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Thursday, April 13, 2006

The John Dewar File


Dewar, John

File: Open
Status: Unclassified
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From Stuff report:
Former police chief to stand trial
12 April 2006

Former Rotorua CIB chief John Dewar was committed for trial in Hamilton District Court today – but all details around the case have been suppressed.
At the end of a three-week depositions hearing, Judge Thomas Everitt ruled this afternoon that Dewar, 53, had a prime facie case to answer on four separate charges.
However, the judge continued and extended suppression orders relating to the nature of the charges and all evidence presented.
Dewar was remanded on bail to appear next month.

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UPDATE 25 APRIL 2006:

Russell Brown has pointed out this site: Historic Rape Claims blog that has all the news articles in a lethal chronology of police cover-up and intrigue. It's a sobering read - from whence the following is sourced:

Investigator 'joined in group sex'
NZ Herald: February 14, 2004
by Eugene Bingham and Phil Taylor

The scandal over the alleged cover-up of a claimed police pack-rape deepened last night with fresh allegations of inappropriate sex in the force - this time against the officer who originally investigated Louise Nicholas' complaint.

The former detective inspector in charge of the Rotorua CIB, John Dewar, who handled Mrs Nicholas' accusation that she was raped by three officers, was last night accused, with one of the alleged rapists, Brad Shipton, of having group sex with another woman. The woman claimed on One News that she was manipulated into having sex in the mid-1980s with Mr Dewar, Mr Shipton and a third officer, Clint Rickards,
[...]
A Police Complaints Authority inquiry found that Mr Dewar had failed to record and investigate the allegations, actions it said showed a gross lack of judgment and competence.
[...]
There are also further questions about the relationship between Mr Dewar and Mr Rickards amid revelations that Mr Rickards gave a verbal reference for Mr Dewar when he was employed as human resources manager for St John in the Waikato about two years ago.
[...]
TVNZ said it had an affidavit from a former Rotorua woman saying she formed a relationship with Mr Shipton after suffering a family tragedy in the mid-1980s. She said that she agreed to the group sex at the time but now believed the officers had abused a position of trust. "I was vulnerable and really upset at the time and they preyed on that emotion and that is what got me into that situation," she said. Most of the sessions involved Mr Shipton and Mr Rickards, although one was with Mr Dewar, whom she said Mr Shipton described as his boss and friend. The woman said Mr Rickards would use a police car to drive her to meetings with Mr Shipton near Tauranga, where they would have roadside sex. She said that her last contact with any of the men was within the past two years, when Mr Rickards rang to ask her whether she was happily married.


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NZ Herald report (Hat tip: Big News)
Rape inquiry documents relate to different case
03.02.2004 By PHIL TAYLOR

Documents provided by a former policeman to show he did a good job investigating pack-rape allegations against three policemen appear to relate to another case in which those men were not among the accused.
John Dewar, a former police inspector, is accused by Louise Nicholas of not properly handling her complaint of a pack rape to cover for the policemen, who were his colleagues.
He provided the Herald and TV3 with documents which he said showed he had done a good job investigating the matter and had been praised, including by the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) at the time, Sir John Jeffries.
The Herald believes the documents cannot and do not relate to the pack-rape allegations against Clint Rickards and former policemen Brad Shipton, a Tauranga District councillor, and Napier car salesman Bob Schollum. Mrs Nicholas alleges that incident occurred in a house in Rotorua owned at the time by the police department.
Herald inquiries indicate they relate to the police handling of a case alleging other police officers had committed sexual indecencies on a woman living in Murupara between 1980 and 1983.
The documents were dated between June 1994 and January 1995, the latter being the date on the letter written by Sir John in his capacity as the Police Complaints Authority.
But Judge Ian Borrin, who took over the PCA role from Sir John, confirmed to the Herald the PCA became aware of allegations of a pack rape in Rotorua by police using a baton only in May 1995, four months after the date on Sir John's letter.
[...]
Mr Dewar was quoted on 3 News on Sunday night as saying he stood by the professionalism of his inquiries into the Rotorua allegations and that the documents would prove he did not compromise the inquiry to protect his colleagues.
TV3 quoted Mr Dewar saying the Jeffries letter showed that although Mr Dewar personally believed Mrs Nicholas, his bosses had agreed there was not enough evidence to lay charges. Mr Dewar said this meant that if he was found to be incompetent, so were a lot of others.
Mr Dewar implied to the Herald another document - which says Mr Dewar "carried out a full inquiry" - related to the pack rape and baton incident. This document deals with allegations made about police based at Murupara.
The names of those accused were blanked out but Mr Dewar told the Herald they included Mr Rickards, Mr Shipton and Mr Schollum. Subsequent Herald inquiries indicate this complaint was about three other police and that neither Mr Rickards, Mr Shipton nor Mr Schollum was based at Murupara.
The Herald contacted Mr Dewar last night but the line went dead.

"The Herald contacted Mr Dewar last night but the line went dead." - Love it.
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But it get's more explicit in this NZ Herald report:
PM urges people to speak up in police inquiry
17.02.2004 By AUDREY YOUNG, political editor

Prime Minister Helen Clark is urging anyone else with a complaint against the police involving sexual misconduct to come forward quickly if they want it considered by the approaching commission of inquiry.
"People should come forward as quickly as possible so the commission can get on with its work," she said yesterday after announcing the two presiding commissioners.
The Government selected Justice Bruce Robertson of the High Court at Auckland and no-nonsense former public servant Dame Margaret Bazley to run the commission of inquiry investigating allegations of historic rape and cover-ups by police.
[...]
The commission was ordered after claims by Louise Nicholas that police staff in Rotorua subjected her to sexual assaults between 1980 and 1986 and that a police investigation was mishandled.
Assistant Commissioner Clint Rickards is one of three officers accused of pack rape in 1986 and has been stood down from his Auckland City district command post.
Waikato district police commander Kelvin Powell is alleged to be implicated in complaints of indecencies Mrs Nicholas says occurred between 1980 and 1983 in Murupara when she was aged 13 to 15.
Further allegations have been made, including one by Judith Garrett, who took an unsuccessful private prosecution alleging she was raped in 1988 by a constable at the Kaitaia police station.
And last week, former Rotorua CIB chief John Dewar, who investigated Mrs Nicholas' complaint, was accused by a woman of having taken part in group sex with one of the former officers named in the Nicholas complaint, Brad Shipton.
The police have begun their own investigations into the complaints separate from the commission. The terms of reference are expected to be finalised within days.
[...]
The commissioners will be able to trawl through police records but under the law they will not be able to review the record of the Police Complaints Authority.
The Government will also put on hold legislation proposing the renaming of the Police Complaints Authority - possibly to add further amendments should the commission of inquiry deem it necessary.


- Will "not be able to review the record of the Police Complaints Authority."? I hope there's a reason for this other than to cover up for the police... oh, that's right there isn't - it is to cover up for the police - That's the purpose of the Police Complaints Authority. And you like how it is a "renaming" of the PCA not actually reforming it - putting the word "Independent" in front of it, ie. misrepresenting it, will make it all better.
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NZ Police News : Need for clarity around historical allegations ...
Two of these were investigated by then Detective Inspector John Dewar. Mr Dewar did not investigate Mrs Nicholas’ complaint against Mr Rickards and other ...
www.police.govt.nz/news/release/1242.php - 14k - Cached - Similar pages

- Returns a "Not Found/The requested URL /news/release/1242.php was not found on this server." That's unfortunate isn't it?
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And for a Who's Who of NZ police rape (allegations) peterellis.org.nz is very detailed.
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And from the Herald again
Ex-detective charged over police probe
06.05.05 By NICOLA BOYES

A former detective who investigated complaints against police made by Rotorua woman Louise Nicholas has appeared in court charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice by suppressing her allegations.
John Dewar, now the human resources manager for St John, had to be directed towards the dock by his lawyer Giles Brant when his name was called in the Hamilton District Court yesterday.
The 53-year-old stood impassively before Judge Anne McAloon as he was remanded on bail to reappear in court on June 2.
He did not plead to four charges of attempting to obstruct, pervert or defeat the course of justice between 1993 and 1995.
Dewar was chief inspector of the Rotorua CIB when Mrs Nicholas went to police in 1993 making allegations against now former police officers Robert Schollum, Bradley Shipton and now Assistant Police Commissioner Clint Rickards.
The charges allege that Dewar suppressed her allegations.
The Police Complaints Authority has twice investigated Dewar's handling of Mrs Nicholas' allegations. One report congratulated him on a job well done and the other said he showed a gross lack of judgment and competence.
The Crown, represented by prosecutor Brent Stanaway, alleges Dewar attempted to pervert the course of justice during the trial of a man, who has permanent name suppression, by giving inadmissible hearsay evidence on December 7, 1993, and again on June 8, 1994.
It also alleges that between May 10 and July 12, 1995, Dewar manipulated Mrs Nicholas during a police review initiated following judicial criticism of his evidence given at the trial of the man.
Finally, the Crown alleges that between January 13, 1993, and July 13, 1994, Dewar suppressed allegations Mrs Nicholas made against Messrs Shipton, Schollum and Rickards.
[...]
Dewar's bail conditions include surrendering his passport and living at his home near Hamilton.

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Of course I don't know what is or isn't being suppressed here - his name certainly isn't - so I don't know whether any of the above information is relevant or not.

9 Comments:

At 13/4/06 2:55 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

It just gets worse and worse doesn't it, not so much shooting fish in a barrel as shooting cops in a pack rape - makes all those people out there jumping up and down about 'procedure' look a bit fucked don't you think? There is a deep, deep problem with the cops in this country which make them pigs - we under fund these guys and the stress of the job and the violent culture all combine into this ugly pus filled series of events - but these are merely symptoms of a much deeper malaise - AN INDEPENDENT POLICE COMPLAINTS AUTHORITY NOW DAMMIT!

 
At 13/4/06 8:02 pm, Blogger Swimming said...

Its actually a lot worse than you think - but If I said why, I'd be breaching suppression.

 
At 13/4/06 8:36 pm, Blogger Bomber said...

Worse?

Covering up the seemingly systematic pack rapes by police by defeating the course of justice and maybe being part of the rapes. It's worse than that? A lot worse?

Nasty.

 
At 16/4/06 6:14 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

hey! Is Dewar the fourth 'unidentified'man who was present during the Nicholas pack rape and/or the fifth man unidentified at the Mt Maunganui pack rape. A lot of trouble is being taken to keep him well away from any publicity. And I thought it only happened in the Far North.

 
At 19/4/06 2:10 pm, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The little scrubber is angry now that she couldn't put clint away, she aint finished yet and dewer is her next target.

Have a good read of the website link above (And for a Who's Who of NZ police rape (allegations) peterellis.org.nz is very detailed.)

The truth is in there, work out the ages, dates, Towns etc for yourself.

 
At 20/4/06 5:35 pm, Blogger Bomber said...

Anon:
"The little scrubber" - If she has been raped on and off by coppers, used and abused, trapped in high-level abuse of power and cover-ups since age 14, then she should be described as a survivor.

 
At 23/4/06 3:10 pm, Blogger Bomber said...

A policeman I spoke to recently said that moving cops around was an important part of keeping corruption at bay - as there isn't enough ability for that sort of culture to arise when the personel change so often. Given that many of the cases attached to this sorry story occur with the same people in the same area the constant rotation of police seems like a necessary policy.

 
At 21/7/11 8:42 pm, Blogger bim said...

Hi

I read this post 2 times. It is very useful.

Pls try to keep posting.

Let me show other source that may be good for community.

Source: Police cover letter

Best regards
Jonathan.

 
At 16/10/13 8:54 am, Anonymous Ria said...

The Police represent the law and sometimes they think they are above the law.

 

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