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Three former Christchurch Civic Crèche workers vowed to clear their names
yesterday after they were discharged on the one remaining child abuse charge
against them. In the High Court, Mr Justice Williamson discharged Ms Gaye Davidson,
Ms Janice Buckingham and Mrs Marie Keys on counts alleging they stood by
while a child in their care was indecently assaulted. The ruling followed a pre-trial application by counsel for the women.
His Honour suppressed the submissions, which began on Monday, and his reasons
for the decision. The women, who were first charged on October 2 last year, said
afterwards they were delighted and relieved "for ourselves and our families". Ms Davidson, the crèche's former supervisor, broke down and wept when
the judge indicated the direction of his ruling. Later, she said her driving
force now was to fight what had happened to her and her fellow accused. The women talked about rebuilding their lives and described as
"torture" the past few days as they waited to learn whether they
would face trial. Ms Deborah Gillespie, another accused crèche worker who was earlier
discharged on the one charge remaining against her described the ruling as
great news. She and Peter Hugh Ellis, the other worker at the centre of the crèche
case, were each discharged early last month on a count of indecent assault.
Ellis, aged 34, originally faced 42 charges, but is now believed to face
about 30 charges in a High Court trial scheduled to begin on April 26. The police said yesterday the decision to prosecute the women crèche
workers had been made in consultation with the Crown Solicitor and the police
legal section. The Investigation Into allegations of abuse at the crèche had produced
evidence which established a prima facie case, a spokeswoman said. The threshold at which a decision to prosecute was made had been
reached after the investigation, she said The District Court also agreed a prima facie case had been established
after hearing evidence at depositions Each of the three women initially faced four charges alleging they had
sexually abused children in their care, but these were reduced to one each
after a depositions hearing Although the women's emotions were dominated by relief yesterday, they
said they expected to face a public which would never be convinced of their
innocence "We're never going to get over it," Ms Davidson said. From the time they were charged they had refused to be secretive or
shy about publicity, the women said Ms Davidson, aged 39, said that after the police had searched her house
and were ready to take her to the police station, they told her to run out to
the police vehicle to avoid assembled media people "I said no. I've got nothing to hide, nothing to be guilty of.
I'm not running and I'm not going to hide my face." All were pessimistic about their employment future. Ms Davidson said
their natural ability with children had been lost. Mrs Keys said she would
never risk putting herself or her family through the ordeal of the past six
months by working in childcare again "My employment prospects are nil and will be for some time. It's
hard to accept as I know I have a lot to offer. The women said their families were often the hidden casualties of events
leading from the charges. They said their children - Ms Davidson and Mrs Keys have two children
each and Ms Buckingham has four - were afraid their mothers were going to
jail. Ms Buckingham said her daughter had been socially isolated. Ms Davidson and Mrs Keys said their children were fortunate in that
they had continued to receive the support of friends throughout. "People in the community know me and have seen our two daughters
grow up. Friends have remained supportive," Mrs Keys said. All said the events of the past six months had been slightly beyond
belief and they had had to fight the feeling they had lost control of their
lives. Despite a lifting of spirits after the acquittal of Ms Gillespie, the
women said they were still wary of going out in public by themselves. However, none contemplates leaving Ms Davidson has weathered a bullet with her name engraved in it
arriving in the mail and several threatening telephone calls. Ms Buckingham
has also received abusive telephone calls and has had "child
molester" etched in her lawn with weedkiller. Financially the allegations have been ruinous. Ms Buckingham said she
had been forced to get food parcels from the City Mission. The women have all
gone from reasonable salaries to surviving on benefits or redundancy
payments. Although they have had legal aid, they may be required to make a
contribution to legal expenses. The women said the week after the laying of charges was one of the
worst stages of the saga. Bail conditions in that week were as harsh as those
imposed on the Harris gang. |
