30 CHARGES/CLAIMS PENDING

Employment hearings for former police delayed

Oct 23, 2008

Two former Temuka police officers who claimed they were forced to quit the force because of workplace tensions will not have their grievance cases heard until next year.

Bruce Ramsay and Christine Coy were unhappy with how they were treated by their former employer more than five years ago.

Their cases were initially set down to be heard by the Employment Court in November.

According to the two former long-serving constables, workplace tensions at the Temuka police station were so bad they prompted them to quit, resulting in launching grievances with the Employment Relations Authority.

The claims were deemed so serious by the authority it agreed to bypass its own investigation and move the cases directly to the Employment Court.

Mr Ramsay said he quit the force in 2003, after working as a police officer for 25 years, the last 16 as a constable at Temuka, in South Canterbury.

He left because of a combination of how complaints by him against a supervisor were dealt with, and a sexual harassment complaint that was made against him to the Police Complaints Authority.

Constable Christine Coy, who worked at Temuka station for nine-and-a-half years, said she left because she was subjected to a “campaign by her supervisor of intimidation, harassment, humiliation and abusive behaviour, which had the effect of undermining her position and disadvantaged her”.

Her employers had failed to deal with issues raised by her in an appropriate or adequate manner.

Both Mr Ramsay and Ms Coy terminated their employment in circumstances they say amounted to constructive dismissal.

Last year when Employment Authority member Helen Doyle referred the complaints to the Employment Court, she said each case on its own would not merit a move directly to the Employment Court, but the cases together were appropriate for the court to investigate.

“There is, in my view, public interest in how such allegations were dealt with in the context of a small rural police station and the police general instructions.”

No new dates for the hearings had been set, but an Employment Court spokeswoman said it was likely to be March or April before the court had hearing time available.

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Police woman quits over assault allegation

Thursday, 16 October 2008

A woman police officer has resigned from the force after being privately charged with assault and trespass arising from an arrest she made.

She is a mother of two children aged seven and eight, and she has been in the police for several years. She is aged in her 30s.

The woman was granted name suppression when she appeared in Christchurch District Court today, Christchurch Court News reported.

Defence counsel assigned by the Police Association, Steve Hembrow, told Judge David Holderness that the woman had been a serving police officer at the time of the alleged incident, but had since resigned.

“There is no public interest in her name being published at this point,” he said, and Judge Holderness granted the order.

The prosecution has been brought by a friend of a man she arrested at what began as a traffic stop, where the discussion and dispute took place in a person’s driveway.

The prosecution is seeking police disclosure of a series of documents including the notebooks of the officer and her partner, her senior sergeant’s notes, cell records, and the names of at least one officer it wishes to call as a witness.

The judge said he had no jurisdiction to order a defendant to make documents available through discovery.

The application will have to be made directly to the police.

Judge Holderness remanded the woman for a status hearing - which usually precedes a trial before a judge-alone - on December 2.

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Lawsuits may follow ex-cop’s claim

Oct 13, 2008

A former undercover police officer’s claims he deliberately gave false evidence could result in convictions being quashed, compensation granted and lawsuits taken against the Crown, one legal expert says.

University of Auckland law expert Associate Professor Scott Optican said criminal convictions could be overturned, depending on the importance of the evidence given at trial by former officer Patrick O’Brien.

The now 59-year-old Mr O’Brien infiltrated the shady world of drug dealers in the 1970s, later becoming a star witness for the Crown.

But racked with guilt and a “dreadful secret” that has plagued him for the past 30 years, Mr O’Brien wrote to Chief Justice Dame Sian Elias admitting to perjury in the trials.

He claimed he lied every time he gave evidence while under oath and had been complicit in sending at least 150 people to prison.

Professor Optican - a former United States prosecutor - said recantations were not uncommon.

“But if a police officer gets up there and says, ‘I did perjure myself’, and has no motive to do it other than to come clean, then I would imagine an appellate court would give it some credibility - but I don’t know the circumstances of his recantation.”

He said in terms of civil compensation, ex-gratia payments were possible from the Crown if someone is able to prove themselves innocent and to have been wrongfully convicted.

“There may also be the possibility of a civil lawsuit by the defendant against the Crown on the basis of the police officer’s intentional misconduct as an agent of the Crown,” he said.

Wellington lawyer Bruce Squire, QC, who is investigating the allegations on behalf of the police, could not be contacted for comment last night.

But former undercover policeman turned Auckland criminal lawyer Tony Bouchier said the revelations weren’t news to him, as Mr O’Brien had made the allegations on a television documentary, Going Under, which aired this year.

“I’m not sure if I’m surprised or not … I don’t know if it’s as serious as what’s alleged,” said Mr Bouchier.

Asked if he thought there was any truth to Mr O’Brien’s allegations, he said: “It’s his experience, and I really can’t say, but for me Paddy O’Brien is a man of his word and if he says it’s happened, it’s happened.”

Mr Bouchier, who was in Sydney yesterday, said he was “not comfortable” speaking about the danger and long-term stress undercover police officers were exposed to.

But on the documentary he revealed he had lost close friends to the undercover programme and was “incredibly angry” the force had put him in danger of going “the other way”. He said undercover agents he knew had gone to jail; others had beaten their wives or become alcoholics or drug addicts.

“The work itself was nearly the end of me,” he said.

In the documentary, Mr O’Brien said he resigned from the force “because basically I was a corrupt policeman”.

“Some of the things we did were totally unacceptable … I had no right to be wearing that uniform.”

In his letter he admitted to tampering with evidence and deceiving his operators, usually high-ranking detectives stationed in the communities where Mr O’Brien operated undercover.

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Man claims he was beaten while cuffed

19 September 2008

An internal police investigation is under way into an alleged beating in the Christchurch Central Police Station cells that left a man with a fractured eye socket and ribs, putting him off work for 11 weeks.

Self-employed fencing contractor Jason Brougham, 35, was arrested for wilful damage to a vehicle on the night of December 30 last year.

Brougham said when he left custody the next day he had two fractured ribs, a fractured eye socket, concussion and bruising, including a boot imprint on his forehead, after a beating he said was inflicted by five officers over a 20-minute period while his hands were cuffed behind his back.

Brougham, who lives with his mother in Sockburn, also said the officers concerned explained that the injuries were sustained because he resisted their orders.

Inspector Rick Jury said a senior sergeant was investigating the incident.

“I can confirm there is an internal police investigation being conducted. But at this stage it’s too early to make any determination about any outcome,” Jury said.

Brougham confirmed he had complained to the police about his treatment and also to the Independent Police Conduct Authority.

The alleged beating, which took place in a cell without cameras, began after three officers demanded he strip, he said.

Brougham, who had been drinking, said he refused and demanded he be allowed to call his lawyer and was told that if he did not strip, then they would do it for him.

“I think what kicked it off is I said, ‘you blokes must have homosexual tendencies’,” he said.

“Then two more cops came down and the job was on.

“I think after the first couple of blows that was it, I was done. Then they pinned me to the floor and started to strip me.”

Brougham said the beating continued after they stripped off his trousers but the handcuffs meant they couldn’t get his top off.

“I tried to pull myself up on the wall and then was kicked or kneed in the chest and collapsed on the floor not breathing very well.

“I heard a cop say, `whoa whoa, stop, I think he’s had enough’.”

Brougham said it was a terrifying experience.

“I thought I was going to die. I’ve never seen so much blood.”

After the beating he was moved into another cell and a cleaning crew was brought down to waterblast the cell, he said.

They also summoned a doctor who put a plaster on a cut and told Brougham: “You’ll be fine.”

The next day Brougham was processed and then released.

“They tried to print me but the cop said, `I can’t print you because your hands are covered in blood’.

“They didn’t clean me up whatsoever. I had blood all over me, on my knees and in my ears.”

Brougham, who has been to prison for drunk driving, said the investigating officer told him that had he inflicted a similar beating on another member of the public he would have been charged with grievous bodily harm.

“I haven’t got a flash history but I’ve never come out of the cells looking like that before.”

Brougham said he did not want the officers to lose their jobs but they needed to be held accountable.

“The reason I’m doing this is I don’t want it to happen to someone else.

“Next time, who’s to say they’re going to come out of it.”

To rub salt into Brougham’s wounds, he was subsequently charged with resisting arrest and assaulting police.

However, the assault charge was dropped and Brougham was convicted and fined $300 for resisting arrest.

“I was on my face with my hands cuffed behind my back and they say I struck an officer several times in the chest how could I?”

Brougham said he was unable to work for 11 weeks due to the fractured ribs.

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Police recruit on rape charge

7 August 2008

A police recruit is charged with raping a woman he met on the internet, two weeks into his training.

The recruit, Mark James Tulloch, 30, is suspended from police college on full pay, and from the army, where he was a part-time territorial force soldier.

He is protesting his innocence and says he wants to return to his training once he has cleared his name.

Tulloch was arrested in April four days after the alleged crime. He faces one charge of raping a woman he met over the internet.

Police did not oppose suppression of his name and identifying particulars when he appeared in Porirua District Court in April.

But when the case reached the High Court on August 18, Justice John Wild said he wanted to know whether there was a proper basis for the suppression.

In a decision last week, Justice Simon France refused suppression but gave Tulloch till 5pm yesterday to appeal. No appeal was filed.

A police headquarters spokesman said Tulloch was stood down in accordance with standard procedures when officers are under investigation, including receiving his recruit salary, which is $33,000 during training.

Any decision on his future in the police would be made once the court process was completed. The army did not comment last night.

The High Court was told Tulloch had given a long police interview and cooperated with the investigation in all respects.

He had asked the court to keep his identity secret, saying he wanted to complete his police training if he was acquitted, and publication of his name would irreparably damage his future career.

It was said the possibility of taunting and increased tension, as well as the stigma of the rape allegation, would make it impossible for him to do his job.

Tulloch’s lawyer, Mike Antunovic, said that with the trial not due to start till March 23, his client would face seven months without his side of the story being known.

In his decision, Justice France said he accepted the kind of allegation Tulloch faced carried high stigma and there was a risk that “mud sticks”.

But he was not convinced Tulloch’s name and image would be recalled to the degree that it would affect his career if he were to become a police officer.

“I do not accept publicity would make it impossible for [him] to be a police officer even though acquitted.”

In 2005, a 33-year-old police recruit was charged with the sexual assault of a Christchurch prostitute.

He was stood down on full pay while police investigated and in 2007 was cleared by a jury.

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Charge police, says mother

10 July 2008

The mother of a young woman killed by a paroled criminal on a witness protection programme wants police to investigate charging senior officers and Corrections staff with attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Police and Corrections apologised yesterday to the family of Nelson woman Debbie Ashton, 20, who was killed in a car crash by Jonathan Alan Barclay, who should have been back in jail at the time for breaching parole conditions.

Ms Ashton’s mother, Judy, said some senior officers and Corrections staff knew Barclay was going to use an alias when he appeared in court on driving charges, but failed to tell the judge.

Had the judge known his real name, his extensive criminal record, and that he had already lost his licence and was on a final warning, he would have been sent back to jail. He should also have been kicked off the witness protection programme for breaking the law, and recalled to jail by Corrections for offending while on parole.

Instead he was treated as a first offender, lost his licence again and walked from court to kill Ms Ashton in a car crash a month later. He is serving a 5 1/2 sentence for manslaughter.

Mrs Ashton said she believed the people who allowed him to evade justice by using a name created by the witness protection programme had perverted or obstructed justice. She said her family still did not know what had happened to those people.

“They are not, and should not be, above accountability.”

National Party MP Nick Smith, who arranged a news conference with the Ashton family yesterday, said serious questions remained around how senior police, Corrections staff and Barclay’s lawyer “knowingly misled [a judge] into thinking he was a first-time offender”.

A ministerial report into Ms Ashton’s death issued yesterday found widespread failings by police and Corrections staff and their systems.

The report by Kristy McDonald, QC, says Ms Ashton would be alive but for repeated failings.

Mrs Ashton said she could not understand why a career criminal was being protected by suppression orders and a justice system focusing on offenders and not victims.

The Dominion Post had to go to the High Court to challenge the apparent suppression. The judge’s decision was made public yesterday.

Mrs Ashton’s husband, Ted, said the message being sent to the killer was that he was above the law. Neither the police nor Corrections acknowledged that they had blood on their hands over the case. Nobody had been fired, nor had compensation been offered.

Corrections Minister Phil Goff said mistakes were made, but to say that staff in the two departments had obstructed justice went too far.

Probation Service general manager Katrina Casey said “there were things in the way we managed this offender that were not appropriate … We did have a role in the death of Debbie Ashton and have apologised.”

One staff member had been “spoken to” and another, who made the decision not to recall Barclay to prison, left the department before the case came to light.

Police national crime manager Win van der Velde said he too accepted that police, who failed to manage the risk to the community, had some responsibility for the death. Changes had been made to the witness protection programme.

Lawyer Mark Dollimore, who faces a Law Society complaint for not advising the court that his client, Barclay, was using an alias, defended his actions.

“I have at all times correctly followed the rules, and advice given to me by senior counsel, including a QC, confirms that I have not breached my duty to the court or defendant client.”

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Protest over shooting response

June 19, 2008

The New Zealand Sikh Society and the family of slain liquor store co-owner Navtej Singh are to make a formal complaint about the police handling of the case.

The complaint will focus on the police decision to hold back an ambulance from reaching the Manurewa store in south Auckland despite several calls from family and friends saying the gunmen had left the scene.

Mr Singh, 30, died in Middlemore Hospital 24 hours after being shot while apparently offering no resistance to three armed robbers at the Riverton Liquor Store in the Randwick Park area of Manurewa on June 7.

The first 111 call following the beginning of the robbery was received about 9.05pm but police did not enter the store until 9.31pm and paramedics entered at 9.38pm - 20 minutes after they arrived at a “safe point” near the scene.

Police later said they had to establish where the gunmen were before they entered the scene so nobody else’s life was at risk.

At a meeting of about 15 community leaders last night it was decided to lodge a formal complaint with the Independent Police Conduct Authority.

New Zealand Sikh Society spokesman Daljit Singh said the complaint was not being made for financial gain but to ensure no one else was put in the same situation.

“Every person should have that right that if he, or she, needs medical help it should arrive immediately.

“The family was sitting in the meeting … actually it was their decision [to make the complaint] and the New Zealand Sikh Society took the matter from them and said okay, we are ready to support you if you want to do that.”

Mr Singh said a rally against crime would also be held on Saturday afternoon in Manukau.

Sandeep Verma, spokesman for the victim’s family, said the Sikh Society was helping the family to get justice.

“There are still some unanswered questions from the police and the other authorities about why Navtej Singh didn’t get the treatment when he was shot.

“He might have survived … if he had got the treatment [earlier].”

Mr Verma said the family didn’t know what the outcome of the complaint would be, but hoped it would bring about change that was “helpful to the community”.

* Two men were charged with Mr Singh’s murder, aggravated robbery and armed robbery charges last week. Two other men have been charged with armed robbery.

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Cormack suspect’s plea

June 15, 2008

A man who for years was the prime suspect in the Teresa Cormack murder case is seeking an official pardon after claims he was “fitted up” on kidnap charges after refusing to co-operate with police investigating the high-profile murder.

Auckland lawyer Ron Mansfield will this week file papers in the Court of Appeal on behalf of Wayne Montaperto in a bid to quash a 1988 conviction for the kidnap of four children in Hastings in 1986.

Montaperto - who was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment on the charges - has always maintained he was “fitted up” by police because he refused to co-operate with officers investigating the 1987 murder of Cormack.

Police yesterday rejected those claims, saying there would have been no benefit to the team investigating the Cormack murder in locking up Montaperto for kidnap.

During the early stages of the inquiry Montaperto - who had at least 20 criminal convictions at the time Cormack was murdered - was publicly identified by police as a chief suspect.

This was after claims Montaperto had been seen with a small girl in his car on the morning that Cormack disappeared.

Police asked for a DNA sample from Montaperto but he refused and claims officers retaliated by pinning kidnapping charges on him.

In 2002 police finally got their man after advances in DNA technology linked a blood sample from Jules Mikus with a semen sample found in Cormack’s underwear.

But for Montaperto those years of being under the police spotlight would have near-fatal consequences.

In 1993 he suffered brain damage after being beaten with an iron bar by a man seeking retribution over Cormack’s death.

Mansfield’s petition is based on evidence that was not presented at Montaperto’s original trial in 1988 or the subsequent case made to the Court of Appeal.

Montaperto claims that on the day the four children at the centre of the kidnapping case were abducted he was in Napier, not Hastings, and says he has documentation from the sale of a vehicle to prove this.

His previous defence counsel Russell Fairbrother, who is now a Labour list MP, was aware of Montaperto’s alibi, but chose not to raise it at the original trial.

Yesterday he refused to say that was a “wrong decision” but conceded it was “sad” and “regrettable”.

“We were lined up to call it. The witness was available, but you make these decisions, you make a judgment call. I thought the case could be run without calling [alibi] evidence.”

Fairbrother said the early stages of the 1988 trial had gone well for Montaperto, but things changed once the judge was made aware by the prosecution that Montaperto was a suspect in the Cormack case.

From there the whole attitude of the court changed, Fairbrother said.

“I know what went on. I know how he (Montaperto) was dealt with. I know how I was dealt with by police,” he said.

Brian Schaab - who for a time headed the Cormack police inquiry - said he believed there was no substance to the claims.

There would have been no benefit to police in framing Montaperto for a crime he didn’t commit, Schaab said.

“It doesn’t make sense. We wouldn’t have achieved anything in doing that,” he said. (That’s where ‘perversity’ comes in.)

But Mansfield told the Herald on Sunday it was quite clear Montaperto “was in the gun” because police believed that he was the killer of Teresa Cormack.

“The way this has affected his life is tragic, nothing less,” Mansfield said.

“All he is interested in now is clearing his name for his benefit and the benefit of his family.”

Montaperto said the kidnapping case had been based on “a pack of lies” which had “destroyed” his life.

“The police fitted me up because I wouldn’t co-operate over Teresa Cormack. They know it and I know it,” he said.

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Blenheim cop to stand trial on dangerous driving

June 10, 2008

The Blenheim policeman charged with dangerous driving after a crash in the Buller Gorge that left two motorcyclists seriously injured has been committed to stand trial.

Blenheim-based Sergeant Anthony Dale Bridgman, 57, has denied two charges of dangerous driving causing injury to two Wellington motorcyclists who collided with his vehicle on December 1, while he was doing a U-turn.

Justices of the Peace Harry Baigent and Mary Harley concluded at the second day of a depositions hearing today that there was sufficient evidence to put Bridgman to trial.

Giving evidence in Nelson District Court yesterday motorcyclist Brent Russell said that the vehicle appeared suddenly across the road, leaving him only a few seconds to work out how to survive.

“But I thought I would probably die when I hit the car,” he said.

Mr Russell told the court he was travelling with a group of motorcyclists from Wellington, intending to head to the West Coast.

He said one of the motorcyclists pulled over near the Buller Gorge Swingbridge and waved him and fellow rider Marty Collins past.

As they went around a bend, he saw Mr Collins steer to the right and a large white vehicle in front of him, lying diagonal to the road, the Nelson Mail reported.

“I realised I had very little room to manoeuvre and wondered what the hell I was going to do.

“I had thought of my wife and children and the consequences, obviously.”

He said he suffered eight to 10 breaks in his pelvis, which required titanium plates.

He also lost the top of his right thumb and suffered a broken wrist - which required surgery - a broken pubic bone and concussion.

Mr Russell said Bridgman came over after the crash and asked him if he was okay.

He replied by asking “what the hell” Bridgman had been doing at that part of the road.

“His reply to me was that I was speeding. I replied to him an expletive, in effect go away.”

Bridgman has remained working with Marlborough’s highway patrol.

He was remanded at large to a callover on August 15.

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Officers sprayed and beat man, jury told

June 10, 2008

John Mills, Erle Busby and Keith Parsons stand in the dock. Not pictured: Bruce Laing.

A jury has heard how a group of long-serving police officers allegedly repeatedly used pepper spray, batons and riot shields to restrain a man they say refused to be photographed and fingerprinted.

In the dock at Tauranga District Court yesterday was Sergeant Keith Derek Parsons, who faces two charges of assault using a blunt instrument (a baton) and one of using OC (pepper) spray as a weapon.

With him were Sergeant Erle Busby, facing four counts of assault with a blunt instrument (a baton), and Senior Constable Bruce Gordon Laing and Constable John Edward Mills, both charged with assault using OC spray as a weapon.

The four defendants have been on bail since their first appearance in December 2006 and been suspended from their jobs since the criminal charges were laid.

The charges relate to an incident in October 2006 when the complainant, Rawiri Falwasser, was reportedly taken into custody for unlawfully taking a motor vehicle.

In his opening statement, Crown prosecutor Fletcher Pilditch said that by law police officers were “entitled to use reasonable force”.

“But that’s not a blank cheque,” he said.

“That’s not use any force you like and how much force you like.”

He said Mr Falwasser had experienced “what could be described as a deterioration of his mental health” when he took his neighbour’s car in full view of the person.

Witnesses reported seeing Mr Falwasser driving erratically to Edgecumbe, about 20km away.

Mr Falwasser was found by police later in the day and was taken back to Whakatane police station for processing. It is there the assault is alleged to have happened.

The Crown alleges Parsons, who has a 25-year police service record, pepper-sprayed Mr Falwasser in the face two or three times after the latter refused to be fingerprinted or photographed.

Busby then allegedly struck Mr Falwasser from behind on the hand and wrist with separate blows as he put his hands up to protect his face.

As Mr Falwasser made movements towards the door, Busby allegedly struck him on the head, causing bleeding.

Mr Pilditch said that over the next 10 minutes Mr Falwasser remained in the cell, which was shrouded in pepper spray, making it “intolerable for police officers”.

Later, Laing and Mills continued to pepper-spray Mr Falwasser’s cell as he remained there, squirting the spray through vents over a 10- to 15-minute period.

“The Crown says the assaults were not justified in law,” said Mr Pilditch

“It’s a sad reality that the police have to use force - no one likes it, they probably don’t like it.”

The case is expected to take several weeks and jurors will be taken to Whakatane this week to inspect the scene of the alleged prolonged attack.

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Trial begins for four police on assault charges

June 09, 2008

The trial of four long-serving Whakatane police officers who have denied assaulting a young man in the town’s police station 20 months ago starts this afternoon.

A jury of six men and six women have been assembled in Tauranga District Court with Judge Patrick Treston presiding.

The Crown case opens this afternoon.

In the dock are Sergeant Erle Busby, facing four counts of assault with a blunt instrument (a baton), Sergeant Keith Parsons, who is on three similar charges, and Senior Constable Bruce Laing and Constable John Mills, each on one charge of assault with a baton.

The four accused have been on bail since their first appearance in December 2006. They were suspended from their jobs when criminal charges were laid.

The alleged victim was a 20-year-old Edgecumbe man, reportedly taken into custody on suspicion of unlawfully taking a motor vehicle.

Jury members will be taken to Whakatane later this week to inspect the scene of the alleged prolonged attack.

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Police in court on cover-up charges
May 17, 2008

Four current or former police officers have been charged with conspiring to defeat the course of justice after allegedly lying about the way a man died.

The four appeared in Manukau District Court yesterday. Two including Clinton Hill, who faces an additional charge of assault are serving police officers. They have been stood down from duties.

A third, Benson Murphy, is understood to be an officer in the Queensland police force. The fourth man is a former officer.

Two of the accused were granted name suppression until next Friday.

Hill, 29, is charged with assaulting George Tipene Harris, 24, on October 3, 2004, shortly before he ran into the path of a street sweeper and was killed.

In March, the Weekend Herald revealed that a high-level police inquiry had started into an alleged cover-up over Mr Harris’s death.

Yesterday’s charges result from that inquiry, led by Detective Superintendent Malcolm Burgess.

The Weekend Herald understands Mr Burgess’s inquiry was prompted by new information claiming Mr Harris was assaulted in the back of a police car shortly before the accident.

Mr Burgess would not comment yesterday.

The Independent Police Conduct Authority (formerly the Police Complaints Authority) inquired into the death in 2004 but found no one at fault.

Mr Harris had a 3-year-old son, Julius, with his partner of 10 years, Nii Enoka.

“The family are happy that the matter is now back before the courts so that justice can take its proper course,” said their lawyer, Chris Wilkinson-Smith.

They had delayed unveiling a memorial to Mr Harris because they considered the case unresolved.

Police officers told an inquest that Hill, who was off duty, arrested Mr Harris for trying to take his cellphone and was walking him to the Wiri police station when two constables in a patrol car stopped and picked up the two men.

One officer told the inquest that Hill shouted and swore at Mr Harris, but no evidence was given that an assault took place.

Hill had drunk up to eight beers and Mr Harris was affected by alcohol and cannabis, the inquest heard.

The policemen in the car admitted incorrect procedure had been followed in placing Mr Harris on the driver’s side in the back seat. Suspects and prisoners were supposed to be placed on the passenger side because that door was automatically locked.

When the car stopped, Mr Harris opened the door and ran away, the inquest was told. Mr Hill gave chase.

Semisi Cocker, who was driving the street sweeper, said Mr Harris ran in front of the truck.

“I thought he was trying to stop the truck,” Mr Cocker told the inquest. “I tried to slam on the brakes but it was too late.”

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Policeman in crash awaits his fate
May 15, 2008

A policeman who crashed his car and seriously injured a teenager will have to wait until next month to find out his fate.

Aaron Holmes is charged with careless use of a motor vehicle causing injury after an incident last August 3 which left 13-year-old Farhat Buksh with serious brain injuries.

Holmes appeared in Auckland District Court yesterday for a defended hearing. Court documents showed he was chasing a car that sped off from a police checkpoint when he came over a rise onRichardson Rd, Mt Albert, and struck a car that was waiting at a pedestrian crossing, before going on to hit the post that injured Mr Buksh.

Judge Ian McHardy is expected to deliver his decision on June 13.

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Pepper-sprayed protester sues police for $50,000
April 23, 2008

A veteran protester is accusing police of assault and wants $50,000 compensation after suffering a week-long headache from being pepper-sprayed, Rotorua District Court was told.

Simon Oosterman, of Auckland, was sprayed during a protest at Rotorua’s Scion on January 30, 2005, the Daily Post reported.

He is seeking costs for assault and breaches of his rights.

A three-day hearing into the case began yesterday before Judge Chris McGuire.

Mr Oosterman was charged with resisting and obstructing police following the protest but cleared on both charges.

Yesterday, Mr Oosterman’s lawyer Graeme Minchin said the issue was whether police actions during the protest were reasonable.

Mr Oosterman said he was part of what was intended to be a peaceful but noisy protest organised by the Rotorua GE Free group against genetically modified trees.

He said he was pepper-sprayed when he tried to stop police from grabbing the group’s media adviser.

Mr Oosterman suffers mild asthma and had trouble breathing. He was taken to the police station where he continued to wash out the pepper spray but the pain did not ease.

Mr Oosterman went to Rotorua Hospital when he was told to continue putting water in his eyes.

“The pain continued for perhaps an hour and afterwards I had a serious headache for over a week,” he told the court.

The case is continuing.

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Police assault, then death - new claim

March 29, 2008

A high-level police inquiry has started into claims a man was beaten in police custody shortly before being fatally injured when a street-sweeping truck hit him.

The man was being chased by an off-duty police officer when the vehicle struck him. Police have confirmed the case is being reviewed but won’t comment on the Weekend Herald’s understanding that new information includes the claim the man was assaulted in custody.

If this were established, it could result in a charge of manslaughter.

Fork-hoist driver George Tipene Harris was 24 when he died from injuries caused when the truck hit him early on October 3, 2004.

An inquest in 2005 heard conflicting evidence about what happened just before the accident, but nothing in evidence then available suggested Mr Harris had been assaulted.

The Independent Police Conduct Authority (formerly the Police Complaints Authority) made an inquiry in 2004.

Its report has not been made public.

Detective Superintendent Malcolm Burgess yesterday confirmed he was looking into the matter.

“I am reviewing new information and will make a decision about the direction of new inquiries.”

Mr Burgess said the matter was at an early and sensitive stage and he would make no further comment.

Mr Harris’ family has welcomed the new inquiry. Their lawyer, Christopher Wilkinson-Smith, said they did not believe the earlier investigations or the inquest had heard the full story.

They had delayed an unveiling of a memorial to Mr Harris because they considered the case was unresolved.

“The family have been aware for some time of relevant witnesses who were reluctant to say what had really happened, Mr Wilkinson-Smith said.

“They welcome the news that a very senior police officer has been assigned to re-investigate. The family will co-operate with the police in any way they can.”

Mr Harris had a three-year-old son, Julius, with his partner of 10 years, Nii Enoka. Ms Enoka and Mr Harris’ mother, Daisy, attended the inquest.

Coroner Sarn Herdson found “shortcomings” in the arrest and custody procedures.

She noted that Mr Harris was affected by alcohol and cannabis, and the off-duty officer involved, Constable Clint Hill, was affected by alcohol.

Mr Hill, who is still working as a police officer, yesterday declined to comment.

The inquest heard that Mr Hill had drunk up to eight beers that day and was on his way to another bar when he arrested Mr Harris in Ronwood Ave, Manukau, for trying to take his cellphone.

Mr Hill told the inquest he was walking Mr Harris to the Wiri police station, on Ronwood Ave when Mr Harris ran off. He gave chase and tackled Mr Harris.

Two police constables in a passing patrol car on their way to deal with an impounded vehicle stopped and offered to take the officer and Mr Harris to a police station afterwards.

One of the constables testified that on the short drive to where the impounded vehicle was, Mr Hill shouted and swore at Mr Harris, who was calm and not aggressive.

All three policemen admitted the incorrect procedure had been followed in placing Mr Harris on the driver’s side in the back seat. Suspects and prisoners were supposed to be placed on the passenger side because that door was automatically locked.

When the car stopped Mr Harris opened the door and ran away.

Mr Hill said he was pursuing Mr Harris and tried to tackle him, but missed.

Semisi Cocker, who was driving the street sweeper, said Mr Harris ran in front of the truck with his hands raised.

“I thought he was trying to stop the truck. I tried to slam on the brakes but it was too late.”

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Police confirm probe

Monday March 24, 2008

Police have confirmed that the deputy commissioner is facing two investigations over actions during the Marlborough Sounds murder inquiry.

Deputy Police Commissioner Rob Pope faces allegations that he swore a misleading affidavit in the inquiry into the murder of Olivia Hope, 17, and Ben Smart, 21, on New Year’s Day 1998.

Police southern crimes manager Ross Pinkham is handling the investigation.

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Bullying claims may follow newly promoted senior cop
April 30, 2006

A senior police officer embroiled in longstanding workplace bullying claims has been promoted to one of the country’s top jobs.

Two years ago, three former police officers were paid thousands of dollars to drop personal grievance claims involving Steve Mastrovich, who has been acting area commander of the Ruapehu police district for 15 months.

A fortnight ago his appointment became permanent.

The officers were interviewed as part of an internal police investigation in 2002 into the Taumaranui station and allegations of sexism, bullying, misconduct and poor leadership.

A separate report written in late 2002 by psychologist Ellen Duckworth found Mr Mastrovich, former inspector Don Allen, retired Detective Sergeant Derek Webb and Sergeant Paul Francis were the main focus of their colleagues’ criticism.

At the time Mr Mastrovich was a senior sergeant.

“Operation Plateau” was critical of the way the station was run, and concluded that poor practices were allowed to occur.

The investigation also raised concerns that a picture of Rotorua murder victim Beverly Bouma was bandied about the police cafeteria.

Police bosses said despite the findings, the Taumaranui station was one of the best performing in the country.

Mr Mastrovich would not speak with the Herald on Sunday, but his boss district commander superintendent Mark Lammas said he was “a very capable officer … doing a brilliant job”.

He was not aware of any specific complaints towards Mr Mastrovich but confirmed three former officers had been paid to drop personal grievance claims.

“Three staff took personal grievances that have been resolved - each of them received a payment.”

Since then, the station had been performing well and was a happy place to work, he said.

“Ruapehu is one of the top policing areas in the country. Yes, it had some unhappy times in the late 1990s, early 2000s, but that is all behind them.”

However, that may not be entirely the end of the matter.

Some of the bullying claims are set to receive a fresh hearing as part of two Employment Court cases taken by two former police officers.

Andrew Harland and Craig Hawkins are preparing Employment Court cases in which they level criticism at their former bosses, including Mr Mastrovich.

In July 2003, Mr Harland was offered $50,000 to resign and drop his personal grievance.

He refused to accept the payment.

He was later dismissed after two psychiatric reports found him unable to continue work.

Mr Harland has challenged the contents of those reports.

Mr Hawkins would not comment about the looming court case, worried that it could affect his chances.

But the pair said they were sad their careers had been destroyed. They both said they wanted to return to the force.

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Policeman to be charged with assault

March 14, 2008

A Tauranga policeman accused of assaulting a teenager on The Strand last month will face criminal charges in court.

The alleged victim, Daniel Bull, 19, claimed an off-duty police officer grabbed him around his throat and pushed him to the ground outside the Grumpy Mole bar on The Strand on the evening of February 23.

Bay of Plenty police district commander Superintendent Gary Smith said a senior officer from Rotorua investigated the incident and recommended the officer be prosecuted.

“A recommendation has been made, and we’ll be actioning that recommendation in the next few days,” he said.

“What that means is … that person’s going to appear in court. We believe a criminal offence has been committed.”

Mr Smith said the officer would be likely to appear in Tauranga District Court next week, although no date had been set.

The investigation into the assault was concluded within a week from when the complaint was made, he said.

Mr Smith said he was unable to comment on whether or not other officers who had been in similar situations had remained in the police after being found guilty.

“There are a whole range of things to consider and they are all employment issues. Each one of them has different aspects to be considered,” he said.

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Officer stood down over alleged drunken assault

March 01, 2008

A Tauranga policeman is under investigation after allegedly grabbing a man by the throat and slamming him to the ground while off-duty outside a city bar.

The alleged victim, Daniel Bull, 19 of Pyes Pa, near Tauranga, claims he was out with two friends last Saturday when the officer grabbed him around the throat for at least 15 seconds, cutting off his airway.

Mr Bull alleged it was an unprovoked attack witnessed by five on-duty police officers who did nothing about it.

The officer concerned has been stood down.

He believed the attack was caused by misinformation passed on by a woman the officer was with.

Mr Bull believed the woman mistook him for somebody else who had spat in her face the previous night. Mr Bull said he was in Hamilton that evening and it was not him.

“This off-duty police officer just grabbed me by the throat and slammed me down on the ground,” he said.

“He had me on the ground for 15, 20 seconds … then someone grabbed him off.”

Western Bay police area commander Inspector Mike Clement confirmed an investigation into the incident was under way.

“A complaint has been received in respect of the matter … the officer concerned has been stood down while the investigation continues,” he said.

Officers were not automatically stood down when a complaint was lodged against them. It was considered on a case- by-case basis, he said.

Mr Clement refused to say what the circumstances were in this case.

When asked if the officer in question had been involved in any similar incidents before, Mr Clement replied: “No comment.”

Mr Bull said his father dropped him and two friends off in downtown Tauranga’s Devonport Rd about 10pm that night. The trio visited a few bars on The Strand before queuing to enter the Grumpy Mole at about 11.30pm.

It was while he was waiting in line that he was allegedly assaulted by the officer, who came from behind.

“It was pretty sudden, I couldn’t believe what was happening,” Mr Bull said.

Mr Bull recognised the officer from some run-ins with the law he’d had in the past, including disorderly behaviour and breaching the liquor ban, and from the group of officers that patrol The Strand on weekends.

He also recognised the woman as an officer who had spoken to his friend about traffic offences the day before.

Mr Bull said after the off-duty officer released his grip, he walked off, but then returned and took Mr Bull across the road to a spot outside Cafe on The Strand.

“He was in a bit of a state, you could tell he had been drinking,” Mr Bull said.

Mr Bull claimed the off-duty police officer begged him not to press charges, because it would “ruin” his career, Mr Bull said.

The officer, he said, tried to shake his hand, and put the matter to rest without Mr Bull going to the police station. “He couldn’t really say a straight sentence.”

Mr Bull said the female off-duty officer joined the two outside the cafe, crying and claiming she ‘didn’t want this to happen’.

Mr Bull said when the pair left he went to the police station to make a complaint. He was allegedly told by a Senior Sergeant to return when he was less angry and aggressive.

Mr Bull admitted he had been drinking at the time of the alleged assault, and returned the next day when he was sober.

He was quite upset about the events.

“It was [mainly that] the five police officers on duty watched the whole thing and didn’t do anything,” he said.

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Police officer denies careless driving

February 26, 2008

An Auckland police officer has pleaded not guilty to aggravated careless use of a motor vehicle causing injury, after his unmarked car crashed and seriously injured a schoolboy.

Aaron Holmes, 29, was driving a car which crashed into a lamp post outside an Auckland primary school in August.

The post then struck 13-year-old Farhat Buksch.

Holmes has been bailed until his trial in May.

He is still working as a specialist traffic officer, but is no longer allowed behind the wheel of police cars.

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12 February 2008

New charge for car crash police officer

Auckland police officer Aaron Holmes is facing a new charge over a crash which caused a lamp post to land on a 13-year-old boy

A new charge has been laid against an Auckland police officer who crashed his unmarked car in August, injuring a schoolboy.

Twenty nine-year-old Aaron Holmes appeared in the Auckland District Court this morning. He is now charged with aggravated careless use of a motor vehicle causing injury. A charge of careless driving has been withdrawn.

Holmes’ car crashed into a lamp post which fell and badly injured Farhat Buksh in August. The 13-year-old was walking across a pedestrian crossing outside a primary school in the Auckland suburb of Mt Albert.

The officer’s lawyer tried to prevent cameras filming today’s proceedings, arguing public recognition may cause problems for him carrying out his traffic duties. The judge rejected the argument, and allowed filming.

The case has been adjourned until the end of the month.

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Officer charged after arrested man’s neck broken
February 01, 2008

A police officer is facing criminal charges after an arrested man had his neck broken in a police van.

Palmerston North Constable Timothy Hesketh, 27, appeared in Palmerston North District Court yesterday, charged with reckless disregard causing grievous bodily harm.

Marton man Mark Edwards, 46, is recovering in Christchurch’s Burwood Spinal Unit, where he is learning to walk again.

The court was told he was arrested in November for trespassing in Palmerston North after a domestic dispute.

He was handcuffed from behind and, after an incident in a police van, suffered cuts to his eye, a split lip and two broken vertebrae.

He then spent nine hours in a police cell before being examined by a doctor and taken to hospital.

District commander Superintendent Russell Gibson said an Independent Police Conduct Authority investigation had found there were sufficient grounds to criminally prosecute Hesketh.

“The injury to Mr Edwards was very serious and the charge certainly reflects that. It carries a maximum prison sentence of seven years,” he said.

Mr Edwards told The Dominion Post that, at the time of his arrest, he was drunk and admitted he had been giving “earache” to Hesketh, who was one of five arresting officers.

He was glad the police officer was being prosecuted but did not believe his neck was broken on purpose.

Hesketh did not enter a plea yesterday and will reappear at a pre-depositions conference on March 11.

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Policeman charged with dangerous driving back on roads
24 December 2007

A police officer facing charges over a road crash which badly injured two motorcyclists will continue to patrol upper South Island roads until his court appearance late next month.

The officer involved, Tony Bridgman, of Blenheim, will appear in the Nelson District Court on January 28 on two counts of dangerous driving causing injury.

The charges, announced on Friday, follow an incident in the upper Buller Gorge on December 1.

Two Wellington motorcyclists touring the South Island crashed into the side of a police patrol car which allegedly made a U-turn on the narrow, winding road to pursue a speeding motorcyclist.

Tasman Police District Commander Superintendent Grant O’Fee said Bridgman would continue to patrol upper South Island roads until his court appearance.

“There is no reason to stand him down. I am sure he knows better than anyone else he has learned a valuable lesson.”

O’Fee said the crash had been carefully analysed by investigators before the decision to charge Bridgman was made.

The injured Wellington motorcyclists, Brent Russell and Martin Collins, are relieved the officer will face charges. Both men suffered broken pelvises and other injuries in the crash.

From his Wellington Hospital bed at the weekend, Russell said police had found neither motorcyclist was at fault.

“It’s great news and police seem to be taking an ethical approach to the investigation.”

He said discussions with police over possible compensation were at an early stage.

Russell said he walked for the first time since the accident on Saturday.

“It was really difficult and very traumatic …”

Collins had been moved to a general ward and was “a much happier man”, Russell said.

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Police dog victim seeks compo

23 December 2007

Matini Vaihu has been battling the police for five years after he was mauled in 2002. The attack left him hospitalised for four days after it tore a vein in his right arm, causing serious blood loss and ripping a fistula out of his arm.

Surgeons had implanted the fistula to allow the south Auckland beneficiary to have daily dialysis sessions at home, rather than having to visit the hospital every day for the lifesaving treatment.

Vaihu, 31, was mauled by the dog named Willis by police while relieving himself in a cluster of bushes in New Lynn, Auckland.

Police senior constable Chris Taylor had been using Willis to track a group of vandals that had smashed some local signs but the confused dog instead attacked Vaihu.

Vaihu was originally awarded $10,000 damages by the Auckland District Court but his compensation was later overruled by the High Court.

Earlier this month, Vaihu was dealt a further blow when the Court of Appeal upheld the decision not to award any compensation for the ferocious attack.

Vaihu’s lawyer Jeremy Sutton last night told Sunday News he would be requesting the Supreme Court New Zealand’s highest court hear the case.

“I say that the police dog is like a lethal weapon. It has got to be used with extreme care and if something goes wrong with the dog, the police have to be responsible for that dog and not say it was an accident,” Sutton said. “They have got to take responsibility and the dog should be properly controlled.”

Vaihu said the attack had been “terrifying”.

“I thought it was a wild dog because there was nobody there. It took 20 to 30 seconds before (the dog handler and a civilian colleague) came. They tried to pull the dog off me but it would not let go,” he said.

At the time of the attack, Vaihu was undergoing daily dialysis for severe kidney failure and was on the kidney transplant waiting list.

A few months later he was eventually given a kidney transplant.

Vaihu said he had instructed Sutton to launch the $80,000 compensation claim after becoming angry with the police’s handling of his attack.

“Every time they do something like this they say the person was `in the wrong place at the wrong time’,” Vaihu said.

“I don’t care about compensation. I just wanted an apology. I just think they should say that the police were wrong and they can’t continue to do that.”

In his summary, Appeal Court judge Mark O’Regan said the police could not be held legally responsible for the dog attack because Willis was on a leash at the time and the dog handler had followed police guidelines.

“We agree that the situation had appalling consequences for Mr Vaihu,” Justice O’Regan said.

“But we see the actions of the police dog as a reflection of the dog’s own instinct rather than anything for which senior constable Taylor can be said to have been responsible.”

After the ruling, Sutton said it was important Vaihu’s case now went to the Supreme Court to pave the way for other victims.

“I have got other clients who are suing for the same thing, innocent people who have been bitten by police dogs,” Sutton said.

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About 30 Tuhoe people in a Bay of Plenty community raided by police in October are to sue the police.

Lawyer Peter Williams, QC, said the group was taking the action after a settlement offer they made to the police drew no response.

The raid was on Ruatoki, 20km south of Whakatane, where police alleged terrorist training camps were being run.

Mr Williams said none of those involved in the lawsuit was arrested in the raids.

The group’s claims would be disclosed today in Auckland, and court papers would be filed in about a month. Compensation was “part of the package”.

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Second police car u-turn crash probed
11 December 2007

Police are investigating a second case this month of a motorcyclist being injured by a police car attempting to make a u-turn.

Yesterday morning a motorcyclist was seriously injured when a police car, responding to an emergency call, made a u-turn on State Highway 2 near Maramarua.

One witness told the New Zealand Herald the collision sent the motorbike flying into the air before it crashed on to the road.

“One of his legs was bad. It looked as though his foot was hanging off his ankle.”

Meanwhile the Police Complaints Authority is still investigating a crash where two motorcyclists were injured when a police car which did a u-turn in front of them in the Upper Buller Gorge on December 2.

One motorcyclist was airlifted to Nelson Hospital with serious injuries, while the second was taken by land to Murchison Hospital. The policeman was not injured.

Police said at the time that patrol car, which was being driven by an experienced officer, did the u-turn after seeing a third motorcyclist allegedly speeding in the opposite direction.

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Police car careers through fence
Dec 7, 2007 7:26 AM

A family in west Auckland reckon they’ve had a lucky escape after a police car rushing to an accident ran out of control and ploughed through their property.

A patrol car carrying two officers skidded on the wet road and careered through a fence on Thursday night.

The car stopped just metres from where a baby was sleeping.

The young couple in the house say they were watching TV when they heard a police car speed past and then a second car, followed by a crash. The couple’s baby was sleeping in the room closest to the road.

“If the car had come in a little bit faster, with a little more force, it could’ve gone right into that wall where our son’s sleeping,” says Alaina Cartwright, the concerned mother.

One officer suffered minor injuries.

Police say their car was responding to a serious car crash and lost control on the corner because of road conditions.

The serious crash unit has launched an investigation.
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03 December 2007

An investigation has been started to determine if a Tasman district police sergeant had any blame for a serious road crash in the Buller Gorge, which left him suffering shock and two motorcyclists badly injured.

The accident scene was secured almost immediately after the crash at 2.45pm on Saturday between Newton Flat and Lyell, about 7km down the Buller Gorge from the O’Sullivans Bridge turnoff.

The Blenheim officer involved in the crash, Tony Bridgman, suffered shock and was traumatised by the accident, and had been placed on sick leave, said Tasman police district highway patrol team leader Senior Sergeant Eric Davy.

One of the two Wellington motorcyclists, a 50-year-old, was flown by the Summit Rescue Helicopter to Nelson Hospital’s intensive care unit with serious traumatic injuries. He was later transferred to Wellington Hospital, where he was in a serious condition in intensive care this morning.

The other man, a 57-year-old, was this morning in a stable condition in Nelson Hospital’s intensive care unit.

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Mark Creedy Update:

A tale of unending corruption in the Counties-Manukau Police District may soon unfold!

Guilty officer can take grievance case
The Dominion Post | Monday, 12 November 2007

A policeman given a $190,000 payout despite being found guilty of 31 disciplinary charges - including sexual harassment and pepper-spraying a colleague - has won the right to continue a personal grievance case.

The Supreme Court has granted former sergeant Mark Creedy permission to appeal after a series of conflicting judgments in the lower courts.

Mr Creedy left the police in December 2001 with a $190,000 payment under the “perf” scheme - the police employment rehabilitation fund.

His resignation followed internal disciplinary proceedings in which he was found guilty on 31 of 39 charges.

Proven charges included asking a co-worker for sex, throwing a file at a colleague, and pepper-spraying a fellow officer.

Mr Creedy quit before disciplinary action was determined, but lodged a personal grievance against police nearly two years later, well outside the 90-day limit for such grievances.

The case moved through the courts, with the Employment Relations Authority refusing Mr Creedy leave to pursue the grievance, but the Employment Court later allowing it.

The Court of Appeal also denied leave to appeal, suggesting that Mr Creedy had not proved “exceptional circumstances” for the delay in launching the appeal, but the Supreme Court has now approved it.

Mr Creedy claimed he had not known about the 90-day requirement for the grievance because of miscommunication with his lawyer.

The Supreme Court ruling said the appeal could cover the Court of Appeal’s judgment about “exceptional circumstances”, as well as the Employment Court’s jurisdiction to review internal police misconduct charges.

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Police officer charged over crash
November 11, 2007

A policeman who crashed an unmarked car into a lamp-post which fell and left a teenage boy fighting for his life has been charged with driving offences.

Farhat Buksh, 13, suffered brain injuries and a fractured neck when he was hit by the falling lamp-post while walking across a pedestrian crossing outside an Auckland primary school.

The police car was chasing a vehicle which allegedly avoided a nearby alcohol checkpoint - the offender was never caught.

The freak accident in August put Farhat in a coma for a week and he still cannot remember anything from the day it happened.

Senior Sergeant Tony Edwards, the officer in charge of the investigation, confirmed the officer driving the car would face a charge of careless driving causing injury.

“Some documentation has been served,” said Edwards. “A member will be appearing next week in the Auckland District Court.”

The Police Complaints Authority (PCA) is also investigating the incident, and recently announced a review of police chase protocol after Farhat’s injuries and a string of other recent accidents and deaths.

However, the Police Association has warned that the review should not shift blame away from offenders and it was “nonsensical” to blame police officers for any tragedies.

There have been 6000 police chases in the past three years - that’s an average of 162 each month - and 12 people were killed in crashes and 106 injured between April 2004 and May 2007.

Farhat and his grandmother Nisha Ali were pleased that someone was facing charges because of the accident.

But she said Farhat was “lucky to be alive”. Both said they would prefer police take down car registrations and track the plate later, rather than chase at high speed.

The teenager is back at Mt Roskill Grammar School but only for a few hours each day.

Surgeons have given him the all-clear on his fractured neck and Farhat’s memory is beginning to return. If his brain scans come back clean in a few weeks, he may be able to play cricket soon.

The PCA investigation into the accident will determine if the officer had followed correct police protocol.

The pursuit had been under way for about a minute, but the constable had not contacted communications staff about the chase or whether it should be continued.

Witnesses told the Herald on Sunday that the unmarked car’s lights and sirens were not flashing.

Police initially said they believed the police vehicle had been travelling about 70km/h in a 50km/h school zone. Under police pursuit policy, police must turn on their lights and sirens as soon as the vehicle is travelling faster than the speed limit.

The separate PCA review of chase policy was ordered after a string of incidents shortly after Farhat’s accident - the first time the rules have been reviewed since 2003.

Only hours after Farhat was hit, Cameron Gubb’s face was cut when a car being chased by police drove straight through a New Plymouth intersection and rammed his car.

A week after Farhat and Gubb were injured, 17-year-old Luke Wooster was killed when his high-powered car crashed into a bridge near Hastings.

Only on his restricted licence, Wooster was fleeing from police at speeds of up to 180km/h.

Just last week, a high-speed chase on the Desert Rd ended when the driver of the car swerved to avoid road spikes and was hospitalised in critical condition.

The 2003 guidelines were tightened after three deaths in two high-profile chases. Police guidelines introduced then put safety ahead of arrests and supervisors were told they could order chases to be abandoned.

Justice Lowell Goddard, who heads the PCA, said it was concerned about the frequency of fatal and serious injury police pursuits.

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Pepper sprayed man’s six-year fight for justice
April 08, 2007

Conflicting stories over the actions of a police officer who arrested and pepper sprayed an innocent man, have emerged as the matter comes before a court.

Six years ago police broke into Michael Gregory’s home, emptied a can of pepper spray into his eyes, and arrested him for crimes he didn’t commit. The charges were later dropped.

His father Stan has spent tens of thousands of dollars on civil proceedings against the officers to fight the “miscarriage of justice”, because police refuse to lay criminal charges.

Now, documents obtained by the Herald on Sunday have revealed discrepancies in the story of the officer at the centre of the case.

Constable Thomas Gollan first said he had entered the house through a window, resulting in an altercation with Gregory and the use of the pepper spray. The police defence to the Gregorys’ civil case now says Gregory resisted arrest at the window, so Gollan sprayed him.

According to a disciplinary report filed to the Police Complaints Authority, officers investigating a burglary in Papakura followed a police dog to Gregory’s house in the early hours.

Gregory, who spoke to Gollan through his bedroom window, refused to open the front door without a search warrant or permission from his father - which he is entitled to do.

The disciplinary report said: “Constable Gollan has then entered the window, resulting in a verbal and then physical altercation between him and Michael Gregory, which then resulted in the use of OC spray.”

Gregory was arrested on suspicion of aggravated assault, aggravated burglary, burglary, resisting arrest, obstruction of justice and assaulting a police officer. Nine weeks later the charges against the then 21-year-old were withdrawn and another man was charged - but only after his father Stan hired a private detective to investigate.

The disciplinary report concluded:

* The arrest of Michael Gregory was unlawful.

* Any physical evidence obtained at the scene was inadmissible in court.

* The use of OC spray was unnecessary.

* The detention of Gregory was unlawful.

The report criticised officers for a lack of leadership, and for not investigating the burglary professionally.

But the police defence now tells a different story about the pepper spraying. Defence statements say that Gregory resisted arrest at the window, so Gollan pepper-sprayed him and then climbed through the window, wrestled Gregory to the ground and handcuffed him. Crown Law opposed the PCA report being used as evidence in the civil case, and declined to comment when contacted by the Herald on Sunday.

“As a father, it has been like having a living cancer inside watching Michael not being able to fully understand why the legal system in our country has been so determined to look after its own,” Stan said.

And despite the case dealing with abuse of police power, Gregory has been denied a trial by jury, as Associate Judge Doogue ruled that only a judge could handle the points of law being argued. But Auckland University law professor Dr Bill Hodge said a jury has an important, even constitutional, role in testing the rights of citizens against the powers of police. “In my opinion, the pleadings are not even borderline difficult.”

Lawyer Colin Henry is taking the case to the Court of Appeal citing a recent British judgment that the inquest into the death of Princess Diana be decided by a jury.

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Trial date still uncertain for officers accused of bashing
November 07, 2007

No firm date has been set for the trial of four Whakatane police officers who have denied bashing a young man in the town’s police station on Labour Day last year.

The hearing is expected to be next February or March in the Tauranga District Court, where a callover was held yesterday. Their attendance was excused.

Sergeant Keith Parsons, 52, Sergeant Erle Busby, 46, Senior Constable Bruce Laing, 54, and Constable John Mills, 38, all entered not guilty pleas earlier to charges of assault with a weapon.

Parsons, Mills and Laing each face one count of using pepper spray on a 20-year-old Edgecumbe man reportedly taken into custody on suspicion of unlawfully taking a motor vehicle.

Parsons is also accused of twice using a baton.

Busby faces four charges of assault with a baton.

The alleged prolonged incident was said to have been recorded on video surveillance.

On bail since their first appearance last December, the four accused were suspended on full pay when the criminal charges were laid.

Laing is a veteran of 27 years in the police force; Parsons, 25 years; Busby, 14; and Mills, 7 1/2 years.

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Decision near on police rape charge
November 05, 2007

Rotorua police say they are close to deciding whether to charge a former officer with rape.

If charged, the man will be the ninth former Rotorua police officer from the 1980s to face accusations of sexual offending or perverting the course of justice.

Rotorua’s acting district crime manager, Inspector Rob Jones, has said any decision on charges against the former officer will not be made until after discussions are held between senior police and the crown prosecutor.

The woman who made the rape complaint approached police last December.

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Court next stop for drag race cops
4 November 2007

Two motorway police officers allegedly caught racing each other at speeds of at least 140km/h are to appear in court.

The charges are particularly embarrassing for police as they try to crack down on boy racers in several high-profile campaigns on suburban streets.

The officers were dobbed in last week by colleagues who spotted the men on an Auckland motorway. Auckland motorways police manager Inspector Dave Walker said the officers were at least 40km/h over the speed limit and had their licences suspended immediately.

The Sunday Star-Times understands the officers could have been going significantly faster and they were not attending an emergency at the time.

It was a “pretty straightforward” charge of speeding that would be heard before the court, Walker said.

Police would not comment on any internal disciplinary action the officers may face. The officers had not been stood down from duties.

When asked whether the officers who dobbed the alleged speedsters in were being hassled by co-workers, Walker said, “there’s no problem there”. “The fact of the matter is they were detected at speed and the officers reported them.”

It is understood police will launch their latest anti-speeding campaign this month. National’s police spokesperson Chester Burrows said he was encouraged to hear the alleged speeding was reported by fellow officers. “It’s not an easy thing to take action against one of your own.

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Rickards to face 11 internal disciplinary charges
3:36PM Friday October 26, 2007

Suspended assistant police commissioner Clint Rickards will face 11 internal disciplinary charges.

Police National Headquarters said Peter Salmon QC had been appointed as Tribunal to inquire into these charges.

The substantive hearing into the charges is scheduled to take place in February 2008.

Mr Rickards, and two former police officers Bob Schollum and Brad Shipton were found not guilty in March on charges of kidnapping and indecently assaulting Louise Nicholas when she was 16, in Rotorua more than 20 years ago.

Mr Rickards has remained suspended while an internal police inquiry into his conduct continued.

Schollum and Shipton are serving jail sentences for other unrelated sex crimes.

It had been anticipated that Mr Rickards would face internal disciplinary charges for serious misconduct, effectively bringing an end to his 27-year career in the police.

Under the process of the tribunal hearing if police decide to lay charges then those charges are put to Mr Rickards and his legal team, who would then have about a week to decide whether to plead guilty or not guilty.

It is believed Mr Rickards has already indicated he will plead not guilty as a tribunal date has already been set.

Mrs Nicholas would not comment on the police charges today.

“It is probably best for me not to comment because Rickards has already said a wee while ago he was going to look at taking action against me.

“Anything I say will probably be reviewed. I am best to back off and say nothing at this stage. I don’t want to give him any ammo,” she said.

In July Mr Rickards accused the Crown of withholding evidence during his historical sex charges trial.

The Herald on Sunday reported Mr Rickards had laid a complaint with the Canterbury District Law Society alleging crown prosecutor Brent Stanaway did not present evidence that would have been favourable to his defence during the trial .

Mr Stanaway, who could face a fine, censure or be struck off if the allegations are proven, denied the charge.

Police National Headquarters spokesman Jon Neilson told NZPA it was undecided whether the tribunal would sit in Wellington or Auckland.

It would be for Mr Salmon to determine whether the tribunal would be open to media or would be heard behind closed doors, he said.

Mr Neilson said it was for Mr Rickards’ legal team to comment on when he was informed that the charges would be laid.

Mr Neilson declined to say what charges Mr Rickards faced.
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`Hefty’ dental repair bill after alleged police bashing
27 October 2007

A teenage boy who was allegedly bashed by a police officer in Tokoroa is having dental reconstruction to fix damage he claims was inflicted by a baton.

The Waikato Times reported this week the Police Complaints Authority was investigating the 13-year-old’s treatment after he was picked up by police in the early hours of Saturday, October 6.

The boy’s mother, who asked not to be named to protect her son’s identity, said the boy “was a bit naughty” and told her he was going to a friend’s house.

Instead, he went to his father’s empty house and invited friends around for a party.

The woman said the party got out of control and the police were called.

When they arrived, her drunk son was the only person still at the address, she said.

He was put in the back of a police car that later pulled over so the officers could pursue youths thought to have been at the party.

The boy was told to stay in the vehicle but he got out.

He was then restrained by one of the officers.

“I just cried when I saw that mess when the cop brought him home,” the boy’s mother said.

She said two of eight teeth damaged had been repaired but she faced a hefty bill to fix the rest.

The boy’s father laid a complaint with Tokoroa police on October 8.

Tokoroa Senior Sergeant Stephen Bullock confirmed a complaint about the boy’s treatment was received and had been forwarded to the Police Complaints Authority.
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Jail date with police rapists
29 September 2007

The former policeman who Louise Nicholas says raped her as a 13-year-old has been caught offering a woman a prison date with convicted pack rapists Brad Shipton and Bob Schollum.

The former officer - who now faces a second claim that he sexually attacked a schoolgirl about the same time Mrs Nicholas says she was raped - was identified through his old police registration number.

He was sprung on Internet auction site Trade Me’s message board after posting offensive comments following the trial of suspended Assistant Police Commissioner Clint Rickards and former officers Shipton and Schollum.

The trio were acquitted in March 2006 in relation to Mrs Nicholas’ rape allegations and again in March 2007 of violating another former Rotorua teenager with a bottle. In neither case were the jurors told that Shipton and Schollum were already behind bars for pack raping a woman in Mt Maunganui.

Mrs Nicholas says she was first sexually violated, aged 13, by a police officer when she was growing up in Murupara and Rotorua. That officer was acquitted after three trials.

But the officer in charge of the case, former Rotorua CIB boss John Dewar, was found guilty last month of attempting to defeat the course of justice by derailing the prosecution case against him and of failing to act on Mrs Nicholas’ complaints that she was baton-raped by Mr Rickards, Shipton and Schollum.

Police re-investigated Mrs Nicholas’ allegation against the Murupara officer and now say they established a prima facie case existed against him. But because he had been acquitted he could not be charged again for the same crime.

The revelations are contained in a book, Louise Nicholas - My Story, co-authored by Nicholas and The Dominion Post’s Phil Kitchin, that goes on sale on Monday.

The former Murupara officer is shielded by permanent name suppression granted after the third trial.

The book exposes how he initially lied on Trade Me by claiming he was a serving police officer from Palmerston North. When a woman posted a message on the Internet site supporting Mrs Nicholas, he wrote:

“Do you still have those hairy armpits and wear jandals with the long flowery dress. I am seeing Brad and Bob next week I jack you up an evening with them. Tell me what sort a scene you would be looking for. Sure I know you want the Policeman type uniform included.”

He also described another woman who made public sexual violation allegations against Shipton as a “slag” and an “ugly bitch” on the Internet site.

But the former officer was sprung by a woman who - like Mrs Nicholas - says she was sexually attacked by the man. She recognised him by his Trade Me logon, which included his initials, and Kitchin then discovered he was also using a variation of his old police registration number.

The man stopped posting comments when the woman, who has accused him of attempted rape, posted a message on Trade Me saying she knew who he was.

She says the man tried to rape her at a New Year’s Eve party in Galatea, near Murupara, in the 1980s when she was aged 14. The officer plied her with alcohol and as she left the party to use an outdoor toilet he indecently assaulted her and tried to undress her.

Later that night, as she walked a short distance from the party, “he stopped and grabbed me … He got my jeans down and had his hand down my knickers, I managed to pull my jeans back up, but he got them down again along with my knickers and got us on the ground.

“We then heard voices coming closer and he got off me. I got my pants on and took off.”

The woman made the allegations to Kitchin and then told police. But she decided not to make a formal complaint after seeing what happened to Mrs Nicholas and the other complainant at the so-called police rape trials.

“It appears you are damned if you do make a stand on issues like this but almost equally damned if you don’t.”

Detective Superintendent Nick Perry says in the book that detectives re-investigated Mrs Nicholas’ allegations against the former Murupara policeman and were “satisfied with the evidence we did have to hand that certainly the allegations we had with him sexually interfering with (Louise) were quite valid”.

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Police officer kills man in Christchurch
27 September 2007

Christchurch’s Stanmore Road, where a man was shot dead by police following a domestic incident.

A man was shot dead by police following a domestic incident in Christchurch last night.

Police were called to the incident at a house off Avonside Drive, Linwood, at 8.26pm.

A 37-year-old man was reported to be smashing a flat with a hammer.

The man left the house and walked to nearby Stanmore Road.

Police found the man attacking a vehicle on Stanmore Road, still armed with what appeared to be a hammer.

He was shot about 8.36pm on Stanmore Road.

Police district commander Sandra Manderson confirmed late last night that a police officer was involved in the shooting.

The man died soon after 9pm. His body was still lying, covered, on the road late last night.

The name of the dead man has not yet been released.

Police cordoned Stanmore Road from Avonside Drive to Armagh Street. Inside the cordon was another cordon holding a police dog van, ambulance, police cars and the body under a sheet.

Manderson said a homicide inquiry and a Police Complaints Authority (PCA) inquiry had begun into the incident.

“The homicide inquiry will be run parallel to the Police Complaints Authority inquiry using separate teams of staff,” she said.

The PCA staff were due in Christchurch this morning.

A neighbour, who did not want to be identified, said four shots were fired.

“We heard sounds like the dull thud of a panel being hit and then a car alarm going off.

“There were more thuds and then the four shots,” he said.

When he looked out the window there was a body in the road.

“I could see him lying in the road and then they put a sheet over him later. I heard the guy across the road saying Steve had been shot.”

The neighbour, who had experience with firearms, said the shots sounded like a light-calibre pistol.

Three ambulances attended the scene but a spokesman said nobody was taken to hospital.

Another neighbour said the police told all the residents to go inside because the area was now a crime scene.

Manderson said she had asked for the police kaumatua, the Rev Maurice Gray, to ensure the cultural process of tapu lifting would be carried out correctly when the scene examination was complete.

Last night’s victim was the 21st killed by police since 1941.

The last to die before this incident was Haidar Ebbadi Mahdi, 37, shot by a police officer at his home in Auckland in August 2004.

Mahdi was killed as he held his wife in a choke hold with a knife at her throat.

The policeman who fired the shot had already been stabbed by Mahdi.

Police were later cleared of any wrongdoing in the shooting.
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Rickards lays official complaint against Nicholas and investigating officers
September 23, 2007

Clint Rickards, seen this week with his new car, has accused Louise Nicholas of perjury. Photo / Chris Gorman
Suspended Assistant Commissioner Clint Rickards has laid an official complaint with police about Louise Nicholas and the officers who investigated her claims against him.

Police last night confirmed that a complaint from Rickards was in the hands of the Police Complaints Authority for “investigation and review”.

The revelation comes as it is confirmed Rickards is facing at least 10 internal charges under police regulations.

The Herald on Sunday has obtained a letter, purportedly written by Rickards, in which he outlines two formal complaints against Nicholas - for alleged perjury and making a false statement. The authenticity of that letter could not be confirmed last night - Rickards has not returned calls - although police said it sounded similar to the one they had passed to the Police Complaints Authority.

The letter obtained by the Herald on Sunday takes aim at the Operation Austin investigation team, accusing it of running a flawed investigation and saying police leaked sensitive information about him.

The complaint against Nicholas is similar to that lodged by former CIB boss John Dewar last week. Dewar was found guilty of four charges of attempting to obstruct or defeat the course of justice by not investigating rape complaints made by Nicholas.

He is due to be sentenced on October 5 and faces up to seven years in jail. Dewar says the false statement complaint relates to comments Nicholas made to police in February 2004, and perjury complaints relate to Nicholas’ allegations against Rickards, Bob Schollum and Brad Shipton.

Nicholas said last week she stood behind everything she had said and did not believe there was any basis to Dewar’s complaint.

Reports yesterday confirmed earlier Herald on Sunday revelations that Rickards would face up to 10 internal police misconduct charges and could be sacked if found guilty. It is believed the charges cover sexual liaisons with Nicholas, a woman’s allegation he had sex with her on the bonnet of a police car in 1983 and his public criticism of the police investigation into the allegations by Nicholas and other women.

Rickards has been suspended from duty on full pay since February 2004, when investigations into historic rape allegations began. Rickards, Schollum and Shipton were last year acquitted of 20 charges, including the rape and sexual violation of Nicholas when she was a teenager in Rotorua in the 1980s.

Rickards, Schollum and Shipton were then tried on charges of abducting and indecently assaulting a 16-year-old girl in Rotorua between November 1983 and August 1984. The woman - whose name is suppressed - claimed they handcuffed her and sexually violated her with a whisky bottle.

After not guilty verdicts were delivered, Rickards was scathing about the police team set up after Nicholas’ allegations surfaced, describing the Operation Austin investigation as “a shambles” and “one I would have been ashamed to lead”. It is understood some of the internal charges Rickards now faces relate to these comments.

Rickards’ lawyer John Haigh refused to comment yesterday. “A process is being followed, but other than that I’ve got no comment to make,” he said.

Police also refused to comment on the internal charges, saying they were a confidential employment matter.

Under the regulations police would have written to Rickards outlining the nature of the acts they believe constituted an offence.

He can seek an indication from Police Commissioner Howard Broad of his likely punishment if he pleads guilty, which could cause delays.

But if he pleads not guilty, a tribunal process similar to a district court hearing will begin behind closed doors, according to a newspaper report yesterday.

Broad will be guided by the former judge or senior lawyer heading the tribunal, but can fine or demote Rickards, cut his pay or sack him if he is found guilty.

Any accused officer can ask for a judicial review by the High Court.

A fresh call was made this week to get Rickards out of the police after it was revealed he was given a new $50,000 Holden car as part of his estimated $250,000 remuneration package.

National leader John Key said the Government should get rid of him even if it meant a payout. Prime Minister Helen Clark described Key’s comments as reckless.
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Rickards faces 10 misconduct charges
September 22, 2007

Suspended assistant police commissioner Clint Rickards faces at least 10 charges under police regulations, it was reported today.

Mr Rickards was suspended on full pay three years ago after the opening of an investigation into allegations by Rotorua woman Louise Nicholas that Rickards and former officers Brad Shipton and Bob Schollum raped her in the early 1980s.

All three were acquitted but Mr Rickards admitted he had group sex with Mrs Nicholas.

The Dominion Post reported today Mr Rickards would face 10 charges of alleged misconduct.

It is believed the charges cover sexual liaisons with Mrs Nicholas, a woman’s allegation he had sex with her on the bonnet of a police car in 1983, and his public criticism of the competence of the police investigation into the allegations by Mrs Nicholas and other women.

Mr Rickards’ lawyer John Haigh, QC, would not comment yesterday.

“A process is being followed, but other than that I’ve got no comment to make,” he said.

Police also refused to comment on what they said was a confidential employment matter.

Under the regulations police would have written to Mr Rickards outlining the nature of the acts they believe have constituted an alleged offence.

He can seek an indication from Police Commissioner Howard Broad of his likely punishment if he enters a guilty plea, which could delay the process.

But if he pleads not guilty, a tribunal process similar to a district court hearing will begin behind closed doors, The Dominion Post says.

Mr Broad will be guided by the former judge or senior lawyer who will head the tribunal, but has the power to fine, demote, cut pay or sack Mr Rickards if found guilty.

Any accused officer has the right to challenge its process by judicial review by the High Court.

A fresh call was made this week to get Mr Rickards out of the police after it was disclosed last weekend he had been given a new $50,000 car as part of his estimated $250,000 remuneration package,

National leader John Key said the government should get rid of him even if it cost.

Prime Minister Helen Clark described Mr Key’s comments as “reckless.”
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Boy-love man wins right to sue police
17 September 2007

The former president of the now defunct Australasian Man-Boy Love Association has been given the go-ahead to sue police for $250,000 damages for alleged breaches of his rights.

Gerald Moonen says police have provided information that has led to him being tagged with Interpol as a “suspected paedophile”, a claim which Mr Moonen denies.

As a result Mr Moonen says Australian authorities harassed him in 2002 when he went to Bribie Island, Queensland, to take up a friend’s offer of a free house to live in for the rest of his life.

In a decision issued in the High Court at Wellington, Associate Judge David Gendall said that in court documents Mr Moonen says he is not and never has been a paedophile, and that he has never been charged with or convicted of any sexual offence.

Judge Gendall said Mr Moonen set up the Australasian Man-Boy Love Association and was its president. It ceased to function in 1998. Its purpose was “advocating a change in societal attitudes to loving sexual relationships between adult men and boys”.

Mr Moonen said that when he went to Australia, customs officials questioned him in a way he thought indicated they had received the list wrongly describing him as a suspected paedophile.

Less than three weeks later police searched the Bribie Island house where he was living. It was the final straw and Mr Moonen left Australia two days later, being searched and questioned by customs in both countries on his return trip to New Zealand.

As a result he has sued the attorney-general, on behalf of police and customs.

The attorney-general asked for the case to be struck out on the grounds it could not possibly succeed but Judge Gendall said the only hopeless part was a claim based on an alleged breach of Mr Moonen’s right to be presumed innocent. The judge said he was not aware of any cases, outside of criminal court process, recognising a right to be presumed innocent till proven guilty.

Saying someone was a “suspected paedophile” could lead to claims alleging defamation, and breach of privacy, but not a civil claim that presumption of innocence had been breached, he said.

He struck out that part of the claim but said other grounds could proceed relating to Mr Moonen’s rights to adopt and hold opinions without interference, freedom of expression and freedom of movement.
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Dewar wants Nicholas charged
Sunday, 16 September 2007

Former CIB head John Dewar will this week lay a raft of complaints with police against Louise Nicholas - the woman whose historic sex allegations are likely to see him jailed for obstruction of justice.

Dewar, 55, was convicted last month of four counts of attempting to obstruct or defeat the course of justice over his handling of her complaints.

The prosecution alleged that when he was chief inspector of the Rotorua CIB in 1993, Dewar covered up sex allegations Nicholas made against police officers Clint Rickards, Brad Shipton and Bob Schollum.

He also deliberately gave inadmissible evidence at the trial of a former Murupara policeman accused of having unlawful sex and indecently assaulting Nicholas when she was aged 13, leading to two mistrials before an acquittal at a third trial.

He is to be sentenced on October 5 and faces a jail term of up to seven years.

Yesterday Dewar told the Sunday Star-Times he intended to file 16 pages of complaints against Nicholas with Police Commissioner Howard Broad. He will also appeal his convictions immediately after sentencing.

Dewar refused to give details of grounds for his appeal but said it would “be on the basis of a mistrial in terms of a miscarriage of justice, which is reasonably all-encompassing. One of the grounds would be that Nicholas had given false testimony at my trial”.

Dewar is alleging Nicholas committed perjury three times, made a false statement to police and attempted to pervert the course of justice.

Nicholas, who learned about the pending complaints for the first time yesterday, said: “If he wants to take this sort of action, go for it, I’ve nothing to hide.”

Dewar says the false statement complaint relates to comments Nicholas made to police in February 2004, and perjury complaints relate to Nicholas’ allegations against assistant police commissioner Rickards and convicted rapists Schollum and Shipton.

The obstruction of justice complaint relates to comments Nicholas made during investigations into Dewar by Detective Chief Inspector Rex Miller during a Police Complaints Authority inquiry.

Dewar says the documents are being finalised by his lawyer Giles Brant and will be passed on to the police commissioner early this week. He is asking for an independent investigation into the complaints.

“The allegations I am raising are around evidence given in court, on oath, and I can show contradictions which amount to lies.”

He says the complaints are “one aspect” of an appeal, “but it’s not the strongest one.”
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Woman says Shipton ‘broke my soul’
10 September 2007

A Tauranga woman who says she was abused by convicted pack rapist Brad Shipton has angrily challenged his claims that he was a good police officer who had never harmed anyone.

“You broke my soul and changed the course of mine and others’ lives for ever,” the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said yesterday in response to comments Shipton made to a Sunday newspaper.

According to the paper, Shipton said he might have done things he was ashamed of, but he was not a vicious pack-rapist. “I have never harmed anyone.”

He said he has plenty of time to think in the 17 hours a day he spends in a prison cell and still has support from “some people in very, very high positions.”

“At the end of the day, I am able to live with myself.”

He also criticised Louise Nicholas - the woman whose allegations sparked an inquiry that saw him, former policeman Bob Schollum and Tauranga millionaire Peter McNamara jailed for the pack rape. Shipton said suspended assistant police commissioner Clint Rickards - who faces at least 10 police disciplinary charges of misconduct, though he was acquitted of sex charges - should get his job back and that Mrs Nicholas should take a hard look at herself.

The Tauranga woman, who first met Shipton when she was 14 and he was investigating her complaint that her grandfather raped her, yesterday wrote an open letter to the former detective challenging his claim that he was a good officer.

“Is this the policing you did in 1984 when I was 14 and sat in a police car next to you with your hand on my knee? You pressed me to recall graphic details of childhood rapes.

“I told you of the rape of myself and other children by my grandfather. You told me you were going to arrest him, but you never did.

“Years later, when he was arrested and found guilty, I wasn’t the liar any more.”

“Are my memories of you distorted by your later visit to violate me? Please use some of those 17 hours to recall these and other events.

“You say you never harmed anyone. You broke my soul and changed the course of mine and others’ lives for ever.

“Be grateful you have the love and support of your family. I pray one day you will speak out and the truth will prevail. Then, as you say, we can all live with ourselves.”

Police are understood to be considering her assault complaint.
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Men deny false affidavit
September 04, 2007

Two men yesterday denied attempting to pervert the course of justice in relation to the rape of a woman in Mt Maunganui in 1989.

Rene Gaustad Magnus and Paul Grayden Turney pleaded not guilty in the High Court at Auckland to providing a false affidavit in support of an appeal by fireman Warren Hales.

Hales and three others - former police officers Brad Shipton and Bob Schollum and businessman Peter McNamara - were convicted of raping the woman.

Hales was granted a retrial, but changed his plea to guilty of abduction. He was sentenced to 18 months’ jail.
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Tourist ‘disgusted’ at pepper-spraying
August 31, 2007

An Australian tourist says he is “disgusted” with the way he has been treated by New Zealand police after he was pepper-sprayed while handcuffed and seated in the back of a police car.

Fred Klutke, 50, who owns a post shop in northern New South Wales, says he became involved in a confrontation in an Ohakune pub on Tuesday after which he was arrested and charged with assaulting police, resisting arrest and disorderly behaviour likely to cause violence.

While Mr Klutke admits he was “reasonably drunk” at the time, he denies all charges and has made an official complaint with the Police Complaints Authority.

He has accused police of using pepper spray on him unfairly after an incident which started when a patron at the hotel accused him on two separate occasions of staring at his girlfriend.

He said an argument followed which ended in some “pushing”.

Then, he said, he was restrained by bouncers who dragged him across the ground, grazing his face in the process.

The bouncers held him down until police officers arrived and handcuffed him, he said.

“They had me in handcuffs … how could I have assaulted a police officer? I’m disgusted with the fact that he pepper-sprayed someone who was handcuffed. And then when I got back in the car he turned around from the front and pepper-sprayed me again.”

Mr Klutke said he had planned to return to Australia on Sunday but was told he would have to appear in court later in September so he was not sure if he could leave the country.

The incident had put a dampener on his annual skiing holiday, he said.

“I’ve never been in a fight. I’ve skied all over the world and I’ve never been treated like this anywhere.”

The officer in charge of Ohakune police station, Sergeant Michael Craig, confirmed a formal complaint had been made about police actions during the incident and the matter would be reviewed by the Police Complaints Authority.

Police protocol prevented officers from using pepper spray when closer than 1m to their target but there were no rules preventing officers using pepper spray on someone who was handcuffed or in a car.

“the matter would be reviewed by the Police Complaints Authority.”

Hehehe, don’t hold your breath Fred.

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Police officer committed for trial on child sex charge

September 02, 2007

A long-serving police officer accused of sexually violating a 12-year-old girl is still on full pay 10 months after first being charged.

The officer, whose name is suppressed, has been suspended since December last year and will appear in court on October 1 for a pre-trial conference. Police have also seized his work computer.

The officer’s lawyer, Philip Hall, told the Herald on Sunday his client vigorously denied the allegations.

Sources close to the case say the complaint arose after the girl confided in an adult friend.

A complaint was then laid with police and the matter was investigated. As a result, charges were laid.

The girl, the source said, had since undergone counselling and was now starting to “come out of her shell” again.

“She is such a lovely, adorable kid … real outgoing and smart. She used to be a laugh-a-minute, but then suddenly she became very withdrawn and quiet.”

There was anger, one source said, over the fact the officer, who is alleged to have violated the girl over the period of a year, had received name suppression. There was a hope he eventually would be named.

At a depositions hearing in April, the court found the officer had a case to answer on two counts of sexually violating the girl. The officer is currently on bail and the case is set to go to trial on November 26.

It is understood the officer was known to the girl’s family. He is banned by court order from the town where his alleged victim lives.

Police national headquarters confirmed the officer was suspended on December 21 last year on full pay, a month after the complaint was first lodged with police.

Spokesman Don Emulsion said regardless of the seriousness of the charges, it was standard procedure under the Police Act for an officer to remain on the payroll during the period of their standdown.

One source spoken to by the Herald on Sunday said those involved with the case were “gobsmacked and angry” to hear the senior constable was still being paid, especially as the charges were among the most serious ever faced by a serving officer.

If it had been anyone but a public servant accused of such serious offending, they would have either been sacked or suspended without pay, the source said.

Currently, around a dozen police from Auckland, Waitemata, Counties Manukau, Bay of Plenty, Tasman and Canterbury police districts are facing criminal charges.

The charges faced by the various accused include male assaults female, injuring with intent, common assault, driving with excess breath alcohol, theft, careless driving, making a false statement, assault with a weapon, wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and male rapes female. Some of the charges carry maximum prison terms of 14 years or more.

These cases are likely to do little to restore confidence in a police force still reeling from the findings of the Bazley Report and the police sex trials.

The victim in this latest case is now 13, and has returned to school after initially taking some time off when the complaint was first laid. She had been writing her thoughts in a diary, starting to take an interest in sport and learning to knit. “She really lost a lot of self-confidence, but I can see she’s starting to take pride in herself again,” said the source.
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Inquiry into assault on teen in police car
30 August 2007

An investigation is under way into an assault on a 14-year-old boy in the back of a police car after he was arrested for allegedly stealing a car in Kaikoura.

The Police Complaints Authority had been notified because the boy was in police custody at the time of the alleged assault on Sunday, said Marlborough police area commander Inspector Steve Caldwell.

Four detectives and a scene examination officer were sent from Blenheim to Kaikoura to investigate after a complaint that the boy was assaulted was made on Tuesday.

As a result of that investigation, a 47-year-old Kaikoura man was arrested yesterday, Caldwell said.

The man has been charged with injuring with intent to injure the 14-year-old and is expected to appear in the Blenheim District Court on Monday.

It is believed the man was the owner of the car allegedly stolen from the Kaikoura Golf Club carpark, where other cars were broken into.

The boy has been charged with unlawfully taking a car.

It is understood that when the police officer arrested and handcuffed the boy, there was a scuffle.

Caldwell said that at the time the boy was arrested by a sole police officer, it was necessary to use a degree of force.

Kaikoura High School principal Brian Allison said a support staff member took the boy to Christchurch to have a scan as it could not be done in Kaikoura.
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Suspended cops cost $1m a year (oh and they want tasers permanently)

Police accused of crimes are costing taxpayers more than $1 million a year. New figures released to ONE News under the Official Information Act show New Zealanders are currently paying the wages of 20 police officers facing charges. Most are accused of assault or of drinking and driving. Criminologist Greg Newbold says that the police are like the Catholic Church, in that in the past a lot of child abuse within the church was ignored or swept under the carpet. “Likewise within the police, assaults and beating up of suspects went on. Everybody knew about it and everyone pretended it didn’t happen,” says Newbold. When we talk about needing an Independent Police Complaints authority and not the current system of cops investigating cops, the debate needs urgent attention now as Police want to have Tasers as a permanent part of their arsenal, after their so called ‘year trial’ a trial during which the cops were caught out lying about Taser cock ups by their police officers, and during a year when pepper spray and police dogs were all found to have been used improperly. I don’t care if cops want laser guns – BUT GIVE US A PLACE TO COMPLAIN THAT IS INDEPENDENT AND TRANSPERANT- it’s bad when the cops go over the line, asking for the basic checks and balances over our Police force that any democracy needs seems an impossible task in the rednecked pro police at any cost media environment we live in.
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Former police telephonist charged over snooping
23 August 2007

A former Rotorua police telephonist has been charged with using the police computer system to snoop on people.

Maxine Valerie Griffiths, 43, entered no plea to a charge of wilfully attempting to obstruct the course of justice by providing information from computer, the Rotorua Daily Post reported.

She has been bailed for a pre-depositions hearing on October 3.

She allegedly misused the database, called Nia, or National Intelligence Application, between October 17 and December 3 last year.

Staff are only allowed to use the massive Nia system, which replaced the Wanganui computer, for work use only – not for checking up on people out of curiosity.

Figures released under the Official Information Act this month showed five police staff had been fired and 20 formally disciplined for misusing the system to snoop on law-abiding citizens.
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Rickards to face tribunal criticised as outdated
August 18, 2007

Suspended assistant police commissioner Clint Rickards is likely to face an internal disciplinary process criticised by Dame Margaret Bazley as placing the “balance of protection” in favour of the defendant.

Dame Margaret’s criticisms arose from her Commission of Inquiry into Police Misconduct sparked by Louise Nicholas’ allegations of sexual crimes and a cover-up.

One of those she accused was Mr Rickards, who is likely to face disciplinary charges for serious misconduct arising from his admission of having group sex with Mrs Nicholas.

His case will be heard by the police tribunal that Dame Margaret has condemned.

The system is “cumbersome and anachronistic” and has no place “in a modern human resources strategy”, Dame Margaret said in her report released in April.

A new system, to be based on a code of conduct, is unlikely to be operating before next year.

Mr Rickards, a police officer for 27 years, is likely to be charged over his public criticism of the competence of Operation Austin (the investigation of allegations by Mrs Nicholas and others), a woman’s allegation that he had sex with her on the bonnet of a police car in 1983, and his sexual liaisons with Mrs Nicholas.

A retired judge usually acts as the tribunal, which is run like a district court hearing with a formal charge and plea, a prosecutor and defence lawyer, cross-examination and re-examination of witnesses, and the requirement that the prosecution meet the same standard of proof of “beyond reasonable doubt”.

Dame Margaret said this standard was too high and placed the “balance of protection” in favour of the defendant, thus acting as a disincentive to complainants.

Police have indicated the new system is likely to have a lower burden of proof, such as “on the balance of probabilities”.

Lawyers describe the present system as complex and outdated.

“To me it’s like a 1940s car that’s had a new engine and new steering system put in but you’ve still got the same chassis, and I blame the Government for that,” said Auckland University associate law professor Bill Hodge, who is among those the police have consulted over the new system.

Mr Rickards has been suspended on full pay of $150,000 to $159,000 since 2004, when an investigation began into allegations made by Mrs Nicholas.

He was charged in March 2005 with sexual offences in the 1980s against her and another woman, but was acquitted.

An employment specialist, who did not want to be named, told the Weekend Herald it would be difficult for the police to retain Mr Rickards.

But a sticking point might be that he was promoted several times despite police commanders being aware of allegations of misconduct.

It is not clear if the public will be informed of the hearing’s outcome. Existing regulations exclude reporters from the tribunal hearings - unless it gives permission - and require that its findings not be disclosed.

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Warning-shot farm ‘burgled before’
August 16, 2007

A rural property where a farmer fired warning shots to round up would-be burglars may have been targeted before.

Two men will appear in Hamilton District Court on Tuesday to face burglary charges after they were caught allegedly stealing petrol from a farm near Morrinsville.

The farm owner, armed with a shotgun, had confronted the pair.

He prevented them leaving by parking his vehicle across his driveway.

He then fired two warning shots to stop the men from fleeing.

He told the pair to get out of their car and lie down, which they did.

A police spokesman refused to identify the farmer.

Detective Senior Sergeant Greg Nicholls, of the Waikato CIB, said the farmer had been backed up by another person.

No decision had been made on whether the farmer would face charges over the way he had handled the situation early on Monday.

One neighbour said there had been many difficulties with criminal activity in the past.

He blamed it on a problem with the drug pure methamphetamine, or P, in a settlement close to Morrinsville.

The neighbour said he was aware that the farmer had recently had a CD unit taken from his car when it had been parked outside the farmhouse.

Another neighbour said the farm and other properties in the area had been frequently targeted by people stealing fuel.

Some people in the district no longer stored petrol in their sheds for that reason, the second neighbour said.

Federated Farmers president Charlie Pederson would not comment on whether he thought the farmer should be charged.

“It’s a police matter.

“I don’t support the farmer’s decision and I don’t not support his decision.”

However, he said, he understood why the farmer had reacted in such a way.

“If you’re in an urban setting a police car can be there in a few minutes. If you’re in a rural setting police can take 20 minutes to an hour and a lot can happen in that time. We’re pretty much on our own.”

He said farmers’ first call in an emergency should be to their neighbour.

“They are the closest to you and can offer support or help and they can ring the police for you.”

He said he had no doubt the farmer’s neighbours in Morrinsville would be rallying around him and his wife in support.

“People will be happy [if] the criminals have been caught … that’s two less criminals out on the streets.

“It’s important for them to be dealt with by the justice system.”

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Police investigate YouTube speed ‘blind eye’
14 August 2007

Police are investigating claims that an officer turned a blind eye to an English tourist clocked at 161kmh on the Desert Road after footage was posted on internet site YouTube.

The video, which was swiftly yanked off the site after inquiries by The Dominion Post yesterday, shows two men driving on the Desert Road in the central North Island in a late-model Holden and yelling in delight as they reach 161kmh.

But their joy is shortlived as they meet a police car, which signals them to stop with flashing lights and a siren.

“Uh-oh, we’re in trouble,” says one occupant.

The footage suggests the pair hid