Accused tell of sex encounters

Clint Rickards

The three men Rotorua woman Louise Nicholas has accused of raping her 20 years ago have said in statements that she consented to all their sexual encounters, enjoyed them and at times instigated the contact.

Assistant Police Commissioner Clint Rickards and former police officers Bob Schollum and Brad Shipton face 20 charges between them including the rape, indecent assault and sexual violation of Louise Nicholas between 1985 and 1986.

Mrs Nicholas has said she was intimidated by their size, stature and the fact that they were policemen and that they forced her to have sex.

The High Court at Auckland yesterday was read statements the men made in 1995 about the allegations. All of the accused said Mrs Nicholas had consented to any sexual encounters they had and said an alleged incident in which she was sexually abused with a police baton was a fabrication.

Rickards' statement said that he had sex with her twice and that she had played up to him.

He said he was "embarrassed" the inquiry had gone as far as it had with the evidence of an unreliable witness being preferred over that of three police officers.

In their statements, the men detailed where they had sex with Mrs Nicholas, Shipton saying she was a casual sexual acquaintance of his.

"She loved policemen, and it was obvious," he said in the statement.

Schollum said he had been a family friend of Mrs Nicholas' father, who was involved in Search and Rescue.

He said when Nicholas was 16 and living in a caravan park with her parents he had seen her while working a night shift. He said he had arranged to meet her at the caravan where they had sex in the awning.

The trial will continue on Monday.