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Home / police allegations / Rickards,
Shipton, Schollum vs Jane Doe Page 5 - Further Reaction to
Not Guilty Verdict |
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As debate rages about the use of
suppression orders in rape cases, the Law Commission is refusing to become
involved. The issue has become a talking
point since Thursday, when suspended Assistant Police Commissioner Clint
Rickards and former police officers Brad Shipton and Bob Schollumwere
acquitted of kidnap and indecent assault charges involving a 16-year-old girl
dating back to 1983 and 1984. The outcome of the trial has
caused a furore because suppression orders prevented the jury knowing that
Shipton and Schollum were convicted rapists. The fact they were in jail for a
similar offence to that they were accused of was kept from the jury, as it
might have prejudiced their chances of a fair trial. Opinions are divided on the use
of, and extent of, suppression orders in such cases. The legal community is
mostly satisfied with the way they work but women's advocates are arguing for
more transparency in the justice system. Though Rape Crisis would like
juries to know about a defendant's previous convictions, the Criminal Bar
Association, which represents lawyers, judges and prosecutors who work in the
criminal justice system, said this could lead to miscarriages of justice.
Someone's history should not be used against them, said president Graeme
Newell. The Law Commission, whose job it
is to review or reform law in High-profile Auckland barrister
Kit Toogood, QC, said there was nothing wrong with a jury being allowed to
know that defendants had previously been proved innocent, but not that they
had been previously found guilty. "In the great majority of cases the
fact that somebody has been convicted or acquitted on an earlier occasion is
completely irrelevant. "Each case must be judged on
its own merits according to the interests of justice, but particularly the
interests of justice so far as the accused are concerned." Mr Rickards' lawyer John Haigh
said he believed the jury would have been aware of Shipton's and Schollum's
convictions but had withstood media pressure in reaching its verdict.
"... yet again they (the jury) focused on the evidence. And that's why these
people attacking the verdict had no idea about the extent of the evidence
that was heard, how the complainant stacked up under examination." However, Rape Crisis spokeswoman
Andrea Black had no doubt the latest trial or earlier Louise Nicholas trial
would have turned out differently if details of Shipton's and Schollum's
convictions had not been suppressed. "It's not a justice system, it's a
legal system." |
