Rickards' turn to take the stand

Clint Rickards, one of the highest ranking officers in the New Zealand police, takes the stand in the High Court at Auckland today to reply to rape allegations that his lawyer says have probably destroyed his career.

The 45-year-old assistant commissioner will enter the witness box in courtroom 12 this morning to deny, for the third time in 20 years, that he ever raped, sexually violated or indecently assaulted Louise Nicholas, now 38.

Mrs Nicholas told the court last week that Rickards and former police officers Brad Shipton, 47, and Bob Schollum, 53, took turns at raping her before using a police baton to sexually violate her at a police house in Rutland St, Rotorua, in January 1986.

She also alleges that between September 1985 and January 1986 Shipton and Rickards, who were police officers working in Rotorua, visited her Corlett St flat uninvited for sex she never consented to.

Prosecutor Brent Stanaway finished the Crown case yesterday before Queen's Counsel John Haigh opened the defence for Rickards, asking the jury of seven women and five men to acquit his client and end the nightmare that had enveloped him and practically destroyed his career.

Rickards, as he has done for the seven days the trial has run, sat still, hands clasped in front of him, his face expressionless.

Mr Haigh said the case for Rickards was not a moral one.

Rickards had a partner and two children when he admits he had two consensual sexual encounters with Mrs Nicholas.

"What he did was unquestionably morally wrong but we all need to step back in time and evaluate the environment as it was 20 years ago."

Mr Haigh said there were five points where the Crown case failed in respect of Rickards.

Evidence from Mrs Nicholas's flatmate at the time described a friendly atmosphere at the flat. She said she was present and also had sex with at least Shipton and Schollum.

Mr Haigh said there was a "freedom of sexuality which may seem astonishing to many of us but nevertheless existed".

He said Mrs Nicholas's claim of being raped and indecently assaulted with the baton was a fabrication.

"Walking into a lion's den in that way, walking in and knowing she was going to be raped."

He said evidence would be called to refute claims by Mrs Nicholas that Rickards was sometimes in uniform.

He also questioned why Mrs Nicholas would keep wearing for years the white muslin dress she says she was wearing on the day of the alleged Rutland St incident.

"A garment worn during the most horrific experience of her life, she continues to wear it."

He said Rickards denied the allegations when he was first confronted with them in 1994 and gave evidence in a court case involving another police officer in 1995, when the claims were raised and denied.

"His evidence remains unchanged 12 years after he was first confronted with it and 20 years after the first allegations," Mr Haigh said.

The final witnesses to give evidence in the Crown case yesterday were the three detectives who arrested the three men on the charges.

Detective Sergeant Rodger Gray arrested Schollum, who told him he had already given his statement to police and emphatically denied all the allegations.

"I have never been involved in the indecent assault or rape of a woman in my life."

Detective Sergeant Grant Johnstone arrested Shipton, who said he had already made a statement denying the allegations but admitting he had normal consensual sex with Mrs Nicholas.

Detective Senior Sergeant Stephen McGregor arrested Rickards, who said he had three things to say: "Frankly, I am disgusted it has taken 14 months to get to this position. I totally and vehemently refute the allegations made by Louise Francis Nicholas. And because of the unfair way I have been treated in the last 14 months, I am not prepared to say anything."