Gruelling months await chosen judge for police inquiry

By KEVIN TAYLOR, political reporter

Whoever heads the police pack-rape commission of inquiry will be asked to undertake a rigorous and complex probe which may last all year.

Not only will the inquiry delve into police investigations of Rotorua woman Louise Nicholas' allegations she was pack-raped by three officers in 1986, but it will also look at the police "culture" in such cases.

Other victims with similar stories are now coming forward and may form part of the inquiry as well.

Prime Minister Helen Clark has indicated the inquiry may take most of the year.

Names of retired High Court and Appeal Court judges to head the inquiry are already being bandied around in legal circles, but lawyers warn it may not be the kind of inquiry some judges would be keen to head.

Possibilities include retired Appeal Court judges Sir Duncan McMullin, John Henry and Ted Thomas, and retired High Court judges David Tompkins, Barry Paterson and Peter Salmon.

Another possibility is Sir Thomas Thorp, who has inquired into other high-profile cases including that of former top police officer Alex Waugh, multiple murderer David Bain and convicted sex offender Peter Ellis.

Some very senior retired judges, while having the credentials, may now be too old. Other retired judges are considered to be more experienced in commercial law.

Still others are seen as too busy - such as SIS Inspector-General Laurie Greig, who would probably not get a look in anyway considering the continuing Ahmed Zhaoui controversy.

Another possibility is senior High Court judge Bruce Robertson, head of the Law Commission since May 2001.

The Government, which is yet to decide on the inquiry head, may consider a female judge, considering the issues involved.

All retired High Court judges are male, but a top candidate in the judiciary could be Justice Lowell Goddard, the seventh-most senior High Court judge.

"A woman in these circumstances wouldn't be a bad look," one lawyer said.

There is also talk of a panel being appointed.

One lawyer pointed to the experience of Sir Ronald Davison who sat alone - and became ill - heading the gruelling Winebox inquiry from 1994 to 1997.

Rules of a Commission of Inquiry

* Constituted by order in council, under Commissions of Inquiry Act 1908.

* Can have one or more people heading it.

* Has the powers of a court, and can summon witnesses, hear evidence and call for documents.

* The head is likely to be a retired High Court judge, although that is not yet certain.

* Commissions and royal commissions are the most serious response to an issue available to a government.