The woman raped by Brad Shipton and Bob Shollum says their former friend and colleague Wally Haumaha should resign as deputy police commissioner over comments he made about the Louise Nicholas case.
An officer told a 2004 investigation into Louise Nicholas' allegations the pair had raped her that Haumaha had said "nothing really happened and we have to stick together".
The officer said Haumaha had also described the allegations as "a nonsense".
Haumaha had also called one of Shipton and Shollum a “legend” with woman and the other a "big softie".
He has since apologised for the comments, saying they do not reflect his views.
The government has opened an inquiry into his appointment as deputy commissioner with Police Minister Stuart Nash saying he was unaware of the "unacceptable comments" when he put Haumaha’s name forward for the top job last month.
The woman who was raped by Shipton and Schollum in Mt Maunganui in 1989 when she was 20 said Haumaha’s apology was too late.
"If someone is genuinely sorry, or ashamed, they make amends pretty damn quickly," the woman told NZ Herald .
"Who wants to sit with a deputy police commissioner who said rape allegations are nonsense?
"[Haumaha] was a senior police officer when he made those comments. When you've got serious allegations put in front of you, as a cop the last thing you should say is 'my mates were good men'. He should have been utterly disgusted and taken it seriously.
"I think he should resign."
The victim in the Mt Maunganui case had come forward to police after becoming aware of the allegations Nicholas had made.
In evidence at the 2005 trial, the victim said she was lured to a lifeguard tower for what she though was a lunch date with Shipton.
In the tower she was handcuffed, raped, forced to perform oral sex and violated with a baton.
Haumaha had worked with Brad Shipton, Schollum and Clint Rickards, a third officer Nicholas had accused of raping her, in Rotorua and remained friends with them after they left the station.
The trio claimed the group sex with Nicholas was consensual and were found not guilty in 2006.
The jury in that trial was unaware that Shipton and Schollum were already in jail serving prison terms for the Mt Maunganui rape.
Justice Ron Young said Shipton and Schollum were "corrupt police officers" who treated the victim "like a piece of meat" as he sentenced them to eight and half years and eight years respectively.
Full story: Victim of Mt Maunganui rape calls for Wally Haumaha to resign as deputy police commissioner over comments
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