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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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A high-ranking police officer has
been questioned about being a practised witness as he gives evidence in his
High Court trial. Suspended assistant police
commissioner Clint Rickards is on trial with former officers Brad Shipton and
Bob Schollum at the High Court in Auckland, accused of kidnapping and
indecent assault between November 1983 and August 1984. The complainant was
aged 16 at the time. Mr Rickards is giving evidence in
his defence case and has told the court the allegations about him are false. Under cross-examination the Crown
asked the accused about his two-year stint as an undercover officer. He
agreed he had to be a practised liar but added this was to the criminal
fraternity. Asked by the Crown if he was a
practised witness, he told the jury he has given evidence in court about 100
times. He revealed that one case was
prosecuted by the same lawyer representing the Crown in his trial and they
secured a number of convictions.
Mr Rickards says he has no
recollection of ever meeting the woman accusing him of indecent assault and
her allegations are untrue. He says the woman was lying when
stated she met him at a cafe where she worked, as he was in a cast or on
crutches at the time and it was physically impossible for him to walk there. Former All Black Steve McDowell, a
childhood friend of Mr Rickards, has testified that the accused was not able
to walk freely for some time after his operation at the end of 1983. The Crown completed its case on
Thursday and Mr Rickards was called to the witness stand. He told the court on Thursday that
at the time of the allegations he was a uniformed officer and due to a knee
injury he was either on crutches, limping or had a plaster cast. The
complainant had earlier said she did not recall that he was in uniform or
incapacitated. All three men formally entered not
guilty pleas on Monday. Extensive suppression orders apply to the charges.
Lawyers for the two other accused have said it is too early to say if their
clients will also give evidence. In March last year, a jury cleared
the three men of 20 charges of sexual violation and indecent assault against
a Rotorua woman, Louise Nicholas, in 1986. |
