Nicholas case: no move yet
30.4.06 Sunday Star-TimesThe solicitor-general is yet to decide whether people who breached suppression orders in the Louise Nicholas case will be prosecuted.
Last month, assistant police commissioner Clint Rickards and former policemen Bob Schollum and Brad Shipton were acquitted of raping and sexually assaulting Nicholas in Rotorua 20 years ago.
After the verdict, suppression orders relating to the case were breached by emails, internet chatroom users and Nicholas supporters who handed out leaflets.
Schollum's lawyer, Paul Mabey, laid a complaint with Solicitor- General Terence Arnold QC about the leaflets, suggesting their distribution was contempt of court.
Arnold is deciding whether a prosecution should proceed.
Supporters of Nicholas are marching in central Auckland today, and say they do not intend breaching the suppression orders.
Despite the apparent deliberate flouting of the law, National MP Richard Worth believed a prosecution was unlikely because the information was so widespread.
He said New Zealand's suppression laws needed to be reviewed and one option was suppression orders for victims only.
Auckland University law professor Mike Taggart said Arnold had to weigh up whether prosecuting would lead to the information being further disseminated.
A prosecution could lead to "cascading suppression" where the fact of its existence might have to be suppressed in order not to trigger more speculation.
The situation was "very, very unusual", he said. "There is a catch- 22 aspect to this and the people who think they know don't know for sure (all the information)."
<< Home