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Allegations of abuse
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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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Suppression orders surrounding the
police rape trial have been lifted, revealing the fact that two of the
accused are serving jail terms for a historical rape. A jury comprising eight men and
four women have found Assistant Police Commissioner Clint Rickards, and
former police officers Bob Schollum and Brad Shipton not guilty
of indecent assault and kidnapping a 16-year-old Rotorua girl between
November 1983 and August 1984. Each man faced one charge of kidnapping and
one of indecent assault. But the lifting of the suppression
orders has revealed that Shipton and Schollum are serving time for the rape
of a woman at Mount Maunganui in the late 1980s. Shipton is serving
eight-and-a-half years and Schollum eight years. The complainant in that case said
she was duped into going for a lunch date only to find herself raped by five
men, one of whom remains unidentified. Peter Mana McNamara and Warren Graham
Hales, were also convicted. Brad Shipton's lawyer Bill Nabney
has welcomed the not guilty verdicts in the latest trial and says police have
advised him there are no other investigations pending into his client. Clint Rickards has been suspended
on full pay while the current case has been before the court. He says
the police is a great team to work with and he's proud to work with the team.
But he believes the teams which carried out the investigation are a shambles
and need to be investigated. Rickards says he is looking
forward to going back to his job as assistant police commissioner. But police have revealed Rickards
will remain on suspension while employment issues around him are
investigated. That is expected to take some
time. Louise Nicholas, who was the
complainant in another historic rape trial involving all three men, was in
the courtroom when the verdicts were read out. She looked extremely upset and
left quickly. The men were also acquitted in the Nicholas trial. |
