KEY POINTS:
If it was true that a 16-year-old girl was violated with a whisky bottle, then suspended Assistant Commissioner Clint Rickards wasn't there, his lawyer said in closing defence submissions at the police sex trial yesterday.
John Haigh, QC, told the jurors there were many inconsistencies in the alleged
victim's evidence but they were being asked to "forgive, forget and go on to convict Assistant Commissioner Rickards".
"Of all the things she has got wrong the identification of this man [Rickards] must be at the top," he said. "If there was an incident, he wasn't involved."
Mr Haigh also said co-accused Brad Shipton's defence was not Rickards' "and vice versa".
As to why the woman had made the allegations, he said he "could not see into her mind", but said they were uncovered by "one of the most expensive and intensive investigations that anyone can remember ... This was no ordinary investigation."
Mr Haigh said that it was "a bit rich" that Crown prosecutor Brent Stanaway had accused Rickards of being a liar, given that he had taken evidence of truth from Rickards during his career as an undercover officer to secure convictions.
Bill Nabney, for Shipton, also pointed to the inconsistencies in the alleged victim's evidence.
Earlier, in the prosecution's closing, Mr Stanaway said the number scribbled in Shipton's notebook that led police to the alleged victim was an important clue in the trial, as it it showed him "keeping track of his liabilities".
The number was in notebooks from 1985 onwards, while the offending is said to have happened in 1984.
Mr Stanaway said Shipton had her down as "somebody who might come out of his past".
He said the victim's inconsistencies were "forgiveable"' - she recalled the event clearly, just not the peripheral details.
He said they could rely on the woman's evidence to prove the charges beyond reasonable doubt.
Mr Stanaway said she "is not clever, conniving or deceiving". She was poorly educated, naive and had difficulty reading which may have led to inconsistencies in different statements.
"She has her flaws, like we all do, but she is honest."
He pointed to the way the woman had said "one of the three" men had tattoos on an arm, but could not remember which one as a pointer that she was not embellishing her evidence.
Rickards had tattoos on his arm that had been seen in photographs in the media, but she had not singled him out.
Mr Stanaway said the incident was not about sexual gratification, but about "degradation, humiliation, and what they could get away with".
Mr Stanaway said the woman's identification of Shipton, with whom she said had a consensual sexual relationship, or Schollum, who she said wanted to join in, had not been challenged.
"And she is sure the man she knew as Clint was there and actively participating."
Mr Stanaway questioned the relevance of defence evidence of Shipton having a moustache, when the victim said he was clean-shaven, given her identification of him was not challenged.
He said her statement under cross-examination about the Louise Nicholas case - "I'm trying to make sure these guys are done"- had been misreported in that it left off her clause "for what they've done" which he said referred to her.
Mr Stanaway also referred to the "legendary All Black" Steve McDowell, called in Rickards' defence to support claims he had been incapacitated by a sore knee, saying he was so vague, "you have to wonder why he was called".
The accused
Clinton John Tukutahi Rickards, 46, suspended Assistant Police Commissioner.
Bradley Keith Shipton, 49, former police officer.
Robert Francis Schollum, 54, former police officer.
The charges
They deny kidnapping a 16-year-old girl and indecently assaulting her with a bottle some time between November 1983 and August 1984 in Rotorua.