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Home / police allegations / Rickards,
Shipton, Schollum vs Jane Doe Page 3 - 2007 Trial of
Rickards, Shipton, Schollum - Verdict Not Guilty |
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- NZ Herald Staff, Newstalk ZB, NZPA
The judge in the police sex case
delivered a bombshell after the three accused men were acquitted today,
revealing that two of them - Bob Schollum and Brad Shipton - are already in
jail for rape. Suspended Assistant Police
Commissioner Clint Rickards and former policemen Schollum and Shipton were
cleared today of charges of indecent assault and kidnapping a 16-year-old
girl in Rotorua between November 1983 and August 1984. But suppression orders related to
a previous conviction for Schollum and Shipton were lifted. They were convicted in 2005 of the
rape of a woman in Mt Maunganui 16 years earlier and are currently serving
jail sentences of eight years and eight-and-a half years respectively.
Rickards was not involved in that case. There were emotional scenes in
court. Family members shrieked and some cried. The wife of one of the
acquitted men yelled out "thank you" to the jurors. The judge also thanked the jury. When the verdict of not guilty was
delivered on the second charge of indecent assault against Rickards he
punched the air at waist level, saying "Yes!" to himself. Rickards was defiant as he emerged
from court. "I said three years ago that
I was not guilty and that's been vindicated today," he said. "We
are drained." He thanked the work of his legal
team against the resources of the police. Rickards was scathing about the
police team set up after the Louise Nicholas allegations surfaced. "The Operation Austin [into
historic police sex crimes] investigation was a shambles. It is an
investigation that I would have been ashamed to have led. The Operation
Austin team need to be held accountable."
The three men were ushered out of
the court, with tears welling in their eyes. As Shipton left the courtroom
his bottom lip quivered and tears flowed freely. The woman - who has name
suppression - had claimed they handcuffed her and sexually violated her with
a whisky bottle. The same men were last year
acquitted of 20 charges including the rape and sexual violation of Louise
Nicholas when she was a teenager in Rotorua in the 1980s. Mrs Nicholas was in court for the
verdict and she looked upset before exiting quickly. Asked what she thought of verdict
she said: "We did our best. We did our best. We did our very best. The
justice system has let us down again". The families of the three then
gathered outside the court in a circle for a karakia (prayer) led by one of
Rickard's family members, who broke down in tears. Sharon Shipton said she was
delighted with the verdict, saying: "The verdicts speak for themselves.
I told the truth." Shipton's brother Greg said the
family do not believe any of the allegations and when questioned on the
previous convictions, he replied: "We certainly don't believe
that." He added: "We want to move on
with our lives. The stress that's chucked on our families is bordering on
criminal itself." He said he felt pity towards the
women involved. Greg Shipton said he believed the
prosecution of Rickards was politically motivated. "You have a serving police
member who has been persecuted for the last 3 years," he said. "Helen Clark, the Police
Association and the police hierarchy need to right some wrongs handed out to
Mr Rickard. I believe the persecution was to prevent him from becoming the
first Maori commissioner of police. There's a lot of shots to be fired
yet." Mr Shipton said he didn't think
the men had received fair trials and criticised the way the media covered the
cases. "I don't believe there was
enough evidence to bring any of the cases to court but because the media have
been one way, that's why he's sitting where he is (in jail for the Mt Maunganui
rape)." Outside the courtroom, Schollum's
sister Di Gilhooly said the family would now "be able to get on with our
lives". Schollum's brother Paul said he
was just glad to be able to support his brother and it would take a while to
move on. Rickards' wife Tania would not
comment when approached, while Schollum's wife Caron spoke to a friend on her
mobile phone, repeating "it's over". She added: "Smiling
through tears." Crown Prosecutor Brent Stanaway
would not comment on the verdicts. |
