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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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Former policeman Brad Shipton
shuddered in the dock while his wife Sharon wept in the witness stand
yesterday after it was revealed her cousin had arrived to directly challenge
their alibi. His shudder soon turned to tears
as Crown prosecutor Brent Stanaway took the couple from surprise to shock in
a few short sentences at the police sex trial. The Crown had recalled Mrs Shipton
for further cross-examination on her sworn evidence in Shipton's defence that
they were on a month-long holiday with her cousin in Wanganui in February
1984 during the period the offences he is charged with allegedly took place. Mr Stanaway said they had checked
this evidence out with Mrs Shipton's cousin, Christine Filer, who completely
disagreed with it. This, Mrs Shipton said, left her
"totally stunned". Then Mr Stanaway said Mrs Filer,
who now lives in Australia, was about to appear in the High Court at Auckland
as a rebuttal witness for him. Again, Mrs Shipton was stunned:
"I thought she was going to be a witness for the defence." Mr Stanaway
then said the cousin would say Mrs Shipton had rung her after giving the
evidence last week and said that if asked about the holiday by police, she
should say she didn't remember. At this, Mrs Shipton burst into
tears: "As God strikes me down I never said such a thing. I cannot
believe Christine would say such a thing. I wish I could look her in the
eye." Shipton's body was shuddering as
Mr Stanaway interrupted: "I take it from that you deny it." Mrs
Shipton: "On my daughter's life." Mr Stanaway had more: Mrs Filer
would say Mrs Shipton had told her during the phone call that it would be
better if Mrs Filer, who was on holiday in Perth, stayed away from her
Brisbane home where the police would be trying to get in touch. "Oh, good heavens no,"
Mrs Shipton cried. "This is like a mad movie. Oh my God." Shipton's body continued to
shudder and his fingers tightly gripped the bridge of his nose. Mr Stanaway told Mrs Shipton all
this pointed to her evidence being the "jack-up" he had earlier
said it was. More tears from Mrs Shipton, and
the same denial: "I said it [on Monday] and I will go to my grave saying
it. This is a jack-up but not on my part. I would move mountains if the truth
could be told." Shipton clasped his hands together
and rested his forehead on them, his head down and eyes closed. Then Mr Stanaway was finished. As Mrs Shipton composed herself,
so did her husband, dabbing away at his eyes with a handkerchief. Mr Stanaway then called his first
rebuttal witness, an unchallenged statement from Mrs Shipton's father, John
Cavanagh, in Wanganui. Mrs Shipton's evidence was that
the month-long holiday was taken because her grandmother was being put into
hospital care on February 14, 1984. Mr Cavanagh's statement said this
date was incorrect. His mother had a stroke in
September 1982 and he had found documents that proved she was in care in
1983. Mr Stanaway then called Mrs Filer.
He asked her if the Shiptons had come on a month-long holiday in February
1984, and she said: "I don't recall it at all." Mrs Filer said her family had
three birthdays throughout the month, and she could not remember Mr and Mrs
Shipton being present at any of them that year. She said she had responded to an
urgent message from Mrs Shipton last week to call and was told the police
might be phoning and that she didn't have to answer any questions. She said Mrs Shipton asked her if
she could remember them coming to stay in Wanganui, but did not give her the
specific date. Mrs Filer said Mrs Shipton called
her on Friday last week in Perth, again saying she didn't have to say
anything, but if she couldn't recall "just to say I didn't
remember". Asked by Shipton's lawyer Bill
Nabney if she could rule the holiday out, she replied: "I believe I
can." Mr Stanaway said although Mrs
Shipton's evidence was "a pack of lies", like the complainant,
"Sharon Shipton is a victim in all this". |
