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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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The three men accused of kidnap
and indecent assault in the police sex case have been cleared of all the
charges. Suspended Assistant Police
Commissioner Clint Rickards and former policemen Brad Shipton and Bob
Schollum denied charges of indecent assault and kidnapping a 16-year-old girl
in Rotorua between November 1983 and August 1984. 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. Mr
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 Mr Rickards he
punched the air at waist level, saying "Yes!" to himself. The three men were ushered out of
the court, with tears welling in their eyes. As Mr 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
Clint 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." Outside the courtroom, Mr
Schollum's sister Di Gilhooly said the family would now "be able to get
on with our lives". Mr 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. Mr Rickards' wife Tania would not
comment when approached, while Mr 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. |
