Allegations of Abuse
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Home / police allegations / Rickards,
Shipton, Schollum vs Jane Doe Page 7 - Further Reaction to
Not Guilty Verdict |
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Mayor to Rickards: Stay away - Herald Headline Rickards to Mayor: Where would you suggest? At which point the Auckland City
Council Choir (also known as The
Junquet Chorale) spontaneously performs its Festival special, a stirring
new version of I Do Like To Be Beside
The Oh, I do like to visit Sister Cities And I do like to play the V.I.P. And it must be Business Class Where i plonk my Council $%&* When you're pay-ing for me ... Cha Cha Cha Well, it's been that kind of week,
really. Business Class saints slagging
sorry old sinners; Corrections patting itself on the back; the Parole Board
being exonerated. Life is good. Almost everybody - except Clint -
is off the hook and in the clear. The internal report on Corrections
by Corrections, for example, makes it clear the Parole Board did an almost
splendid job and its members can, if they wish, walk the hills of Wainuiomata
with their heads held high. The only slight mistake they made
was "not taking into account" reports of three assaults by "It does not appear that
these allegations are able to be tested due to informants refusing to give
evidence ... " said the Parole Board, demonstrating a stunning
appreciation of how prisons work. But, having chosen to ignore any
"unsubstantiated" information identifying less than
"impeccable" behaviour, the Board's decision to release Graeme
Burton was, apparently, entirely "reasonable". Translation: After doing something
totally dumb, everything else made perfect sense!!! So that's all right,
then. "There's no blood on my
hands," said Mr Matthews from Corrections. No, of course there isn't,
Barry. And even if there was, we couldn't see it for ink. Speaking of which, it seems the
rozzers had a spot of bother in that department, too - although their
complaint was more about paperwork than ink itself. In a submission to the inquiry, Mr
G Burton (unable to survive on a Student Allowance) says he "started
offending - taxing the criminals in the city, establishing myself as the
predominant gangster in the Someone obviously took this thinly
veiled boast seriously because "the police helicopter followed me for
two days". Then, after accompanying
"workmates to collect money ... the police pulled us up at Happy Valley
Tip and arrested the driver for not having a licence and arrested the other
person for demanding with menaces". Gosh! Thank goodness somebody got
arrested, even if it wasn't Mr Burton. "The detective told me he
knew what I'd been up to. He mentioned that I'd allegedly broken someone's
legs and been robbing and taxing drug dealers in the city. "The detective said; 'We want
you to stop offending in our city - go and do another city, we don't want the
paperwork when you kill someone'." And fair enough too. They probably
had heaps already with Operation Austin and all. Then again, when you discover the
cops had actually collared Graeme Burton but decided not to arrest him, you
can't help but think, "Oh, damn! If only he'd been speeding!!" (There'll be those who experienced
a similar reaction when they saw the Herald headline: Which leaves only Mr Rickards, who
hasn't been killed but is surely dead in the water. This Saul can never be Paul. There
is no road to It's okay, apparently, if
comfort-loving Sister City councillors fund their Business Class jaunts with
other people's money, and the Corrections Department absolves itself, and the
Police can't be bothered to arrest "the predominant gangster in the
Wellington region" - or even deploying a surveillance squad to find him
- because it's all too inconvenient. But, according to Clint Rickards may have been
acquitted - but only by a jury. Twice. After (in one case at least) hearing
the testimony of accuser and accused. But they didn't hear Mr Hubbard or
the Prime Minister. She's certain whatever happened all those years ago
wasn't consensual. The women were younger. The men were older. And in
uniform. Case closed. No matter that the Police knew
about this in 1994 and considered it such "disgraceful conduct" that
they subsequently promoted Mr Rickards four times, because things have
changed. Close as they are to the Beehive,
his commanders have seen the light and are now quite happy to
(disgracefully?) leak any bit of dirt (Sex on car bonnet - Rickards faces new
claim - Herald, March 3) that might blacken his reputation. A Cabinet Minister facing historic
allegations of assault can be reinstated after arguing that times were
different then and he is a changed man now, but there'll be no such
redemption for Clint. Perhaps we expect a higher
standard of our Police than we do of our Cabinet Ministers. Perhaps forgiveness, like
morality, is selective. Perhaps, in the end, we should be
thankful that, even if they don't always get their man (as Mr Burton can
attest) it sure looks like the cops are going to this time!!!! |