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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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Women's Refuge agrees, saying that
reinstating him would spark nationwide outrage. Despite suspended Assistant Police
Commissioner Clint Rickards being cleared of sex charges dating from the
1980s, Dick Hubbard says the "vast majority" of Aucklanders -
particularly women - are opposed to Mr Rickards returning as district
commander. Mr Hubbard says a police officer
is required to have moral leadership in the community. But he told Morning Report on
Monday that this was no longer possible when Mr Rickards has admitted
inappropriate sexual behaviour and being good friends with convicted rapists. The Police Commissioner's Office
says Mr Rickards will remain suspended while employment issues are worked
through, which it says will take some time. Mr Rickards and two former
officers were found not guilty on Thursday of kidnapping and indecently
assaulting a woman in Rotorua between November 1983 and August 1984. The
complainant was 16 at the time. It was the third in a series of
trials involving police officers. Previous trials Last year, a jury cleared Mr
Rickards and two former officers of 20 charges of sexual violation and
indecent assault against Rotorua woman Louise Nicholas in 1986. The jury of seven women and five
men delivered its verdict on 31 March 2006 after three days of deliberations
following a 2½-week trial at the High Court in Following the latest acquittals by
a jury of eight men and four women in the High Court at Suppression orders were lifted,
revealing Brad Shipton and Bob Schollum were two of four men sent to prison
for eight years in 2005 for the abduction and rape of a woman in Mt Maunganui
in 1989. |
