KEY POINTS:
A woman yesterday told a court she had group sex with former Rotorua policemen John Dewar and Brad Shipton, contradicting claims by Dewar that he never had more than a working relationship with Shipton.
Dewar is facing charges of covering up or failing to act on rape complaints made by another woman, Louise Nicholas, in the early 1990s.
Dewar was head of Rotorua's CIB at the time, and he claims he did not have a personal relationship with Shipton and fellow officers Bob Schollum and Clint Rickards, who were accused of the attacks.
He has previously said to the media that he fully investigated the claims.
Dewar is also accused in the High Court at Hamilton of manipulating Mrs Nicholas during a police investigation into evidence he gave at rape hearings dubbed the "Murupara trials", and faces two further charges of giving inadmissible hearsay evidence at two of those trials.
Yesterday, a woman, whose name is suppressed, spoke of how she was "angry and shocked" to see Dewar claim in a 2004 television interview that he knew Shipton and Rickards only in a professional capacity.
The interview was conducted after news broke of the Louise Nicholas allegations against the men, including Dewar.
Dewar had said on television that assumptions of any personal relationship with Schollum, Rickards and Shipton were "absurd and ridiculous" and challenged anyone who could counter his claim to come forward.
The woman witness yesterday said she subsequently made herself known to a reporter.
She told the court she knew Dewar's contention was wrong because she had seen Shipton and Dewar in a "close personal relationship", and she knew Shipton and Rickards were also close.
The woman said group sex took place between her and Shipton and Rickards on about six occasions.
"There was one occasion where I had sex with Mr John Dewar and Mr Shipton."
The Crown prosecutor, Brent Stanaway, QC, asked: "How did that come about?"
The witness: "They arrived at my house late at night. I was introduced to him [Dewar] as his [Shipton's] boss and friend John Dewar."
Sexual intercourse took place with both men at the same time.
The woman said this occurred about the time that Dewar was transferred from Auckland to the CIB in Rotorua, in late 1987 or early 1988.
About two weeks after the first sexual encounter, Dewar returned to the woman's house alone and had sex with her again.
Earlier, another woman, Tiri Marescau-Allison, told the court she was a typist at the Rotorua police station from 1992 to 1996.
She said Dewar and Shipton were part of a core group of four officers who were closer friends with one another than with other officers.
It was also revealed in court yesterday that Dewar tried to mislead a Herald reporter in 2004.
Ainsley Thomson, now based in Britain, appeared as a witness and said she interviewed Dewar immediately after Mrs Nicholas made her rape allegations against Shipton, Rickards and Schollum.
Dewar told Ms Thomson he had investigated Ms Nicholas's claims but there was not enough evidence to bring the three men to trial.
He gave her a bundle of letters that included reference to a separate rape investigation he headed in 1993, the "Murupara trials".
In these, he had substituted blanked-out names of other police officers (named in the letters) with those of Schollum, Rickards and Shipton.
Who's who:
* John Dewar was Rotorua's CIB head in the 1990s.
* During that time, Louise Nicholas claimed policemen Brad Shipton, Bob Schollum and Clint Rickards had raped her, in 1986.
* The prosecution alleges Dewar did not investigate the complaint.
* Dewar claims he did, and says he had only a professional relationship with the other officers.
* But yesterday two women said Shipton and Dewar were close. One said she had group sex with both men.
