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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 ACCUSED: (From left) Suspended
assistant police commissioner Clint Rickards and former policemen Bob Schollum
and Brad Shipton. The jury in the trial of suspended
assistant police commissioner Clint Rickards and former policemen Brad
Shipton and Bob Schollum has retired to consider its verdicts. Rickards, 46, Shipton, 48, and
Schollum, 54, have pleaded not guilty in the High Court at Auckland to
kidnapping and indecently assaulting a then 16-year-old girl between November
1983 and August 1984. Justice Judith Potter told the
jury of eight men and four women this morning that what other people may have
said outside the courtroom about the trial was "utterly
irrelevant". In front of a public gallery
packed to standing room only Justice Potter told the jury to consider each
charge separately and the case of each accused separately. She said they had to be satisfied
that the complainant had correctly identified each of the men, and that they
had each participated in the alleged incident. Justice Potter said the jury had
to consider "whether you can be sure the woman is telling the truth on
the critical issues". The charges carry maximum jail
terms of seven years for indecent assault and 14 years for kidnapping. After the jury retired, Rickards'
lawyer John Haigh QC asked the judge to recall them to instruct them on a key
aspect of Rickards' defence which was that at the time of the alleged
incident he had been a uniformed police officer. Justice Potter did so. In her evidence the woman said she
never saw Rickards in a uniform. As the men left the courtroom,
Shipton hugged his wife in the public gallery while Schollum's wife held her
husband's hands and whispered in his ear. Earlier, Schollum's lawyer, Paul
Mabey QC, in his closing statements distanced his client from Mrs Shipton
whose evidence was challenged in court yesterday. Mr Mabey said Mrs Shipton was not
a witness for Schollum and if she had lied she was "a very silly
lady", but if she had lied it in no way proved the guilt of either man. |
