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Nicholas vs John Dewar |
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John Dewar A woman who claimed to have had
group sex with former policemen John Dewar and Brad Shipton had "so many
policemen in her life" she lost track of which policemen she was having
consensual sex with, a jury has been told. The comments came as defence
lawyer Paul Mabey QC gave his closing remarks at the trial of Dewar in the
High Court at Hamilton, telling the jury Dewar was the victim of mistaken
identity. Dewar, 55 self-employed of
Hamilton, faces four charges 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 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. Mr Mabey this afternoon said there
was no credible motive for Dewar to act criminally, saying the Crown's
evidence for a motive was "so thin, so unreliable' it had to be
rejected. The Crown wanted the jury to
believe Dewar's motive was to protect his friends Mr Rickards, Shipton and
Schollum but it "just doesn't wash", he said. There was no evidence linking the
four men together in anyway other than in a remote professional capacity, he
said. "What would make a career cop
going off the rails, deviate from the rules, break the rules and put his
career at risk?" Mr Mabey asked the jury to not let
the way Dewar answered questions yesterday under cross-examination, when he
at times had heated exchanges with the crown prosecutor Brent Stanaway,
colour their deliberations. "Look at the way he gave his
evidence. "Any one of you in his
position would defend yourself to the end as best you could. "That's what he was doing,
sticking up for himself. "Don't write him off because
he stuck-up for himself." Dewar's actions were not those of
a man attempting to cover-up, he said. Mr Mabey appealed to the jury to
consider carefully the inconsistencies within Mrs Nicholas' evidence,
including contradictory statements she made about whether the three men had
raped her. He also claimed a woman, who has
permanent name suppression, who alleged she had group sex with Dewar and
Shipton had the wrong policeman. "I don't care how hard it
sounds, that woman had a lot of policemen in her life at that time. Mr Mabey said Mrs Nicholas' mother
Barbara Crawford gave evidence that she could not recall her daughter telling
Dewar about Mr Rickards, Shipton and Schollum in their first meeting. Mrs Crawford initially told
Operation Austin investigators her daughter had spoken of a "sexual
matter" in the meeting but could not recall the specifics of it, he
said. Once those investigating officers
from that operation became involved her statement changed to one of
"sexual abuse", he said. This morning Mr Stanaway told the
jury Dewar was aware of Mrs Nicholas' allegations but failed to follow proper
procedure because he wanted to "assist and protect his mates". Dewar "persuaded and
deflected Louise Nicholas's desire to complain about Mr Rickards, Shipton and
Schollum", Mr Stanaway said. Dewar "deliberately and
arrogantly" manipulated Mrs Nicholas and the trials of the former
policeman, he told the jury. His motive was to avoid an
investigation into the allegations surrounding Mr Rickards, Shipton and
Schollum and to "save his own skin". During the Miller Inquiry, into
the earlier mistrials, Dewar's actions were being scrutinised, "it was
all about to unravel". Mr Stanaway said the Crown's case
did not stand or fall on Mrs Nicholas' evidence because there was an
overwhelming amount of other independent evidence to support the charges. When confronted by the media in
2004, Dewar must have been shocked by the scrutiny and he "stretched the
truth to breaking point", he said. Dewar used "lies, half-truths
and flim-flam" to try to deceive and confuse the media and the public,
he said. Tomorrow Justice Rodney Hansen
will make his closing remarks to the jury before they retire to deliberate. |
