KEY POINTS:
A woman who claims former police officer Brad Shipton forced her to perform oral sex on him is shocked that the recently released convicted rapist could be living less than a kilometre from her Tauranga home.
Donna Johnson, who went to the Papamoa police station to lay a sex complaint in 1996, said she was "very disappointed" to hear of his release.
Shipton had served three years of an eight-and-a-half year sentence for his part in the rape of a woman in Mt Maunganui in 1989.
The former Tauranga councillor, who has maintained his innocence, was released from Wanganui prison on Wednesday after two psychological assessments deemed him a low risk of further offending.
The Weekend Herald understands he has been bailed to his parents' Tauranga home. Yesterday, media were camped outside the house on a quiet Bethlehem cul-de-sac in Tauranga.
There was no sign of Shipton. A woman who answered the door said, "We won't be talking to media."
Ms Johnson, who last year made the accusations against Shipton immediately after the high-profile police indecent assault case involving Shipton, Bob Schollum and Assistant Police Commissioner Clint Rickards (who has since resigned), said she was still "having difficulty getting my head around it".
She was concerned there was a possibility she could run into Shipton.
"I live less than a kilometre from where he is. I could be going into my dairy and he could be there."
Shipton's victim in the 1989 rape case, who has name suppression, told Radio New Zealand yesterday that Shipton should not have been released.
"He has refused to get any kind of help because he won't admit the offence, so we have got an untreated rapist about to be set free into your community."
The woman's lawyer had protested, saying Shipton should have been made to serve at least two-thirds of his sentence according to pre-2005 laws, but the board said the trial had taken place after the law change.
Although Shipton, a former Tauranga City councillor, was given the longest sentence of the three offenders, he was not the last to be released.
Former police officer Bob Schollum remains in prison.
Co-accused Peter McNamara was released in January after serving a third of his seven-year sentence.
Shipton's parole conditions extend until the end of his sentence in 2014. He is required to stay at a specified address and undergo counselling.
He cannot have any contact with McNamara, Schollum or the victim.
