day," she replied. Mr Mabey said over the past
several years she had been "courting and pursuing publicity at every
opportunity". Mrs Nicholas replied, no, she did
not like the media spotlight but had gained a media profile in order to give
a face to what would otherwise have been a "blob" to the public. "I was prepared to put myself
out there, Mr Mabey." Mr Mabey read a quote from a
December 1995 Listener article by Denis Welch which quoted Mrs Nicholas
saying she could not speak more highly of Dewar. The article quoted Mrs Nicholas
saying "there was no way" Dewar could have known about the
allegations against the three men because "I didn't go into any
specifics about it because I would not tell him about it." Mrs Nicholas denied she had made
those statements and said she had never been interviewed by Mr Welch. "I've used words to that
effect but I've never spoken to a reporter who took them from me." "Have you any idea why this
man Mr Welch would have got what portrays a quote from you?" Mr Mabey
asked. "Well the article is about
John Dewar, it's a guess but maybe John Dewar told him." The cross-examination continues. - NZPA |
