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Allegations of abuse
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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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The 67-year-old father of Louise
Nicholas was dramatically rushed to hospital after collapsing in an elevator
with a "stress-related illness" following the acquittal of
suspended top cop Clint Rickards and two of his former police colleagues. Jim Crawford was taken to Nicholas told the Herald on Sunday
that panic set in when her father, without warning, slumped to the ground.
"We were in the lift, and then he just went down. I thought at first he
had had a stroke," she said. Nicholas, despite holding a
practising first aid certificate, admits she "lost it, big time".
Instead of doing what she had been trained to, she started screaming for help
and "pretty much abusing everyone in sight", something she
apologised for later. Eventually, emergency services
arrived and took Crawford to hospital, where he was kept under observation
for 24 hours. Nicholas was convinced his sudden
turn was a result of stress from Thursday's not guilty verdicts. It had been
another kick in the teeth for him, she believed. "This whole thing has been
tough for Dad," she said. "It's been hard for him
hearing these allegations and then having to live through this. At the end of
the day, I'm his little girl." Crawford was once friends with several
of the accused policemen. He helped establish the Murupara search and rescue
unit and became friendly with many of the local police, including Bob
Schollum. One of those police officers was
later accused of raping Nicholas on the kitchen table of the Murupara police
station when she was 13. Nicholas never told her parents - she was fearful of
how they would react. The complaint went through three
trials in the early 1990s, and the accused policeman was eventually acquitted
of the charges. He has permanent name suppression. Nicholas said her father, like the
rest of her family, were tough and would bounce back from this latest
setback. Crawford was expected to be discharged from hospital yesterday. |
