Re: NZ, Louise Nicholas: Not guilty - and the tears flow

Annnnd...one honkin' long article from the New Zealand Times--

Tears of relief

01.04.06
By Eugene Bingham, Nicola Boyes, Phil Taylor, Elizabeth Binning and
Angela Gregory

Long pent-up emotions found voice in gasps and guttural sobs among a
packed public gallery yesterday as the jury forewoman in the Louise
Nicholas case uttered the words "not guilty" for the 20th and last
time.

It was just gone afternoon tea time, two days and two hours since the
seven women and five men on the jury were asked to begin their
deliberations. "Justice," yelled one woman among the throng in
courtroom 12 in the High Court at Auckland. "At last," a man added.


"Love you, Brad," Sharon Shipton called to her husband, Brad, in the
dock 5m away, where stood Bob Schollum - like Mr Shipton a former
policeman - and one of the highest-ranking officers in the land,
Assistant Commissioner Clint Rickards.

Mrs Nicholas, accompanied by her husband, Ross, seated towards the
rear of the court, left quietly as the final verdict was read.

Visibly upset, she walked from the historic stone and brick courthouse
in Parliament St, Central Auckland, soon after, her husband at her
side.

Detective Superintendent Nick Perry, head of the police team set up to
investigate her allegations, said Mrs Nicholas was obviously
disappointed but had no comment.

Extensive suppression orders remain in place.

It was a day for the accused and their supporters to have their say,
the end of a chapter of a story that began 20 years ago.

Mr Shipton's family expressed disgust that so much taxpayers' money
had been spent on the inquiry and alleged that politics had played a
part.

For the two and half weeks leading up to yesterday's decision,
courtroom 12 had been taken back to a time of beat-up Vauxhall Vivas,
old Triumphs, of drinking in Rotorua's Cobb and Co, when police
officers finishing a night shift at 5am on a Sunday went for drinking
sessions known as "Sunday Schools".

Out of those times had come allegations of rape and indecent assault.
Among them, Mr Rickards, Mr Shipton and Mr Schollum had faced 20
charges, including allegations that they had violated Mrs Nicholas
with a police baton.

After hearing from 25 witnesses and addresses from prosecution and
defence counsel, the jury had retired at 1pm on Wednesday and was now
back with its verdicts.

Lawyers, journalists, friends, family, police officers, former police
officers, law students and about 60 members of the public gathered to
hear the outcome.

In the front row sat Caron Schollum, expressionless, gripping a
friend's hand. Beside her Sharon Shipton closed tired eyes and mouthed
words to herself. Mr Rickard's partner, Tania Eden, smiled, a Maori
carving around her neck as it had been for the past 13 days, and said
"be strong"as she held tight to a friend's hand.

Their partners walked into the dock. Behind them, Mrs Nicholas, the
woman who brought them all here, sat steely faced, flanked by her
husband and detectives.

Before the jury entered the room, Justice Tony Randerson called for
the public to show consideration, that "whatever the outcome, the
verdicts be received in complete silence and that you save your
reactions for outside the courtroom".

As the not guilty verdicts were read one by one, tears began to flow.
Mrs Schollum was surrounded by people holding her shoulders, Ms Eden
nodded her head, grinning wider and wider.

In the dock, Mr Rickards stood emotionless, even as the wave of jury
decisions rolled in.

Mr Schollum was first to show emotion, shaking his head and bowing
forward as the forewoman said "not guilty" to the charge of indecent
assault with a baton. He squeezed his eyes but was unable to stem the
tears.

Mr Shipton rubbed his friend's back, then he too started weeping. Head
bowed, he pinched the bridge of his nose with thumb and forefinger.

With all the verdicts read, Mr Rickards finally buckled. His eyes
watered, his shoulders slumped, the first visible signs of relief.

In the gallery supporters of the men were hugged. In the direction of
the prosecution a supporter snapped, "You're a piece of ***."

As Mrs Nicholas left the room, the emotions were too much for the
three women who had sat and listened to the sordid stories of their
partners' sexual past, evidence of where they had sex, how they had
sex and of who had watched.

Justice Randerson thanked the jurors, saying their task had been
"unpleasant and unsavoury".

The trial itself had been quite simple, he said. It was the events
"swirling around in the outside world" that had caused the problems.

The judge revealed that there had been a risk of the trial being
aborted and that he had had to take drastic action. Two members of the
public had been held in contempt of court: A woman was jailed for
three days for talking to a member of the jury, and a man who had
breached a court order was banned from returning to court during the
trial.

Within five minutes of the verdicts being read, the public gallery was
empty. Mrs Nicholas had gone, with the portion of the gallery who were
there in support of her.

While the judge and lawyers remained inside sorting out suppression
orders, family and supporters of the cleared trio gathered in a circle
outside for karakia. Among them was former MP Willie Jackson, who
called himself part of the support team.

Mr Shipton's brother Craig thanked the group of about 30 and said the
verdicts restored his faith in God.

"It is something to lose faith in the system, and an apology is
warranted. These are good men. The world needs more of these men, and
we should all be proud of them.

"Our family can sleep tonight and know maybe, maybe, this justice
system works. However, I hate to think that any persecution like this
might happen to someone else."

He and another brother, Greg Shipton, described the prosecution of the
men as political. Even the Prime Minister had commented, which they
said was inappropriate.

Craig Shipton: "It's purely political and quite frankly we are going
to be asking some serious questions about the use of taxpayers' money
to put good people through this. We have a lot of rubbish going on at
the moment in this country. This is politically driven, and it's time
it stopped."

Greg Shipton: "Had Clint Rickards been a plumber in Rotorua, it would
have been investigated once and that would be it. This is about
stopping the first Maori commissioner of police."

He criticised the "corrupt" police and said they were "still out there
soliciting complaints".

Mr Shipton's sister, Tracey Shipton, told the Weekend Herald the
family had never thought the men would be acquitted.

As he was about to leave the courtroom, Mr Rickards hugged his lawyer,
Queen's Counsel John Haigh, then left hand-in-hand with Ms Eden to an
unlit room off the foyer.

Two women, arms folded, defiantly blocked the doorway and window.

One, a Maori warden, was soon replaced by a man wearing a black
T-shirt, "Awesome Aotearoa Warriors" emblazoned across his burly
chest.

Inside the room, a blinking Mr Rickards greeted well-wishers with hugs
and backslaps.

Mobbed by reporters as he left the court, Mr Rickards vigorously
rubbed Ms Eden's shoulder as he told the media how "terribly relieved"
he was.

In January 2004, before the allegations against him became public, Mr
Rickards was commander of the Auckland police district. His career had
been a stellar one.

He joined the police in January 1979, signing up to cadet wing 23
three days after his 18th birthday, and was first stationed in his
hometown of Rotorua. The remarkable career of police officer CR7055
was under way.

Not long into the job, he was shoulder-tapped and asked to join the
undercover programme.

A well-built man trained in the martial art of judo (he represented NZ
at the 1986 Commonwealth Games, where he came fourth in his division),
he seemed the perfect candidate. Long-term operations in Kawerau,
Invercargill and Christchurch followed, with short-term stints in
Wellington and Auckland too. He delved into drug rings and burglary
rackets.

Proving he had brains as well as brawn, he gained a bachelor of
business studies degree from Massey University and a masters in public
policy from Charles Sturt University, New South Wales. During the past
two years he has been studying for a doctorate in business.

By the time he was appointed Waikato district commander in 1999, he
was being noticed by then Police Minister George Hawkins for his
innovative crime prevention and community programmes, some of which
were run in conjunction with Ms Eden, at that time a fellow officer.

The pair became a couple about 1993 and have a daughter, one of five
of Mr Rickards' children.

He also won plaudits for his work in the Maori community, taking pride
in his Ngati Apakura and Ngati Hikairo tribal links and seeking to
reduce Maori offending rates.

The Nicholas allegations became public in January 2004, but unlike
previous inquiries that were conducted away from the gaze of public
attention, these accusations against Mr Rickards, Mr Schollum and Mr
Shipton were very much in the open.

A high-powered inquiry team, headed by Mr Perry, began one of the most
important investigations conducted by the New Zealand police, and Mr
Rickards was stood down from duty.

The inquiry took 14 months before the trio were charged. It was
another 12 months before they stood trial.

After all those months, the length of time that the jury took to make
its decision had been almost unbearable, family members said.

"We were praying," said Tracey Shipton. Because of the time it took
for the jury to come back she said the families had started to think
the worst.

"There were so many charges we weren't sure when the end [of the
jury's not guilty verdicts] was coming.

"We're all sad because it should never have come to this."

She said they had stuck it out on the second floor of the High Court -
a divide between them and a scrum of waiting media for three long
days.

She recalled sitting on the floor massaging her mother Lorraine's feet
at 8.30 on Thursday night.

"It has affected her health. It has affected her faith in society,"
she said as she waited for Mr Shipton's wife, who was spending private
time with her husband.

They hugged and cried and as she walked out of courtroom 12 for the
last time, Sharon Shipton nodded with dark-ringed eyes and said, "He's
very happy with the result. "We never ever doubted. We never ever
doubted for one moment these men were innocent. We know them."

Mr Rickards, the only one of the trio to have taken the stand, had
told the jury he admitted having two consensual sexual encounters with
Mrs Nicholas.

He said he made no excuse for what was a jovial, happy time but he was
not proud. "I had a partner and I had two children; that speaks for
itself," he told the court.

Mrs Nicholas' evidence was of rape. She spoke of a loss of control,
wanting to hide, and of the moment she alleged a smirking Mr Shipton
loomed over her in 1986, police baton in one hand as the other two
officers looked on.

She had been a victim of conditioning, of an imbalance of power, and
had lost her ability to resist.

Mr Rickards said her allegations were a lie.


What they said

* Clint Rickards

It was the right result as far as today, and I certainly would like to
make my heartfelt gratitude to my legal team, Mr Haigh. They have done
a splendid job, and justice prevailed today.

It has been torture, torture for the last 2 years. This has been the
worst nightmare you could ever imagine.

Look, it's been very traumatic for my wife [Tania Eden] and my whanau
as well. One thing that's pulled me through has been my whanau.

You have seen them here today, my wife, Tania, my son and my brother
have been with me all the way and my extended whanau. If you didn't
have that support it would be even more traumatic. Twenty-four hours,
seven days a week.

[The period the jury deliberated had been] torture, yeah it's been
mayhem.

Asked if Mr Rickards expected to take his job back, his lawyer, John
Haigh, QC, said it was a matter to be resolved later.

"There are a lot of negotiations and so forth and discussions with the
police department and we'll pursue that at a later point."

Asked his view of Louise Nicholas right now, Mr Haigh said: "It's
probably not appropriate to go into that."


* The police

Deputy Commissioner Lyn Provost says police will start talks with
Clint Rickards' lawyer about employment matters.

"There are many factors involved both from the point of view of the
employee and the employer and I am not going to speculate or prejudice
those matters by public commentary," said Ms Provost.

She said the Operation Austin team which had undertaken the
investigation into Mr Rickards, Brad Shipton and Bob Schollum had done
so according to the highest standards of professionalism in the
police.

"They have discharged their duty in exemplary fashion," she said.


* Shipton family

Helen Clark, who passed over Clint Rickards for the job of deputy
police commissioner six years ago after hearing he had been
investigated for sexual misconduct, was accused yesterday of
persecution.

"As a family we will be asking serious questions - this is persecution
from the Prime Minister down," said Craig Shipton, brother of Brad
Shipton.

Craig Shipton accused Helen Clark of interfering in the case by
commenting publicly on it.

This was denied last night by a spokeswoman for Helen Clark, who said
neither the Prime Minister nor any Government minister had ever
commented on the court case.


The charges

* Clinton John Tukotahi Rickards
2 charges of rape (one representative)
1 representative charge of sexual violation by rape
4 charges of indecent assault (one representative)
1 representative charge of sexual violation by unlawful sexual
connection
Verdict: not guilty on all charges

* Robert Francis Schollum
1 charge of rape
4 charges of indecent assault
Verdict: not guilty on all charges

* Bradley Keith Shipton
2 charges of rape (one representative)
1 representative charge of sexual violation by rape
3 charges of indecent assault (one representative)
1 representative charge of sexual violation by unlawful sexual
connection
Verdict: not guilty on all charges

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10375524

--
Anne
indigoace at goodsol period com
http://www.goodsol.com/cats/
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