Fourth man key to police rape inquiries

By PHIL TAYLOR

A mysterious "fourth man" said to have witnessed an alleged pack-rape by police officers could be critical to the two official inquiries launched this week.

The Deputy Police Commissioner's team investigating Louise Nicholas' claim that she was pack-raped by three police, including Assistant Commissioner Clint Rickards, is trying to identify the man she says witnessed it.

Mrs Nicholas said a fourth man, who wore a police shirt and mufti trousers, was present at the Rotorua police house in 1986 when she claims Mr Rickards, Brad Shipton and Bob Schollum raped her and a police baton was used to violate her.

All three strenuously deny rape and the use of a baton and say any sex was consensual. Mr Shipton is now a Tauranga District councillor and bar owner and Mr Schollum is a Napier car salesman.

They have told police no fourth man was present. But Mrs Nicholas last week reiterated her claim and urged the man to come forward.

The fourth man is critical to both sides as his evidence could confirm whether the sex was consensual or rape.

Mrs Nicholas has made allegations against seven police officers that the Weekend Herald has been able to establish. They relate to alleged incidents in Murupara and Rotorua in the 1980s.

She told the Weekend Herald she did not know the fourth man but had always thought he was a friend of the others and a policeman.

"If you can find that guy and he's got a conscience and he's willing to state what happened, well then ...

"I don't remember him doing anything to me, but he was there.

"He knew what was going on."

Mrs Nicholas, who was 18 at the time of the alleged Rotorua pack-rape, is unsure she would recognise the witness 18 years on but said that she might have in 1993 when she complained to Detective Inspector John Dewar.

"If he had been doing his job he could have pulled out some photos of the police in Rotorua at that time."

Michael Player, a spokesman for Police Commissioner Rob Robinson, confirmed that the new inquiry team was attempting to confirm that a fourth man was there and was trying to find him.

"Now, in what ways that is done I'm unable to talk about publicly at this stage," Mr Player said.

"Whether Steve Long [who is overseeing the police inquiry] is able to in the new week, I'm unsure at this stage ...

"We don't usually just telegraph exactly what is being done or what approaches are being made to whom about matters that could potentially be vital to the investigation."

On Tuesday, Mr Robinson ordered a new criminal investigation into the pack-rape allegation.

Hours later, Prime Minister Helen Clark announced a commission of inquiry into the claims and the wider culture in the police at the time.

The criminal inquiry is being headed by Detective Superintendent Nick Perry of Dunedin. Mr Perry said he would head a team of 13 officers.

The complaints Mrs Nicholas made against seven police officers relate to alleged incidents in Murupara and Rotorua between 1980 and 1983 when she was aged 12 to 15 years and to separate allegations about incidents in Rotorua, including the pack-rape and baton-violation incident when she was about 18.

She also complained about the Rotorua pack-rape to Detective Inspector Ray Sutton, who was a senior sergeant then in Rotorua.

Mr Sutton noted the details of her complaint but his notebook vanished from his desk, said Rex Miller, the former detective chief inspector who did the Police Complaints Authority inquiry into police handling of Mrs Nicholas' pack-rape complaint.