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One of the former police officers accused of raping Louise Nicholas is waiting to see if he will be released on parole three years into an eight-year jail sentence for raping another woman.
Bob Schollum appeared before the Parole Board on Wednesday, but the panel reserved its decision to consider issues relating to his release. Normally the only consideration would be whether he was considered a risk to society. But the board has been asked to adjourn its decision in the case until after a Court of Appeal hearing over Peter McNamara, one of Schollum's co-offenders. A provisional date has been set in June for that hearing.
The Sensible Sentencing Trust wants McNamara recalled to prison, claiming his release a third of the way into his seven-year sentence sends the wrong message to victims. Schollum's victim - who cannot be named but appeared before the board on Monday - is also understood to have pleaded for him not to be released.
Schollum, along with Brad Shipton, Warren Hales and McNamara, were convicted in 2005 for the 1989 rape of the then-20-year-old at Mt Maunganui. Hales and McNamara have been freed from prison. Shipton will go before the Parole Board in May.
Sources close to Schollum told the Herald on Sunday it was a nervous time for him as he awaited his fate.
Meanwhile, a fresh complaint has been laid with Assistant Police Commissioner Gavin Jones by ex-cop John Dewar highlighting what he says are further inconsistencies between statements Nicholas made to police and statements in her book, Louise Nicholas - My Story, co-written by Philip Kitchin.
Schollum, Shipton and former Assistant Police Commissioner Clint Rickards were acquitted last year of raping Nicholas. But Dewar - the ex-cop who handled Nicholas' original complaint - was jailed for four-and-a-half years for covering up the rape allegations. He maintains Nicholas never disclosed the allegations to him. Dewar has already filed two perjury complaints with police against Nicholas.
In his latest complaint, Dewar details Nicholas' 1995 statement to police in which she admits having sex with Schollum at an address in Kusabs Rd, Rotorua.
"Alcohol has dulled my sense of recall, but I do remember that Bob and I ended up in his double bed and we had full intercourse... I bear no animosity towards Bob Schollum. He has always been a good friend to me and my family and we have maintained an amicable association." Nicholas made similar statements about having sex with Schollum during two trials involving a Murupara police officer she accused of raping her.
Dewar then refers to comments in Nicholas' book where she admits making the statement to police in 1995, but then calls it a "cock and bull story". In the book she says her only memory of Kusabs Rd was going there with her father to help mow Schollum's lawns.
Dewar also refers to a visit Nicholas made with Detective Shona Low to Kusabs Rd in 2004 that was never disclosed to defence counsel for Schollum, Rickards and Shipton.
In a notebook entry taken by Low, Nicholas says she is unsure why she said she had had sex with Schollum there. Dewar asks why Low never transferred her notebook entry to a police job sheet so the matter could be referred to the team investigating the rape complaints.
Nicholas rejected Dewar's claims: "Dewar needs to accept he was found guilty on four counts of perverting the course of justice by 12 of his peers."
