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Home / police allegations / Rickards,
Shipton, Schollum vs Jane Doe Page 2 - 2007 Trial of
Rickards, Shipton, Schollum Week 2 |
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The wife of one of three former
Rotorua police officers accused of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a girl
has described the investigation as "shameless, unethical and
unprofessional". Sharon Shipton, who is the wife of
Bradley Shipton, made the accusation yesterday in the High Court at Auckland
after being asked why she did not tell the police investigation team about
where her husband was in February 1984. "I didn't want to assist [the
police] in any way. "I have read, I have seen, I
have heard what I consider shameless, unethical and unprofessional conduct of
that team. "I would never approach them
to talk about what was happening," Mrs Shipton said. Mrs Shipton was giving evidence in
defence of her husband. Shipton, 48, Robert Francis
Schollum, 54, who are both former police officers and assistant police
commissioner Clinton John Tukotahi Rickards, 46, are on trial after pleading
not guilty to kidnapping a 16-year-old girl and indecently assaulting her
with a bottle at Rotorua between November 10, 1983 and August 31, 1984. It is alleged she was handcuffed
to a bedpost at a Rotorua house and sexually assaulted with a whisky bottle. The complainant said she had a
relationship with Shipton for five months. While being cross-examined by
Crown Solicitor Brent Stanaway, Mrs Shipton admitted talking to her husband
during the trial. She was asked if she had told her
husband she would be prepared to lie for him and Mrs Shipton said she had
not. "He said to me, 'I cannot
believe this is what's happening ... that these lies are being told, that our
lives have been so affected by this'. "I have had that conversation
with my husband almost daily for two years," Mrs Shipton said. Although Mrs Shipton was not in
the courtroom when the complainant gave evidence last week she was aware the
complainant had given conflicting evidence because her husband had told her
so. In her evidence, Mrs Shipton said
she and her husband had spent most of February 1984 with family in Wanganui. During their time in Wanganui she
visited her grandmother, who she said had been admitted that same month to a
resthome. Mrs Shipton was shown documents by
the Crown yesterday that showed her grandmother had already been in the
resthome at least a year earlier. When she was asked to explain the
different times, Mrs Shipton said it was her recollection her grandmother had
been admitted in February 1984. Mrs Shipton said she was not aware
her grandmother had had a stroke in September 1982. Nor did she accept her grandmother
was admitted to Wanganui Hospital following the stroke. When asked why she did not accept
that was the case, Mrs Shipton said because it was in a statement by her
father. She said there had been problems
between herself and her father for a number of years. Mrs Shipton accused police
officers of "running around New Zealand and the world" at the
weekend to find evidence to prove she was a liar, but she said she was not
lying. Mr Stanaway said Mrs Shipton's
evidence about being in Wanganui with her husband was a "jack-up". However, she said the statements
police had got from her family over the weekend were a "jack-up". After Schollum's lawyer Paul
Mabey, OC, told the court his client would not call or give evidence, the
jury was told the Crown would call two more witnesses today. |
