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 prime minister says the issue
of what juries should be told needs to be re-examined. Last week, suspended Assistant
Police Commissioner Clint Rickards was acquitted of 1980s sex charges - along
with former policemen Bob Schollum and Brad Shipton. Suppression orders
prevented the jury from being told that both Schollum and Shipton are serving
sentences for rape. Given the resulting public
controversy, Helen Clark says the issue definitely warrants further attention
and one option is to ask the Law Commission to look into it. The Law Commission says it would
be happy to take up the matter if requested by the Government. However, Law Commission president
Sir Geoffrey Palmer says making such a significant change in the processes
juries follow needs careful consideration.
A former MP says Mr Rickards is
the victim of a witch-hunt and should be allowed to return to his job as The Police Commissioner's Office
says Mr Rickards will remain suspended while employment issues are worked
through, which it says will take some time. Former Alliance MP and media
commentator Willie Jackson says Mr Rickards's comments were inappropriate, but
he has been acquitted and should be forgiven. Mr Jackson says Mr Rickards has
become the sacrificial lamb in an inquiry into police culture.
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. 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 in the High Court at Following the latest acquittals by
a jury of eight men and four women in the High Court at Suppression orders were lifted,
revealing Shipton and 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. |