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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 senior police officer John
Dewar has been described in the High Court in Hamilton as deceitful and
devious but the defence says the prosecution case is unreliable. The 55-year-old father of four is
accused of attempting to cover up rape and sexual assault allegations. It is alleged the former detective
inspector failed to investigate rape and sexual assault allegations made by
Louise Nicholas against other policemen. Prosecutor Brent Stanaway said
Dewar's motive was to assist and protect his mates Clint Rickards, Brad
Shipton and Bob Schollum but Dewar denies the trio were his mates and his
lawyer has slammed the motive as lame. "I'll be submitting to you
that it is so thin, so unreliable and so inherently incredible, that you'll
reject it," Paul Mabey says. "When you're told this big
long list of crown witnesses who are at odds with the accused...don't just
buy that...think about what was said and ask yourselves really is that
conflict," says Mabey. While giving evidence, Dewar said
he was protecting Nicholas by not taking the allegations further once he
learned of them during another trial. But Stanaway says that is not
believable. "Here is this fearless career
cop prosecuting all and sundry without fear or favour...yet this career
policeman suddenly feels the urge to protect the complainant Louise Nicholas
because he's concerned she might be a perjurer," says Stanaway. The crown told the jury the case
has nothing to do with the truth of Nicholas' allegations or the outcome of
any related trials but comes down to whether an allegation was ever made. Dewar has repeatedly said it
wasn't. The judge will direct the jury on
Wednesday before it retires to consider its verdict. |
