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Home / police allegations / Rickards,
Shipton, Schollum vs Jane Doe Page 1 - 2007 Trial of Rickards,
Shipton, Schollum Week 1 |
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The woman who has accused
suspended police Assistant Commissioner Clint Rickards and two former
policemen of sexually violating her has told the court she is trying
"damn hard" to nail the conviction Louise Nicholas failed to get. Under cross-examination yesterday
the woman was questioned about embellishing her story and telling lies to
impress the jury in the High Court at Auckland. She told Paul Mabey, QC, lawyer
for the accused Bob Schollum, that she wanted to ensure the trio - acquitted
of rape and sexual violation charges against Mrs Nicholas last year - were
convicted of the charges against her. "I know poor Louise Nicholas
lost her case and I am trying damn hard to make sure these guys are
done." Mabey said: "And you will say
anything to get that?" The woman, who cannot be named,
replied: "I won't say anything, but I will say the truth." Rickards, Schollum and Brad
Shipton deny charges of kidnapping and indecent assault with a bottle on the
woman, who was 16 at the time of the alleged attack in Rotorua sometime
between November 1983 and August 1984. The woman says Shipton straddled
her and the other two stood on either side while she was chained to a bed
with handcuffs and an indecency performed with a whisky bottle. Mr Mabey had been cross-examining
the woman on day three of the trial about what he said were inconsistencies
in earlier statements when she was first contacted by police in 2004, and
evidence she gave to the court. Mr Mabey asked why she had never
before mentioned having three or four glasses of whisky and lemonade before
the attack until she took the witness stand. This included a 19-page police
statement that had "not a dickie-bird" about quantity. Mr Mabey said her evidence
"was a lie by you to impress these people [the jury]". The woman
said a lot of the inconsistencies arose because she had not been asked direct
questions about it earlier. The woman said she had many things
going on at the time of the police statement in 2004, including looking after
her four children and dealing with the break-up of a relationship. She added there had been little
notice or time for her to recall something that happened more than 20 years
before. Mr Mabey asked why she could not
remember having a bruise on "your little wrist" if she was
struggling against the metal handcuffs that had chained her to the bed as she
had claimed. Mr Mabey said Schollum denied the
incident had ever happened. The woman replied: "Of course
he's going to deny it." Under re-examination by Crown
prosecutor Brent Stanaway, the woman said she had not learned of any
information from other sources or had any conversations with Louise Nicholas
in order to make her story similar. She had never met Louise Nicholas
before police investigating that case approached her in 2004 after finding
her phone number in one of Shipton's old notebooks. The woman said her mother had
advised her against helping the police but she did it anyway. She also told Mr Stanaway a photo
from the time in which she could not identify Rickards was in black and white
and of poor quality. Earlier, Bill Nabney, for Shipton,
questioned the woman about why her name and number was in Shipton's notebooks
dated between 1985 and 1987. She has said she was in a consensual sexual
relationship with Shipton before the alleged attack. He said this was because she had
stayed in contact with him. She replied: "There is no way
I would give Brad Shipton my phone number when I was going out with another
guy."
* The Accused Clinton John Tukutahi Rickards, 46.
They deny kidnapping a 16-year-old girl and indecently
assaulting her with a bottle sometime between November 1983 and August 1984
in Rotorua.
Now a 39-year-old mother of four, her claims came to light
when detectives were investigating the Louise Nicholas rape allegations. The detectives found references to her in one of Shipton's
old police notebooks. She made her claims after they approached her, having
never made a police complaint before. Her name is suppressed.
Rickards, Shipton and Schollum were acquitted last March
of 20 charges, including the rape, sexual violation and indecent assault of
Louise Nicholas when she was a teenager in Rotorua in 1985 and 1986.
Set down for two weeks in the High Court at Auckland
before Justice Judith Potter and a jury of eight men and four women. The
fourth day begins today. |
