Rapist officers’ defender ‘should resign’

AUCKLAND: The woman raped by Brad Shipton and Bob Schollum says their former colleague and friend Wally Haumaha should resign as the deputy commissioner of police.

And a former counsellor of Louise Nicholas has written to Police Minister Stuart Nash to say Mr Haumaha is not an ‘‘appropriate’’ person for the senior role.

The Government has ordered an inquiry into his appointment after it was reported Mr Haumaha described Shipton as a ‘‘big softie’’ and Schollum as a ‘‘legend’’ with women to Operation Austin detectives investigating Ms Nicholas’ allegations the pair raped her.

One officer told the 2004 investigation into the police sex allegations that Mr Haumaha described Ms Nicholas’ allegations as ‘‘a nonsense’’ and that ‘‘nothing really happened and we have to stick together’’.

Mr Nash said he was unaware of the ‘‘deeply disappointing’’ and ‘‘unacceptable comments’’ when he recommended Mr Haumaha for the top job last month, following a recruitment process run by the State Services Commission.

Police commissioner Mike Bush, who was on the SCC interview panel and the inquiry, overseen by Internal Affairs Minister Tracey Martin, will investigate whether all the relevant information was gathered during the recruitment.

Mr Haumaha has since apologised and says he ‘‘deeply regrets’’ the comments he made.

The victim of Shipton and Schollum, who was just 20 when she was packraped in Mt Maunganui in 1989, said the apology came ‘‘far too late’’.

‘‘If someone is genuinely sorry, or ashamed, they make amends pretty damn quickly,’’ the woman said.

‘‘This is a deeply felt issue in this country. And it’s important to a lot of people. Who wants to sit with a deputy police commissioner who said rape allegations are nonsense?

‘‘[Mr Haumaha] was a senior police officer when he made those comments.

‘‘He should have been utterly disgusted and taken it seriously. I think he should resign.’’

She came forward to Operation Austin after becoming aware of Ms Nicholas’ allegations.

In sentencing Shipton and Schollum to 81⁄2 and 8 years in prison respectively, Justice Ron Young described them as ‘‘corrupt police officers’’ who treated the victim ‘‘like a piece of meat’’.

The Commission of Inquiry, known as the Bazley Report, made 64 recommendations to improve police culture which were put in place over the past 10 years.

Public confidence in the progress would be undermined by Mr Haumaha’s appointment in wake of his sceptical attitude to complaints of sexual assault, the Mt Maunganui victim said yesterday.

The woman said she struggled to find the words to describe the effect of rape on her life.

‘‘I live my life every single day suffering for something which wasn’t my fault. And it’s not just like a headache.

‘‘I have to manage my life every single day to make sure I’m OK for my family, to go to work, to run a household, to have social ability. And Louise would be the same.’’

Ms Nicholas’ former counsellor, Margaret Craig, yesterday wrote to Mr Nash saying she was struggling with Mr Haumaha’s promotion.

She worked closely with Ms Nicholas after former Detective Inspector John Dewar deliberately gave inadmissable evidence twice — aborting both trials — of another police officer Ms Nicholas said raped her as a teenager.

Dewar was later convicted of attempting to pervert the course of justice for covering up the historic sex allegations against Rickards, Shipton and Schollum when Ms Nicholas first came forward in 1993.

‘‘For Wally Haumaha to describe Shipton and Co as good mates and ‘great policemen’ just 14 years ago is to me disgraceful and unconscionable.

‘‘He would have been a police officer with at least 10 years’ experience by that time,’’ Ms Craig wrote in the letter obtained by The New Zealand Herald.

‘‘I believe Wally Haumaha is not an appropriate person for the position of deputy police commissioner.

‘‘I do not believe he can dismiss his past actions with a forced apology to Louise Nicholas.’’ — NZME