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Nicholas vs John Dewar |
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A High Court jury has heard from a
woman claiming she had group sex with John Dewar and Brad Shipton,
contradicting Dewar's claims he knew Shipton only on a professional basis. The woman, whose name is
suppressed, told the High Court at Hamilton yesterday that in late 1987 or
early 1988 she had sex at her Rotorua house with Shipton and Dewar, who
Shipton had brought to her house and introduced as "his boss and friend,
John Dewar". Shipton began having sex with the
woman, who said he had to encourage Dewar to join in. Around two weeks later,
Dewar and the woman had sex again at her house. Dewar, 55, is on trial on four
counts of attempting to obstruct or defeat the course of justice in relation
to claims by Louise Nicholas of sexual offending by police in the 1980s. He
has denied all the charges. Dewar was the head of the Rotorua
CIB in 1993 when Mrs Nicholas made allegations of sexual offending by police,
including being raped and violated with a baton by Clint Rickards, Shipton
and Bob Schollum. All three were later acquitted. Dewar is accused of trying to
suppress Mrs Nicholas' complaints and of twice giving inadmissible evidence
at the trial of a former police officer accused of sexually assaulting Mrs
Nicholas at Murupara when she was about 14. Yesterday, the woman told the
court she became angry after seeing a 2004 television interview with Dewar
after Mrs Nicholas' allegations became public, where Dewar said he knew
Shipton and Mr Rickards in a professional manner only. "I knew it to be an incorrect
statement that he only knew them in a professional manner," she said. The woman told the court she met
Shipton in 1983 after her husband died in a car crash. Shipton's professional
visits to the woman eventually turned into a sexual relationship. The woman said she had group sex
with Shipton and Mr Rickards on six occasions, and once with Shipton and
Dewar. Dewar's lawyer Paul Mabey QC
queried the woman's version of events. "Do you think you've simply
got the wrong man? "I suggest to you that
whatever the truth is, Mr Dewar has never been to your house and has never
had anything to do with you at any time, anywhere." The woman disagreed. Earlier in the trial, the jury
heard evidence from former New Zealand Herald reporter Ainsley Thomson that
Dewar had given her copies of letters and other documents he said backed up
the fact he'd investigated Mrs Nicholas' baton complaint and that he'd
"done a good job". Some of the documents referred to
Murupara, not Rotorua, where the baton incident was alleged to have happened
and Dewar told Ms Thomson this was "a mistake". The trial, before Justice Hansen,
was to continue today. |
