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The Waikato Times
June 12 1996
Perils of prejudice
Letter to the Editor
by Russell McLachlan (Hamilton)
When a paradigm of prejudice is
established God help those who suffer its consequences. I have been in
conversations with friends when the subject of Peter Ellis was raised, the
Christchurch pre-school worker convicted for child molesting. Two people
indicated any man involved in pre-school care would have to be considered as
"suspect" and if homosexual, would definitely have to be up to
"mischief". The argument that the right people should be employed
to do the job, regardless of gender, did not persuade.
What hope was there for Peter Ellis, a pre-school carer and a homosexual,
when he entered the courtroom in Christchurch? Did he believe he would get a
fair trial? Maybe he did and maybe he was naive enough to believe a jury of
New Zealanders would leave their prejudices at the courthouse door and
collect them on leaving.
If any of us harbour unreasoned prejudices about anyone, what hope is there
for those we are entrusted to judge? Was Peter Ellis guilty in the minds of
some jurors before the first evidence was given? Maybe we will never know but
given the strongly-held opinions of my friends I suspect evidence, often
times, would be irrelevant when put up against personal paradigms of
prejudice. (Abridged)
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