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Allegations of abuse
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peterellis homepage / police allegations / Louise
Nicholas vs John Dewar |
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Former policeman John Dewar denied
in court today manipulating evidence during the trial of a former policeman
charged with raping Louise Nicholas. He said Mrs Nicholas refused to
make a statement to him about being allegedly raped by three other policemen,
despite asking her about the allegations. Crown prosecutor Brent Stanaway
began his cross-examination of Dewar this afternoon and questioned why Dewar
did not take a formal complaint from Mrs Nicholas despite hearing her make a
statement in court that she had been raped by the three men. Dewar said today Mrs Nicholas
refused to talk to him about the allegations. Dewar, 55, self-employed of
Hamilton, faces four charges in the High Court at Hamilton of attempting to
obstruct or defeat the course of justice between 1993 and 1995. Dewar was chief inspector of the
Rotorua CIB when Louise Nicholas approached police in 1993, with two historic
sex allegations, including those against suspended assistant commissioner
Clint Rickards and former policemen Brad Shipton and Bob Schollum. The Crown alleges Dewar suppressed
allegations Mrs Nicholas made against the three men and attempted to prevent
the course of justice during the rape trial of a former policeman, who has
permanent name suppression, by giving inadmissible evidence. Mrs Nicholas, alleged the man had sexually
assaulted her, then aged 13, which led to two mistrials before a third trial
acquitted him. Among those in the public gallery
today were Mrs Nicholas, members of Shipton's family and Dewar's wife and
daughter. Earlier Dewar said he was "shocked,
surprised and concerned" when Mrs Nicholas made the allegations of rape
against the three men in the second retrial. Dewar said he asked Mrs Nicholas
afterwards if the allegations were true but she did not answer. Dewar said he thought Mrs Nicholas
had lied under oath and decided not to push the issue because she could have
been charged with perjury. Under cross-examination Mr
Stanaway told Dewar that he had "manipulated the evidence in the way you
investigated the case in order to protect Louise Nicholas and in order to
manufacture the outcome of the 'former policeman's' trial." Dewar replied "I didn't
manipulate anything." If at any time Mrs Nicholas wanted
to make a complaint, it would have been investigated but she would not talk
to him about it, he said. During an increasingly tense
cross-examination Mr Stanaway stopped his line of questioning and told Dewar
there was nothing personal between them and he was simply doing his job. Dewar said after 3 1/2 years he
had been "pilloried" by the media, and was now being
"badgered' by Mr Stanaway over whether Mrs Nicholas had made a
statement. "She had ample opportunity
and she chose not to," Dewar said. "In the end I made a
judgement call, which is what I'm paid to." Dewar said if Mrs Nicholas had
told him she had lied under oath he would have had to charge her with
perjury. "It was not your
decision," Mr Stanaway replied. "It was my decision and it's
the same one I would make today," Dewar replied. Dewar said if he did not follow
procedure by reporting the allegations made under oath to the district
commander it did not make him a bad policeman; he was interested in
protecting Louise Nicholas. Mr Stanaway said Dewar wanted to
avoid sparking an Internal Affairs or a Police Complaints Authority
investigation about the allegations. Dewar repeated he was motivated by
protecting Mrs Nicholas. Mr Stanaway asked "do you
mean to tell us that as a Detective Inspector you were so worried about
whether a witness is lying that you protect her to the extent of lying to
your superiors?" "I didn't lie," Dewar
replied. Dewar said he did not want to
"dump any more on her". "Do you mean to tell us that
you hid from your superiors your concern that Louise Nicholas may have lied
on oath?" Mr Stanaway asked. "Yes," Dewar replied. Mr Stanaway asked if Mrs Nicholas
was wrong when she asked Dewar after each of the three trials to take a
statement from her. "Louise Nicholas is
lying," Dewar said. Mr Stanaway questioned why Dewar
would interview Louise Nicholas during the Miller Inquiry -- which
investigated the mistrials -- which she was the focus of. Dewar said his involvement with
Mrs Nicholas at that point was to correct an error in her statement. "What on earth were you doing
interviewing the woman who was the foundation of the Miller Inquiry?" Mr
Stanaway asked. Dewar said while he was also
subject of the inquiry, inquiry head Detective Chief Inspector Rex Miller
told him the inquiry was "going nowhere". Mr Stanaway said despite hearing
on at least two occasions Mrs Nicholas say under oath her allegations of
sexual misconduct, Dewar did nothing. Dewar said he faced a dilemma as
he had heard Mrs Nicholas give evidence in trials where he knew she was
lying. Earlier in the day, Dewar said
that he did not know Mr Rickards or Shipton well and did not know Schollum
when he first met with Mrs Nicholas in January of 1993 to discuss her rape
allegation against the former policeman. "But even if they (Rickards,
Shipton and Schollum) were 'friends' I would have investigated it." Dewar also denied claims by a
woman, who has name suppression, who told the court on Thursday, he had group
sex with her and Shipton. Dewar said he would never forget
in 2004 when he came home from work and saw the woman on television talking
about the group sex allegations. "I know I never had group sex
with Shipton, or any woman. "It is completely false, I
never met 'the woman' until the depositions hearing." Dewar said at the time the group
sex incident was alleged to have occurred, in late 1987 and early 1988, he
did not have a personal or professional relationship with Shipton. Claims that Mrs Nicholas had been
involved in consensual sex with serving police officers, made the case
sensitive and led to him taking over the investigation, he said. When he was first told of Mrs
Nicholas' claims about the former policeman by Inspector Ray Sutton, Mr
Rickards, Shipton or Schollum's names were not mentioned, he said. Mr Sutton told Dewar he needed to
be aware of a "sensitive matter" involving instances of consensual
sex between Mrs Nicholas and serving police officers, he said. Dewar took over the file because
Shipton was stationed at Rotorua, the court was told. In his first meeting with Mrs
Nicholas, she mentioned the allegations of the former policeman but did not
refer to any other policemen or being violated with a baton, he said. "She did indicate there were
other things troubling her but she couldn't quite get them straight in her
head." When defence lawyer Paul Mabey QC
asked Dewar if he had acted too promptly in arresting the former policeman
Dewar said he knew Mrs Nicholas had already been through a lot. "I wanted Louise to know I
believed her, that we were taking her seriously." Dewar said he questioned Shipton
about the allegations and while admitting to numerous consensual acts with
her, including group sex, he denied any rape or use of a baton. By the time of the second trial
Dewar said he was frustrated that Louise "was being portrayed as a liar
and I didn't think that was the case. "I accept in my dealing with
Louise, I got too close and lost some objectivity in my evidence." Dewar said he made a
"judgment call" which he believed was right given the circumstances
and one which he would probably make again today. Mrs Nicholas called Dewar during
the Miller Inquiry, set up by police after the Murupara mistrials, and told
him "I've done a terrible thing," he said. Mrs Nicholas told him she had been
worn down and made comments to Rex Miller which were not true, including
saying she had been raped by the three men, Dewar said. Mrs Nicholas's statement to Dewar,
which was passed onto the Miller Inquiry was a truthful account from Mrs
Nicholas, he said. Tomorrow the jury will hear
closing statements and the judge will sum up on Wednesday before the jury
retires to consider its verdict. |
