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Allegations of abuse
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Home / police allegations / Rickards,
Shipton, Schollum vs Jane Doe Page 6 - Further Reaction to
Not Guilty Verdict |
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The Law Commission may be asked to
review the principle of keeping previous convictions of defendants from
juries following the not-guilty verdict in the latest police sexual assault
trial. Prime Minister Helen Clark
expressed frustration today about how to deal with the legal questions
highlighted by the case, including the issue of determining consent by
complainants in sex trials. She made clear her distaste for
the history of group sex among the accused, and said the question of what
juries were told about a defendant could be something for an organisation
like the Law Commission to look at. “It has been so controversial one
feels almost bound to take the matter further,” she said today. Miss Clark skirted around directly
commenting on the suitability of assistant commissioner Clint Rickards
remaining as However, she generally criticised
the notion that a teenage girl could give genuine consent to sex when the
partners are police officers, and said she was appalled by what she had read
in media reports backgrounding the cases. “And I do say what while there may
be a legal meaning to the term consent, I have to question whether there can
be any genuine consent when you have police officers in a position of
responsibility in a community engaging in group sex with a teenage girl,”
Miss Clark told her post-cabinet news conference. Mr Rickards wants to be cleared to
work again after last week being found not guilty of kidnapping and sexually
assaulting a 16-year-old 20 years ago. But during a trial last year,
involving historic rape allegations by Rotorua woman Louise Nicholas of which
he was also found not guilty, he admitted to having had consensual group sex
with Mrs Nicholas. Two of his co-accused, former
police officers Brad Shipton and Bob Schollum are already in jail after being
found guilty of pack raping a woman in a separate historic case, but this was
kept from the jury in the most recent case. Miss Clark said the issue of what
a jury was entitled to know was complex, but the debate around the latest
trial made it inevitable the issue would have to be looked at. “And the
consequences of that are not clear cut.” She favoured referring it to the
Law Commission to get some initial advice, though a decision had not been
taken yet. And she indicated that the report
of a commission of inquiry into police conduct due out at the end of the
month would provide more fuel for debate. The report has been on hold till
the series of historic sex allegations which first surfaced three years ago
were dealt with by the courts. Miss Clark said she’d had a brief
heads-up about its contents from inquiry head Dame Margaret Bazley “and
there’ll certainly be issues for us all to think about when it comes out”. The inquiry heard some of its
evidence behind closed doors as it examined police culture and how police
handled sexual complaints. Miss Clark said it was clear that
in past is there was a practice among a minority which was completely
unacceptable by any standard and the question was whether it was still the
case. “I do feel extremely sorry for the
overwhelming majority of good, hardworking cops who totally deserve the faith
the community puts in them because everyone in the force feels upset and in
some way tainted by this kind of behaviour,” Miss Clark said. |
