Louise Nicholas

Louise Nicholas is a New Zealand woman who made allegations that she was raped by three New Zealand policemen in her Rotorua flat in 1984.

The allegations include sexual abuse with a police baton.

The case was brought to the public by the Dominion Post Newspaper in 2004.

Assistant Police Commissioner Clint Rickards and former policemen Brad Shipton and Bob Schollum were acquitted in March 2006 of charges of raping her. [ [http://www.nzherald.co.nz/feature/index.cfm?c_id=1501049 Police rape trial] , New Zealand Herald] [ [http://www.nzherald.co.nz/feature/story.cfm?c_id=1501049&ObjectID=10372534 Rickards rape trial accuser to take stand] , New Zealand Herald, 14 March 2006] [ [http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10375376 Jury clears men in police rape trial] , New Zealand Herald, 31 March 2006]

The evidence that at the time of the trial two of the three men were serving jail sentences for rape of another woman in the 1980s was suppressed by the Courts in accordance with New Zealand law. Women's groups broke suppression orders by publicising the details with flyers and on the internet. [ [http://subs.nzherald.co.nz/feature/story.cfm?c_id=1501049&ObjectID=10376405 Nicholas suppression-order violators encourage others to join in] ]

In February 2007 the three men also faced charges of kidnapping and indecent assault for the rape of a 16-year-old woman with an object. This charge also related to events that allegedly took place in the early 1980s.

The three men were acquitted in both cases. After the end of the second case the suppression orders that had applied for the three court cases involving the men were lifted and the information, that had been suppressed by the courts, but was widely distributed after the 2006 not guilty verdicts, was publicly released: Two of the defendants, Brad Shipton and Bob Schollum, were convicted in 2005 of rape with an object. They are currently serving prison sentences for this crime. [ [http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10426475 Police sex trial: What the jury never knew] ]

John Dewar, the police official handling Nicholas's complaint, was convicted in 2007 of four charges of attempting to obstruct or defeat the course of justice because he covered up allegations Nicholas made against Rickards, Shipton and Schollum. Dewar said he thought Nicholas was lying and didn't pursue the claims to protect her from charges of perjury. [cite news|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=124&objectid=10456490|title=Tears flow as former cop found guilty|publisher=New Zealand Herald|date=8 August 2007|accessdate=2007-10-05] He was jailed for four and a half years. [cite news|url=http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/latest/200710051659/former_police_inspector_in_nicholas_case_sent_to_prison|title=Former police inspector in Nicholas case sent to prison|publisher=Radio New Zealand|date=5 October 2007|accessdate=2007-10-05]

Clint Rickards, the former Assistant Police Commissioner who was suspended from his position from early 2004, resigned from the police on 22 November 2007. [cite news|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10477760|title=Clint Rickards resigns from police|publisher=New Zealand Herald|date=22 November 2007]

On 15th December 2007, Louise Nicholas was named New Zealander of the Year [cite news|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=72&objectid=10482418|title=New Zealander of the Year|publisher=New Zealand Herald|date=15 December 2007|accessdate=2007-12-16] by the New Zealand Herald due to her courage shown during the rape trials of former policeman Rickards, Shipton and Schollum.

References

ee also

*New Zealand Police#Historic sexual misconduct