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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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By Kim Ruscoe, Michael Field, - Fairfax Media and
NZPA
NOT GUILTY: Clint Rickards talks
to media outside the Auckland High Court today after he and ex-police
officers Bob Schollum and Brad Shipton were cleared of kidnapping and
indecently assaulting a 16-year-old girl in the 1980s.
UPDATED REPORT: All three
defendants - one of them top policeman Clint Rickards - have been acquitted
by a jury for the second time on historic sex charges. Assistant Commissioner Rickards,
46, was found not guilty today by a jury of eight men and four women of
kidnapping and indecently assaulting a 16-year-old girl in Rotorua between
November 1983 and August 1984. His former police colleagues Brad
Shipton, 48, and Bob Schollum, 54, were also cleared by the jury on the same
charges. Last year all three were found not
guilty of 20 historic rape and sexual abuse charges against Louise Nicholas,
in 1985 and 1986. At the conclusion of the trial
today suppression orders from an earlier trial were lifted, allowing it to be
revealed that Mr Shipton and Mr Schollum are already in jail for sex
offences. The pair, together with two other
men were convicted in July 2005 of sex charges against a 20-year-old Schollum was sentenced to eight
years' jail and Shipton to 8-½ years. Mr Rickards has been suspended on
full pay from his high-paying police job since the first trial. The jury retired to consider its
verdicts at 2.30pm yesterday and retired for the night shortly before 10pm. It returned to the court around
midday today. As each verdict was delivered
there were audible intakes of breath and sobs of relief from the public
gallery. 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. He said outside the court that he
would return to work immediately. "I will start at Auckland as
soon as possible." He slammed the investigation and
said it was a "shambles". He said the cases had
"destroyed" his family but tonight they would celebrate together. Mr Rickards said he still regarded
the other two accused as good friends. The three men had tears in their
eyes when they were ushered out of the court. As Mr Shipton left the courtroom
his bottom lip quivered and tears flowed freely. Ms Nicholas, who took the three
men to court on rape charges last year, was in the court for the verdicts
this afternoon. She was there in support for the
complainant, who has name suppression, she said. The complainant left the court in
a distraught state and did not talk to media. Asked what she thought of verdict
Ms Nicholas said: "We did our best. We did our best. We did our very
best. The justice system has let us down again". As the verdict for each man was
read out, family and friends of the accused became increasingly emotional and
vocal as it became clear they were going to be found not guilty on all three
charges. Family members and friends started
crying and some shouted out "Yes!" as the not guilty verdicts were
returned. The three families formed a circle
when they came out of court and said a prayer then sung the hymn How Great
Thou Art. Sharon Shipton, the wife of Brad,
said "It was always the verdict I anticipated. "I stand a hundred per cent
behind my husband. "The verdicts speak for
themselves. "I told the truth". Outside the courtroom, Mr
Schollum's sister Di Gilhooly said that 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 by NZPA, while Mr Schollum's wife Caron spoke to a
friend on her mobile phone, repeating "it's over". Greg Shipton, the brother of Brad
and also a former police officer, said he believed the case was politically
motivated to stop Mr Rickards becoming the first Maori commissioner of
police. He said his family had been involved
in the police force for 50 years and was appalled by the investigation. But he said he held no animosity
towards the women as he believed they thought something had happened. |
