|
Allegations of abuse
by NZ Police |
|
|
peterellis homepage / police allegations / Louise
Nicholas vs John Dewar |
|
|
A court was told today that a
former top policeman said his actions in causing the trial of a policeman accused
of sexual offences against Louise Nicholas to be aborted was because he
wanted to "get the game back on a level playing field". Former Rotorua CIB head John
Dewar, 55, has denied four counts of attempting to obstruct or defeat the
course of justice in relation to claims by Mrs Nicholas of sexual offending
by police in the 1980s. The jury in the High Court at
Hamilton today heard details of how Dewar gave inadmissable evidence in the
1993 Rotorua District Court trial of a police officer charged with sex
offences against Mrs Nicholas in Murupara. Judge David McDonald who acted as
crown prosecutor in the trial, said he was initially surprised at the lack of
information in the prosecution file passed on to him by Dewar, the officer in
charge of the investigation. "It didn't have a lot of
information in it. "I would have thought a few
more people who had been at Murupara might have been spoken to," the
judge said. When Dewar gave evidence in the
trial he told the court of another police officer who had said he would lie
to help the accused. Judge McDonald said the evidence
caused "grave problems", and he was not surprised the trial was
subsequently aborted. "It was hearsay, and what
were the jury to make of that comment? "The moment it was said, I
knew what was going to happen." When Judge McDonald later asked
Dewar why he had given that evidence he told him he wanted to "get the
game back on a level playing field." When Dewar also caused the second
trial to be aborted, this time by telling the court of allegations into
sexual offending against Mrs Nicholas by Clint Rickards, Brad Shipton and Bob
Schollum, Judge McDonald said he became angry, both at the mistrial and
Dewar's reaction to it. "I was extremely angry that
this had occurred again, almost at an identical part of the trial. "His (Dewar's) reaction was
cavalier, along the lines of "these things happen, you shouldn't get
upset about it"'. Judge
McDonald said he asked Dewar for a written report explaining his actions. |
