Sex case leaks upset Police Minister

Police Minister George Hawkins is concerned that statements given to an inquiry into an alleged pack-rape are being leaked.

The Sunday Star-Times has reported it obtained the statement of a woman who flatted with Louise Nicholas about the time she claims three policemen pack-raped her. The statement says the flatmate witnessed consensual sex between Nicholas and two of the men - and sometimes joined in.

While the flatmate has already made the comments to another newspaper, a spokesman for Mr Hawkins said the statement should not have been leaked.

"The minister is concerned about matters which would be subject of confidentiality around particular investigations [have been made public] and those concerns have been passed on to the commissioner [Police Commissioner Rob Robinson] and senior police," the spokesman said.

"There are good operational reasons for information to be kept confidential until it's appropriate for that information to be placed before a court.

"It is a concern there is information like that leaking out."

Mrs Nicholas alleges that when she was a young woman in Rotorua in 1986, she was pack-raped and violated with a police baton.

She named Assistant Commissioner Clint Rickards and former officers Bob Schollum and Brad Shipton as the three men involved, although the trio have all vehemently denied the allegations.

Mrs Nicholas complained to Rotorua police station in 1993 about the alleged rape, but later said she was advised by CIB chief John Dewar not to make a written complaint.

In 1995, a Police Complaints Authority investigation into Mr Dewar's handling of the complaint found the failure to record and investigate the allegations showed a gross lack of judgment and competence - which he denies.

When a newspaper reported the flatmate's comments his month, Mrs Nicholas said she had considered her former flatmate a friend and was confused about why she would make such allegations.

Mrs Nicholas said the claims she and her former flatmate both had group and consensual sex with the officers were "definitely not true".

When asked why her flatmate would lie, she replied: "That is something people would have to ask her".

Mrs Nicholas said she and her former flatmate had lost contact in the 1980s.

"We were friends, very much so. We lived together and worked together. She moved away and I didn't know where she had gone.

"Whatever reason she had for saying it, I would like to ask her myself."

The Star-Times also obtained statements Mr Schollum and Mr Shipton made to the authority in which the men admitted having sex with Mrs Nicholas and the flatmate.

Both say there was never a time when three men had sex with Mrs Nicholas or the flatmate.

- NZPA