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This page last updated July 31 2007
27 July 2007; Defence lawyer falls ill; trial
adjourned
Defence
lawyer, Paul Mabey, has fallen ill. The jury was sent home at the start of
the scheduled Friday hearing. The trial is expected to resume on Monday
2007-0727 - Waikato Times -
Lawyer illness delays Dewar trial
2007-0727 - Radio NZ - Dewar trial
adjourned due to lawyer's illness
2007-0727 - Newswire - Dewar Trial
Adjourned Due To Lawyer's Illness
2007-0727 - NZ Herald - Ex-cop's trial
jury sent home for weekend
2007-0727 - One News - Illness
stalls Dewar trial again
26 July 2007; Notes of Nicholas meeting goes
missing
Retired
police Inspector Ray Sutton provides evidence. In 1993, as a relieving senior
sergeant. Sutton spoke with Nicholas at the request of her father about two
incidents of sexual abuse. Mr Sutton said he took only "very brief"
notes of the interview, as it was not a complaint interview. He then said the
notebook he used during the interview later disappeared, when he tried to
find it some months later. The last time he could remember seeing the
notebook was when he was briefing Dewar on the allegations in a police
office.
2007-0726 - Radio NZ - Notebook
recording first meeting goes missing
2007-0727 - Waikato Times - Ex-cop
recalls talk of baton
2007-0727 - NZ Herald - Jury hears
of vanished notes in police misconduct case
26 July 2007; Louise Nicholas mother Barbara Crawford
evidence
Barbara
Crawford
Barbara
Crawford recounted her daughter telling police of the alleged abuse
by Mr Rickards, Schollum and Shipton.
"I just remember it was sexual abuse, but when the name Schollum
came up, I went into shock; I didn't really hear much of the rest of
it," she said. I don't remember whether the word rape was used,"
said Crawford.
2007-0726 - Radio NZ -
Louise Nicholas sticks by claim about rape allegations
2007-0727 - Waikato Times -
Lawyer illness delays Dewar trial
2007-0726 - One News - Nicholas
faces grilling in court
26 July 2007; Louise Nicholas under cross
examination
 Louise Nicholas was being
cross-examined over claimed inconsistencies in her statements to police and
the media.
Nicholas repeatedly told the Court that she did disclose her historical
allegations of rape to Dewar. Under cross examination, Mrs Nicholas said she
was unhappy with the contents of a written statement after she read it ten
years later, which was signed by her but written by the accused
Signed statements were produced in court as evidence from the mid-1990s and
the jury heard how Dewar had written a statement for Nicholas. Nicholas, who
then signed it, said it was full of impressive words. But she says she had
not read it, rather she had just skimmed through it. It confirms Nicholas
never told Dewar about the sexual assault allegations against police officers
Clint Rickards, Brad Shipton and Bob Schollum
Louise Nicholas:
Attention seeker?
Dewar's lawyer, Paul Mabey, QC, accused Mrs Nicholas
of being an "attention-seeker" He said over the past several years
Nicholas had been "courting and pursuing publicity at every
opportunity". Mrs Nicholas
replied, no, she did not like the media spotlight
Mr Mabey read a quote from a
December 1995 Listener article by Denis Welch which quoted Mrs Nicholas
saying she could not speak more highly of Dewar. The article quoted Mrs
Nicholas saying "there was no way" Dewar could have known about the
allegations against the three men because "I didn't go into any
specifics about it because I would not tell him about it."
2007-0726 - Radio NZ -
Louise Nicholas sticks by claim she did tell accused about rape allegations
2007-0726 - One News - Nicholas
faces grilling in court
2007-0726 - NZ Herald - I was
helping accused cop, Nicholas tells jury
2007-0726 - Newswire -
Louise Nicholas Sticks By Rape Reporting Claim
2007-0726 - Waikato Times -
Jury in police obstruction case down to 11
2007-0726 - Newstalk
ZB - Louise Nicholas under cross-examination
2007-0726 -
Newstalk ZB - Louise Nicholas finishes giving evidence
2007-0727 - Waikato Times - Ex-cop
recalls talk of baton
25 July 2007; Juror falls ill; Jury reduced to 11
A jury
member fell ill, and the case was adjourned for the day. The juror was later
excused and the number on the jury reduced to eleven members
2007-0726 - Three News - Juror
falls ill in Dewar trial
2007-0725 - Newstalk ZB - Sick
juror stalls trial
2007-0726 - Waikato Times -
Jury in police obstruction case down to 11
25 July 2007; Covert video evidence used
Louise
Nicholas met with John Dewar in 2005 wearing a hidden
microphone where he cautioned her about stirring up the past and told her to
'move on'. , Mr Dewar told her he knew her allegations regarding a sexual
incident with a police baton was without her consent, but said he believed
other aspects of her involvement with the men had been consensual. On the tape Dewar also tells Mrs Nicholas
that he is close friends with Clint Rickards and convicted rapists Brad
Shipton and Bob Schollum.
2007-0725 - Three News - Covert
video evidence used in Dewar trial
2007-0725 - Stuff - Jury sees
Dewar baton admission video
2007-0725 - Radio NZ - Accused
makes admission in secretly recorded video
2007-0725 - One News - Secret
footage in Dewar trial
2007-0725 - Newstalk ZB - Court
sees videotaped confrontation
2007-0725 - Waikato Times - Jury
sees Dewar baton admission video
2007-0726 - Waikato Times -
Dewar on tape: 'I certainly know'
24 July 2007; Louise Nicholas gives evidence
 Louise Nicholas told the High Court in Hamilton that
Mr Dewar ignored her complaint against the three, and focussed solely an
allegation she made about an earlier incident. Ms Nicholas told the court
Dewar told her he wanted to take over the case because it involved serving
officers, even though the earlier accused had left the force. She says she
was puzzled by his apparent lack of interest in anything to do with Rickards,
Shipton and Schollum and his refusal to take a formal statement
Nicholas also alleged that at a Rutland Street address in Rotorua Mr
Rickards, Schollum and Shipton had sexually assaulted her and used a baton on
her. Dewar denied Mrs Nicholas told him about the Rutland Street incident or
the baton
Nicholas said she had been happy to sign a statement in her name, critical of
Inspector Rex Miller who headed the Miller Inquiry into the handling of the
mistrials, as she had found him gruff and did not like dealing with him, in
comparison with Dewar whom she liked. Mrs Nicholas said she had not read the
report and would not have signed it if she had known the statement said she
had not told Dewar about the incident at Rutland Street and the use of the
baton. "I know if it had done that ... I would have corrected it.
2007-0724 - Newstalk ZB -
Louise Nicholas to take stand again
2007-0724 - Radio NZ - Nicholas
begins evidence against former inspector
2007-0724 - Newswire - Louise
Nicholas Starts Evidence In Dewar Trial
2007-0724 - Newstalk ZB -
Nicholas evidence against former CIB head
2007-0725 - Radio NZ - Second day of
trial of former police officer accused of coverup
2007-0725 - NZ Herald - Court video:
Cop told Nicholas to 'move on'
2007-0725 - Newstalk ZB -
Louise Nicholas continues in witness stand
2007-0725 - Stuff - Jury sees
Dewar baton admission video
24 July 2007; Defence Opening statement
Dewar's
lawyer Paul Mabey, QC, said Dewar never received a complaint from Mrs Nicholas
about the alleged offending in Rotorua, and the threesome with Shipton and
the Bay of Plenty woman never happened. "He had nothing to do whatsoever
with this woman with or without Shipton. It didn't happen," he said.
2007-0724 - NZ Herald - Crown says
ex-cop's friendship led to cover up
2007-0725 - Stuff - More group sex
claims emerge at cop trial
24 July 2007; Motive for obstruction: Claims of
group sex involving Dewar
Crown
prosecutor Mark Zarifeh said Dewar had a "powerful motive" to
obstruct any investigation. While Dewar maintained he only had a professional
relationship with Shipton, he had in fact had a very close friendship, which
had led to a group sex session with the two men and one other woman.
2007-0724 - NZ Herald - Crown says
ex-cop's friendship led to cover up
2007-0725 - Stuff - More group sex
claims emerge at cop trial
24 July 2007; Trial commences
Crown
Prosecutor Mark Zarifeh
John Dewar is on trial in Hamilton. He is defending four charges of
perverting the course of justice. It is alleged that on "on diverse
dates" between January 14, 1993 and July 13, 1993 he suppressed, or
failed to act on the allegations made by Ms Nicholas.
He faces further charges of twice wilfully giving false evidence in the case
of the first officer, causing a mistrial each time. At the first trial, he
told the court of a conversation he had had with a witness, who was a family
friend of Ms Nicholas. At the subsequent re-trial, he gave unprompted
evidence of an investigation he was running in relation to allegations made
by Ms Nicholas concerning four police officers.
He faces a fourth charge of attempting to defeat the course of justice charge
for his alleged "manipulation" of Ms Nicholas during a police
investigation into his evidence at the two trials. That offending is alleged to have taken
place between May and July, 1995
Crown
prosecutor Mark Zarifeh told the court, in opening remarks, that Mrs
Nicholas, then Louise Crawford, had approached police in 1993 with
allegations of two separate historic sexual assaults. Mr Zarifeh told the
court "from the outset" Dewar had told her he would pursue the
complaint but that he never took any written statement and actively sought to
suppress, prevent and discourage any formal prosecution
2007-0724 - Newstalk ZB -
Suppression lifted for former CIB head
2007-0724 - Stuff - Cop on trial for
obstructing Nicholas case
2007-0724 - Radio NZ - Trial Opens
2007-0724 - Radio NZ - Dewar
before Court
2007-0724 - One News - Dewar
accused of perverting justice
2007-0724 - One News - Final
chapter in police sex saga
2007-0724 - NZ Herald - Crown says
ex-cop's friendship led to cover up
2007-0724 - Three News - Former
police chief faces trial over Nicholas rape case
23 July 2007; Supporters of Louise Nicholas plan to
protest march
A
group of women announce that they are organising protest marches to show
their support for the complainants in the trial. They have declared Dewar’s
guilt at the start of the trial claiming "It is the actions of people
like Dewar that allowed members of the police to get away with rape for so
long”
2007-0723 - Scoop - John Dewar Trial
Protests Across The Country
22 July 2007;
Trial of John Dewar expected to start
Former
Rotorua CIB head John Dewar will appear in the High Court at Hamilton on
Tuesday (24th) on charges of attempting to obstruct or defeat the course of
justice in connection with the Louise Nicholas case
2007-0722 - Stuff - Rickards lays
complaint over crown lawyer
2007-0722 - NZ Herald -
Rickards targets Crown
3 March 2007; Suppression orders lifted
A
further High Court trial relating to the conduct of police officers involved
in allegations of pack-rape is to take place in July. The High Court has
lifted a suppression order allowing media to report that a former Rotorua
detective is to face trial for conspiring to pervert the course of justice.
John Dewar was head of the CIB in the city at the time rape complainant
Louise Nicholas first raised her case. He is alleged to have mishandled her
case. His trial had been delayed while the two rape trials against Rickards,
Shipton and Schollum were dealt with.
2007-0303 - NZ Herald - CIB chief on
Nicholas case counts
2007-0303 - Radio NZ -
Suppression of details of charges against former cop lifted
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