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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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Former policemen Brad Shipton and Bob
Schollum are convicted rapists, in jail for the kidnap and rape of a young
woman. Their names and other details -
including allegations that she was handcuffed and sexually assaulted with a
police baton - can only now be revealed after being kept from the public for
almost two years so as not to taint juries in the trials that arose from
claims by Louise Nicholas and a second Rotorua woman. Shipton is serving 8 years and
Schollum eight years in jail for raping a third woman, a 20-year-old, in Mt
Maunganui in 1989. Schollum is eligible for parole in
a year and Shipton in 14 months. The evidence in her court case
bears similarities to that from Mrs Nicholas and the second Rotorua woman -
Shipton was the protagonist, she was restrained by handcuffs, she was
violated by a baton, four to five men were involved and Schollum played the
conciliatory "nice guy" role. Suspended police Assistant
Commissioner Clint Rickards was not involved in the Mt Maunganui case. The suppression order was lifted
by Justice Judith Potter yesterday immediately after a jury in the High Court
at As Rickards walked free through
the court, the other two were taken back to the court cells to be returned to
Mt Eden Prison, where they are being kept in segregation. The Herald, which opposed the
suppression order, can now reveal that Justice Ron Young, sentencing Shipton
and Schollum after the Mt Maunganui trial in 2005, described them as
"corrupt police officers" who treated the woman "like a piece
of meat". The woman testified she was lured
to a lifeguard tower on the pretext of a lunch date with Shipton. Instead,
she was handcuffed, raped, forced to perform oral sex and violated with a
police baton. She told the jury that five men
were involved - Shipton, Schollum, lifeguards Peter McNamara (who was
sentenced to seven years' jail), Warren Hales and an unknown fifth man. The four appealed against their
convictions but only Hales was successful. He was to have stood trial again,
but he instead changed his plea to guilty of abduction and police dropped the
rape charge. The victim of the Mt Maunganui
incident, now 38 and living overseas, came forward after becoming aware of
publicity about rape allegations made by Mrs Nicholas in early 2004. She told a High Court jury in McNamara had instead taken her to
the lifeguard tower in the sand dunes where the other men were waiting. The men maintained that the
complainant had been a willing participant in group sex. They denied
handcuffing her or violating her with a police baton. In her evidence, the woman
described the men as "like dogs looking at raw meat". Shipton was dominant in the group,
ordering her to lie down, restraining her, raping her twice, forcing her
mouth on to him and repeatedly shoving a police baton into her. While using the baton he had said,
"You like it, don't you? Do you want it harder?" She said she believed Shipton had
deliberately hurt her with the baton. The five men took turns raping
her, she said. In cross-examination, it was suggested
she was a precocious young woman who decided to have sex with a group of fit,
athletic men she described as being "chick magnets". The woman
dismissed that as a "scenario out of a Penthouse magazine". She said she had not made a
complaint or sought medical treatment at the time because she feared
circumstances such as her pursuing the date with Shipton and going
voluntarily to the tower might be misconstrued. The woman's case was investigated
by the same Operation Austin team that took Mrs Nicholas' case to court and
discovered the second Rotorua woman. Mr Rickards yesterday proclaimed
the innocence of Shipton and Schollum in the Mt Maunganui case, saying
Operation Austin was a "shambles" and "they shouldn't be where
they are". "Brad Shipton is a good friend.
Bob Schollum is a good friend. They are still good friends of mine and always
will be," Mr Rickards said. The woman in the Mt Maunganui case
and the Rotorua woman have automatic name suppression. Ms Nicholas did not
seek name suppression. Schollum, Shipton and Rickards
were also acquitted last year of 20 charges including the rape and sexual
violation of Louise Nicholas in 1985-86. They said the group sex was
consensual, and violation with a police baton never happened. After yesterday's verdict, the
complainant fled in tears supported by two policewoman. A pregnant Mrs Nicholas was also
rushed from the court by friends after arriving to hear the verdicts. Rickards, Shipton and Schollum
were police officers at the time of the alleged incident that led to
yesterday's case. The complainant testified that she
had fallen in love with Shipton and had been having consensual sex with him
before the incident. She had told nobody about it until
approached by Operation Austin detectives. Rickards denied ever having met
the complainant. Shipton's lawyer never challenged
her claims of them having a consensual sexual relationship while he was a
married police officer in his mid-twenties, and Schollum never denied knowing
her.
Although one of the suppression
orders in the police sex trials has been lifted, others remain in place. They were made at three different
levels of the court system - the District Court, High Court and the Court of
Appeal. They were summarised by Justice
Tony Randerson in March last year. They include: The phrase * * * * * * * * or
similar * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * is not to be used to describe
conduct alleged by the Crown in either the Nicholas case or the one that has
just been tried and resulted in not guilty verdicts. Pre-trial decisions of the High
Court and the Court of Appeal are not to be published. The fact that * * * * * * has been
charged with * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * is not to be published until further notice. Nor are orders by the District
Court in * * * * * * * in relation to Mr * * * * * * * The evidence and the identities
and the occupations of four witnesses Mr * * * * * * , Mr * * * * * * * , Mr
* * * * * * * * and Mrs * * * * * * * are not to be published. The name or identifying
particulars of the Crown witness * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * are not to be
published either. - Additional reporting Derek Cheng
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