Rickards' partner speaks of 'rough time'

Tania Eden

The partner of Assistant Police Commissioner Clint Rickards says her family just want to get on with their lives.

Clint Rickards, along with former policemen Brad Shipton and Bob Schollum, has been acquitted on 20 charges of raping Rotorua woman Louise Nicholas.

Clint Rickards' partner Tania Eden says it's been a rough time for herself and her five children.

Ms Eden says she and Mr Rickards just want to get back to watching their kids play rugby and netball, and have an ordinary family life.

Police National Headquarters says a decision about Mr Rickards' employment with the police is yet to be made.

Meanwhile, a brother of one of the three policemen acquitted of raping Louise Nicholas 20 years ago is furious the case went as far as it did.

Brad Shipton's brother, Greg Shipton, says the trial was merely an attempt to prevent Clint Rickards becoming the first Maori Police Commissioner. He says if Mr Rickards was a plumber from Rotorua the case never would have got this far.

He says the jury's 27 hour deliberation paled in comparison to the real wait the families of the accused have faced.

Mr Shipton says they have been been hauled over the coals and slated for the last ten years. He says it was the hardest thing his family has ever had to do.

- NEWSTALK ZB