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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 Auckland police trial has
taken a dramatic twist at the 11th hour. Clint Rickards, Bob Schollum and
Brad Shipton face charges of kidnapping and indecent assault in Rotorua in
the mid 1980s. The alleged offending dates back
more than two decades when the woman, now 39, was 16. The complainant had a five-month
relationship with Shipton during which they would drive round in his car,
park up and have sex. The woman says soon after that he
suggested she meet some of his friends, with a suggestion she have sex with
some of them. She says she did not want to do that, but despite this,
Schollum started turning up on the car drives and started trying to join in
on their sexual encounters. Then one weekend she went to a Rotorua
house where she claims five men carried her into a bedroom, handcuffing her.
The only men she identified were Shipton, Schollum and Rickards. She alleges
she was indecently assaulted with a liquor bottle. The trial looked set to wrap up on
Tuesday when the Crown prosecution suddenly called two surprise witnesses. As Brad Shipton's wife testified
in her husband's defence, her family were flown to Sharon Shipton was her husband's
only witness, and now her own family is saying the couple's alibi does not
stack up. In the past week she revealed her
husband was not in Rotorua for most of February 1984 - a crucial part of the
timeframe when the alleged bottle incident is said to have occurred. Instead she is claiming she and
her husband were on a three week holiday, with her cousin in Wanganui. But just as the trial was due to
finish, her father and cousin contradicted her evidence. The Crown flew in
her cousin who lives in Brisbane but has been holidaying in Perth. Christine Filer told the court the
three week visit never happened. "I would have remembered that length of
time," she said. The Crown also accused Shipton of
coaching her cousin in late night phone calls before the trial and in the middle
of her own evidence. Filer told the court her cousin
rang twice saying: "You might be contacted by police. You don't
have to answer any questions if you can't remember. "She asked me when I was
going back to Brisbane. She said 'if you stayed in Perth it would be
better'." When Shipton was cross examined,
she broke into hysterical sobs. "I swear categorically on my daughter's
life, as God strikes me down, I never said such a thing. Oh Christ why would
she do this?" In the closing address to the
jury, the prosecution declared Brad Shipton's partial alibi to be a
"jack up". Crown prosecutor Brent Stanaway
also told the court there had been allegations of lying on every side by the
accused, witnesses and the complainant. Stanaway admitted the complainant's
evidence had also been hazy on several details. However he argued that is
proof the story was not fabricated, otherwise she would recall all the
details even if she had to make them up. The Crown also stressed Brad
Shipton has never denied having a six-month relationship with the teenager,
nor denied trying to get Bob Schollum to join in their sexual encounters. But the focus of the prosecution's
closing was on suspended top cop, Clint Rickards, who denies he had ever met
the complainant until last year. Yet the witness recalled meeting a policeman
called Clint and recalled one of the three attackers having tattoo, possibly
on his arms. |
