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Allegations of abuse by
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Nicholas vs John Dewar |
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The trial of the former Rotorua
CIB head, John Dewar, has been adjourned for the day at the High Court in Hamilton
as his defence lawyer has fallen ill. Paul Mabey QC was due to represent
Dewar on the fifth day of the trial on attempting to obstruct or defeat the
course of justice charges but the jury was this morning sent home. The trial is expected to resume on
Monday. Mr Dewar denies claims he did not
properly investigate claims made by Louise Nicholas that she was raped by
serving police officers in Rotorua in the 1980s. Yesterday in court a retired
police officer said he recalled reference to a baton during an interview with
Louise Nicholas about an alleged sexual attack. But said he said the notebook he
used during the interview disappeared shortly after discussing the
allegations with John Dewar, the former senior police officer who is accused
of covering up for former colleagues. The evidence came from the
notebook's owner, On the third day of the trial of former Rotorua CIB head
John Dewar, retired police Inspector Ray Sutton came said he was unable to
find his book when asked to produce it five months later. Yesterday the jury in the High
Court at Hamilton was told of the disappearance of the a police notebook
detailed Mrs Louise Nicholas' accusations of rape against Clint Rickards, Bob
Schollum and Brad Shipton. Dewar, 55, has denied four counts
of attempting to obstruct or defeat the course of justice between 1993 and
1995 in relation to Mrs Nicholas' allegations of sex offences against her by
the three police officers in the 1980s. The Crown claims Dewar refused to
take a statement from Mrs Nicholas detailing her allegations against Mr
Rickards, Shipton and Schollum, gave inadmissable evidence during two rape
trials of another former police officer accused by Mrs Nicholas, and
convinced Mrs Nicholas to sign a statement designed to exonerate him from
blame in the investigation following the two aborted trials. After the two mistrials caused by
Dewar's inadmissable evidence, the former police officer was acquitted in a
third trial and given permanent name suppression. Mr Sutton yesterday told the court
that in January, 1993, Mrs Nicholas' father asked him to meet with his
daughter to hear her allegations of sexual abuse by police. "Louise related a series of
events that she said had occurred at Murupara and Rotorua involving police
officers and ex-police officers," Mr Sutton said. "The thing that I do recall
is her reference to a police baton being used during one of those
incidents." he said. Mr Sutton said he took notes in
his police notebook, including writing said he wrote down the names of three
the men Mrs Nicholas said had raped her - Rickards, Shipton and Schollum.
However, Mr Sutton said when he was asked to reproduce produce his the
notebook five months later, he could not. "When I was required to
produce copies of that notebook at a later time, when I searched for the
notebook I was unable to find it." The last time he could remember
seeing the notebook was when he was briefing Dewar on the allegations in a
police office. Mr Sutton said Dewar's request to take over the investigation into
Mrs Nicholas' allegations was appropriate, as considering he was his position
as the head of CIB. "John indicated to me that as
the matter appeared to involve serving police officers, he wanted to take
over the investigation into the complaints. "I was quite happy for him to
take over." Mrs Nicholas' mother Barbara
Crawford recounted her daughter telling Mr Sutton of the alleged abuse by Mr
Rickards, Schollum and Shipton. "I just remember it was
sexual abuse, but when the name Schollum came up, I went into shock; I didn't
really hear much of the rest of it," she said. Earlier in the day Mrs Nicholas
finished being cross-examined, and was forced to fend fended off accusations
from Dewar's lawyer, Paul Mabey QC, that she was an attention-seeker. "You've been courting and
pursuing publicity at every opportunity," Mr he Mabey said. Mrs Nicholas said she did not
enjoy the media spotlight, but accepted it was inevitable after she went
public with her allegations. "Who was going to believe
someone who wasn't there? I was prepared to put myself out there Mr Mabey,
and I did it." The trial, before Justice Hansen,
suffered another setback when a juror who went home sick on Wednesday was
unable to return, reducing the jury to 11. Yesterday's proceedings were also
forced to finished early when Mr Mabey became ill. |
