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Nicholas vs John Dewar |
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A former detective who conducted a
1995 inquiry into the conduct of Rotorua CIB head John Dewar - together with
investigating possible charges of indecent sexual acts against three
policemen - says he became "sick and tired of people trying to scuttle
the inquiry". Retired Detective Chief Inspector
Rex Miller said during a High Court sitting at Hamilton yesterday that those
comments were directed at Louise Nicholas, after she rang him to change a
statement she had given about six weeks previously. Mr Miller was one of two key
prosecution witnesses to give evidence yesterday in the trial of Dewar, who
faces a charge of manipulating Mrs Nicholas during a police investigation
into his conduct in the course of what are dubbed the "Murupara
trials". Dewar was the officer in charge. The 1993 and 1994 trials centred
on a policeman accused of rape, who was acquitted after three trials. He has
permanent name suppression. However, the main outcome from the
trials was damning revelations of allegations made against a number of other
police officers, including Bob Schollum, Clint Rickards and Brad Shipton, but
involving several others who have name suppression. Dewar is also accused of twice
giving inadmissible, hearsay evidence at two hearings into the Murupara
trials. Dewar was tasked with carrying out
an inquiry into a number of unconfirmed allegations against police made by
Mrs Nicholas during the Murupara trials. It is alleged that between January
1993 and 1995 he deliberately suppressed or failed to act on Mrs Nicholas'
complaint against former Rotorua police officers Rickards, Schollum and
Shipton. Mr Miller told the court that in
1995 he reviewed court transcripts and police job sheets, files and documents
relating to the Murupara rape complaints. He found no reference to
interviews that should have been conducted with Rickards, Shipton and
Schollum, after alleged indecencies by those men came to light. This despite being sent the
Murupara file from Rotorua. "The file of an inquiry of
that nature I would describe as being very thin and lacking substance,"
Mr Miller said. "After reading transcripts it was obvious that some
criminal investigation should take place." Key to the inquiry would be
getting a statement from Louise Nicholas. "Without interviewing her
fully you didn't have an inquiry." An interview followed in which
allegations of non-consensual sexual activity were confirmed from Mrs
Nicholas' point of view, he said. However, Dewar also conducted his
own interview with Mrs Nicholas, something Mr Miller said was "totally
inappropriate", given Dewar was the person under investigation. In her statement to Dewar, Mrs
Nicholas said sexual activity with Shipton, Schollum and Rickards was
consensual. Mr Miller said this "totally destroyed her credibility"
and any possibility of a criminal case against the trio of policemen. But Mr Miller said the statement
was "written in Dew-ise rather than Louise". During cross-examination before
Paul Mabey, QC, Mr Miller admitted the criminal case against the three
policemen had already been waived, but Mrs Nicholas' about-turn had confirmed
investigators' feelings. Earlier in the day, Superintendent
Russell Gibson took the stand. He was in the internal affairs
department of the police in 1993 and 1994, which was a conduit to the Police
Complaints Authority. Mr Gibson said the investigation
should have been carried out by an officer outside the district to ensure no
conflicts of interest. |
