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Allegations
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Police investigating the
alleged rape of Rotorua woman Louise Nicholas have arrested four men in
connection with a separate rape complaint. The alleged rape took
place in Mt Maunganui at New Year in 1989. Three men appeared in
court yesterday, two in Tauranga and one in Napier. A fourth man is
expected to be charged in connection with the case and to appear in the
Tauranga District Court today. The three defendants
yesterday were granted interim name suppression and bailed to appear at
Tauranga District Court on August 2. They have not pleaded to the charges. The man who appeared in
Napier faced counts of unlawful sexual connection, sexual violation by rape
and detaining a person without consent in order to have sexual intercourse,
before Judge Tony Adeane. In Tauranga, one defendant
was charged with two counts each of rape and unlawful sexual connection and
one of detaining. The other accused each faced a charge of rape and
detaining. Christchurch Crown
prosecutor Brent Stanaway appeared for the police. In a media statement
yesterday Deputy Commissioner Steve Long said the three arrests followed
"considerable investigations" made by Wellington-based police, who
had worked on the case since April of this year. A police spokesman said
the police officers working on the inquiry were the same ones investigating
the case of Louise Nicholas, who alleged in January that she was pack-raped
and violated with a police baton by three police officers in 1986. But they said the
latest case was entirely separate to any matters involving Ms Nicholas. The four men were
spoken to at their homes yesterday before the afternoon court appearances. Those in court were
given strict bail conditions including residential, non-association and
non-contact clauses, and surrendering their passports. Tauranga Judge
Christopher Harding told the pair before him late in the afternoon that one
of the reasons he was granting interim name suppression was to give them a
reasonable opportunity to advise those close to them, since the charges had
just been laid. The judge warned that
suppression was not given lightly. Other factors he took into consideration
were the likelihood of some "significant delay" in the matter going
to trial and to avoid impeding a fair trial. "These matters are
not entirely disconnected with others of previous publicity," he said. Rachael Adams, who
appeared for the two Tauranga men, said there had "already been quite
widespread and dramatic media coverage on parallel but unrelated
matters". Tony Balme, for the
fourth man, said his client would also be applying for name suppression and
he would not comment further. |
