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TV3
November 16, 1997
The Case In Question
Producer: Amanda Millar And Melanie Reid
Reporter: Melanie Reid
Intro Louise Wallace:
The Christchurch
Civic Creche Enquiry and the case against Peter Ellis.
Tonight in this special investigation from reporter Melanie Reid, we will ask
serious questions about the impartiality of the jury. We go behind the scenes
of the police and Social Welfare investigation.
And for the first time in five years, a key policeman in the Enquiry speaks
publicly about the case.
And we'll hear from the man himself, Peter Ellis. He gave his only television
interview to 20/20's Melanie Reid shortly before he began his jail term.
But first we take you back to the days when the Christchurch Civic Creche Enquiry was in
full swing.
Part One
Melanie
Reid
(V/O) Peter Ellis...four and a half
years ago he was locked away, after one of New Zealand's longest running
trials. The openly gay child care worker became known as the country's most
notorious sex abuser. Sentenced to ten years in prison Ellis was convicted of
abusing preschoolers when he worked at the Christchurch City Council Creche.
His co-workers, four women ranging in age from late twenties to mid forties
were also charged, only later to be discharged. Like the women, Ellis too
maintained his innocence from the beginning. But his supporters believe he
had almost no chance of escaping a guilty verdict. The dice were loaded from
the start, and Ellis knew that before he even went to court.
Peter
Ellis
Something went wrong. It was nothing to do with sexual abuse of children.
Melanie
Reid
What was it to do with?
Peter
Ellis
It was to do with people that decided it had happened and as far as I'm
concerned the police and Social Welfare, the way it was done, caused the
saddest thing I've known in a long time, in my life.
Colin
Eade
I think he is a very clever offender. He engages really well, he is very
skilled in dealing with both children and adults.
Melanie
Reid
(V/O) Peter Ellis's downfall was
closely linked to this man, former Christchurch detective Colin Eade. Eade's
critics believe he was a man obsessed, hell-bent on putting Ellis behind
bars. It's now emerged that Colin Eade was fighting for his own mental
stability at the time.
Colin
Eade
I felt almost burnt out, pretty close to it before the Creche Case started.
By the time it had finished I was beyond repair.
Melanie
Reid
Were you on anti depressants during this case?
Colin
Eade
No I probably should have been, but I wasn't. But I have been subsequently.
Melanie
Reid
(V/O) This from the detective who played a key role in the creche enquiry.
Colin
Eade
I was the person who dealt with the parents, the children, the doctor's, the
interviewers, the psychologists so I guess I did all the family side of
things.
Melanie Reid
(V/O) In the Force Eade was a loner. He became far closer to the victims than
he did to his colleagues. During the case senior police became so concerned
about his mental health they sought advice from a psychologist. Subsequently
Eade got professional help. (To Cam) Do you think that it was of concern you
were that stressed out running such a big case?
Colin
Eade
I think my supervisors etc. were very concerned about it.
Melanie
Reid
In what way?
Colin
Eade
They were worried, I think, that if I fell over a lot of the knowledge would
go with me .
Melanie Reid
(V/O) In the past
Colin Eade had displayed signs of "an obsessional personality" then
in the midst of the investigation he was diagnosed as suffering high stress
levels, insomnia and suicidal thoughts. But by that time, six months into the
enquiry, the momentum against Ellis was unstoppable. (To Cam) Do you think
that you were always objective on this case?
Colin
Eade
Objective? It may have appeared that at times I was lacking objectivity. In
fact it was put to me in cross examination.
Melanie
Reid
That you had it in for Peter Ellis.
Colin
Eade
Mmm.
Melanie
Reid
And that you were going to get him come hell or high water.
Colin
Eade
Yes, yes I guess that's the way some people saw it.
Melanie
Reid
Is that the way it was?
Colin
Eade
It was the way
the evidence went and I went with the evidence and the evidence of course, a
lot of people aren't happy about that, but the evidence came from children. I
accepted it, so did everybody else along the line to the Court of Appeal.
Melanie
Reid
Tonight we bring you new information in relation to the Christchurch Civic
Creche Case. As well as examining the role Detective Colin Eade played, we
reveal allegations that he sexually harassed a creche mother. We bring you
new information on the as to whether Peter Ellis could possibly have had a
fair trial. But first we look at how this country's biggest and most
expensive child abuse case unfolded.
(V/O) It was the spring of 1991. The Garden City was hosting a
Family Violence Conference that included Ritual Abuse workshops. And the
media and the public were being fed some disturbing messages as a result.
News Clips:
In New Zealand
evidence against satanic cults is mounting... I personally know of four cults
that are operating... Severe and bizarre physical and sexual torture...
Melanie
Reid
(V/O) It was a climate of increasing
unrest about child sexual abuse, to say the least, and it was mid November
'91 that the Creche Case began with a little boy saying to his mother "I
don't like Peter's black penis".
Peter
Ellis
I literally and utterly can't come up with any answer for what the child is
going on about a black penis. I mean, I'm Caucasian.
Melanie
Reid
(V/O) The mother of that little boy, who we'll call Mother 1, believed her
son's remark about Ellis's black penis was a revelation of sexual abuse. This
mother describes herself as a therapist. She has a psychiatric history and
claims to be a victim of child sexual abuse. She's even put together
publications on the issue.
Peter
Ellis
She's studied ritual abuse, she sees sexual abuse all over the place, she's
taken lists of abusing and types of signs to watch out for to parents in this
case. I quite think she is a frightening women.
Melanie
Reid
(V/O) Mother 1 not only believed Peter Ellis had abused her son, she went on
to make allegations against another male creche worker at another creche,
believing he too had abused her son. But it was her complaint against Ellis
that began one of New Zealand's most controversial cases.
Colin
Eade
She believed her
child. He didn't disclose in a formal interview, but he did to her.
Melanie
Reid
Whatever he said to his mother, this child made no formal disclosure. That
means there was no formal admission of sexual abuse to social welfare
specialist interviewers. Even so Peter Ellis's future was already looking
shaky. He'd been suspended from the creche while the accusation was
investigated and an urgent meeting was planned to advise all creche parents
that "a male staff member" was under suspicion.
(V/O) Meantime the word got round. Before that meeting parents
had already been in contact with Social Welfare, after hearing of the
allegation. It was important for Colin Eade to keep control, especially since
the allegation had come to nothing.
(On Cam) You must have had to have had a
major strategic approach because there was a danger, wasn't there that all
this could get out of hand.
Colin
Eade
My approach was to be really careful with it, to involve an interviewer from
the specialist services from the start, and for her to talk about
contamination.
Melanie
Reid
(V/O) Whatever Eade's approach, by the time of the parents' meeting, panic
had set in according to creche parents like Mary Cox.
Mary Cox:
The excitement of
the people. The hysteria that went on in that room. It just blew up really.
Melanie
Reid
(V/O) For this parent the meeting was so bad she left.
Mother:
Because people
started to get very angry with each other and shouted so I just crept out
quickly.
Melanie
Reid
At that meeting the Christchurch City Council, the creche owners, agreed to
provide counselling for distraught parents and a support group was set up,
even though at this stage there had been no formal disclosure, no proof
whatsoever of sexual abuse.
(V/O) No proof, but some parents were of the opinion that abuse
at the creche was widespread. Some of them were members of the recently
formed support group. So another three children had Social Welfare specialist
interviews. Once again none of them disclosed any sexual abuse. At this point
Colin Eade advised the City Council, the police investigation was closed. But
he also told the Council that Peter Ellis should not be working with
children, even though he had never met him nor had he been to the creche. So where
did that leave Peter Ellis?
Peter
Ellis
There was no disclosure of sexual abuse so I asked for my job back and I
wasn't allowed it. I was offered, basically, some money to disappear.
Melanie
Reid
The council offered Peter Ellis a voluntary severance payment of ten thousand
dollars. But he refused.
Peter
Ellis
So that was where I was at. So I then pushed for reinstatement and it was
almost like I'd pushed the start button again for this whole case to start
rolling again. Like I turned round and I said 'I haven't done it I want my
job back'. And the answer suddenly was, 'Oh let's go round up a few more. We
don't want him back because...'
Melanie
Reid
(V/O) In January '92 Peter Ellis was sacked. In the following week while he
was considering an employment case, a six year old girl, who had never
attended the creche made the first formal disclosure. She told a specialist
interviewer that she had been abused by Ellis. The girl's mother who we'll
call Mother 2 was part of the parents' support group. She was a Social
Worker, she was also the organiser of the parents' meeting. Her daughter who
hadn't attended the creche said the bad touching by Ellis happened when she
went there with her parents to pick up her younger brothers. This is part of
her specialist interview.
Interviewer
You were playing the xylophone there...
Child: And he was on stilts when he came along and...
Interviewer
Now hang on, was he on stilts or not.
Child:
No
Interviewer
Okay, remember we've got to promise to tell
the true things, so now just show me what really happened.
Child: He came along and touched, touched, touched me, touched, touched me,
then I said no and I ran away and he ran away, because he didn't want to be
caught and I always knew it was him.
Melanie Reid
(V/O) For Colin Eade a disclosure from a child who had not even attended the
creche was disturbing stuff.
Colin
Eade
I thought that it looked really serious, really bad.
Melanie Reid
(V/O) However
this complaint of abuse would eventually be withdrawn. (On Cam) Why did this
complaint eventually get dropped?
Colin
Eade
You'd have to ask the mother that .
Melanie
Reid
Did she withdraw it?
Colin
Eade
Yes she did.
Melanie
Reid
(V/O) The mother withdrew it about the same time she notified police that
Colin Eade had propositioned her.
(On Cam) Is there anything that you want to tell us about her?
Colin
Eade
No.
Melanie
Reid
It's a fairly heavy accusation for someone that was in the position that you
were in.
Colin
Eade
Look I'm not going to discuss it.
Melanie
Reid
Are you denying it?
Colin
Eade
No, I'm just not discussing it.
Melanie
Reid
You were a detective in one of the most controversial cases in this country
and there was a complaint to the police that you made sexual advances towards
a complainant's mother
Colin
Eade
It doesn't matter how you put it, I'm not going to respond to it. I'm sorry.
Melanie
Reid
(V/O) All records relating to this mother's complaint were removed from the
police file. But despite all of the events surrounding this child, the 6 year
old's part in the creche case was crucial. It was her interview in late
January '92 about bad touching that was the first formal evidence against
Peter Ellis. At that time it was the one and only disclosure of sexual abuse.
It was a turning point.
Just six days after that disclosure, the next development. A women who we'll
call Mother 3 was looking after a friend's little girl. This child had been
baby-sat by Peter Ellis. When she became fascinated by the penis of Mother
3's baby, Mother 3 was so concerned she contacted Mother 1 and Mother 2. A
week later it happened again, so Mother 3 made a formal statement to
Detective Colin Eade. On the same day he received that statement, he advised
the Creche Committee and the City Council that the police investigation into
the Creche Case was reopened.
(On Cam) By now a core group of parents,
by their own admission, had begun direct questioning of their children,
something they'd been warned against doing. In the following weeks, three of
those children told specialist interviewers they'd been abused by Peter
Ellis. As the anxiety grew, a second meeting was arranged for all parents
whose children had been to the creche in the five and a half years Ellis had
worked there.
News Clips:
Christchurch Child Psychologist Karen Zelas...
It's most
important parents don't in fact...
Melanie
Reid
(V/O) More than a week before that
second meeting was due to take place the whole country would hear that
something shocking appeared to be happening with children at the Christchurch
Civic Childcare Centre.
News Clips:
Today the man at
the centre of the allegations was staying indoors.
There are special investigators who are being set up to interview these
children.
Melanie
Reid
(V/O) So all this hype, before that second meeting. What is even more
extraordinary is that at this stage Peter Ellis had never even been spoken to
by police.
Peter
Ellis
I actually didn't have any contact at all with the police 'till the day I was
arrested on March the 30th. I mean it was the first time I actually saw a
policeman.
Melanie
Reid
(V/O) And when he saw that policeman he was locked up over night after being
charged with indecently assaulting the girl who'd never attended the creche.
News Clips:
Police have already spent four months investigating claims that children
there were sexually abused. Today a charge was laid, after spending the night
in custody a former creche worker appeared in court alleged to have
indecently assaulted a five year old girl.
Parents I spoke to before the meeting said the allegations just make them
feel numb.
Mary Cox:
With the build up
of events, I think that the stage was set to get as many people as possible
to evidential interviews because of the build up of what had happened. So
that people were in a particular frame of mind I think by the time they got
to that meeting.
Melanie
Reid
(V/O) About two hundred parents poured into that meeting. There, they were
encouraged to take their children to specialist interviews, advised on the
behavioural signs of sexual abuse, cautioned not to directly question their
children, given information on counselling and ACC procedures. Hotlines were
set up, pamphlets were handed out. The Christchurch Civic Creche Case was well
underway.
Mary Cox:
If you were a
person who was concerned...we all are, we only want the very best for our
child, and all these professionals are saying what the chances, the
likelihood of this happening is pretty great and it's in your best interests to
get them into an evidential interview, so that a professional can make the
judgement. It's a lot of pressure.
Melanie
Reid
(V/O) And as the months went by, there was a feeling that the professionals
were fuelling the speculation.
Mother:
They were saying
that hundreds of children possibly were being abused. They were saying that
this was the biggest thing ever in New Zealand. They were saying that
children who never, who were showing no signs of being abused, none of the
classic symptoms, were actually disclosing. I got the impression that
reputations were certainly going to made by this and actually on one level it
was very exciting.
Melanie Reid
(V/O) Up to one
hundred and twenty-six children would be subjected to Social Welfare
disclosure interviews. At that time ten thousand dollars was available
through ACC to victims of sex abuse. More than sixty claims for the lump sum
payment would be made. Over half a million dollars in total would be paid out
to creche children.
Then the stories of satanic ritual abuse and child pornography emerged and
along with Ellis, four women creche workers would go before the court, three
of them on the testimony of just one child. And even before their arrest the
Christchurch Civic Childcare Centre was closed down.
Peter
Ellis
There was no swing, the grounds were untidy, the hut had gone. There were no
toys, the place was empty. It was a place full of laughter and fun. There
were good people in that place.
Melanie
Reid
Did it haunt you going back there?
Peter Ellis
It made me wonder how on earth this ever happened.
Melanie
Reid
Nigel Hampton QC has his theories on how it happened. He was involved in
taking Ellis's case to the Appeal Court.
Nigel Hampton:
Too many people,
too close to it, too involved, and too invested in it.
Melanie
Reid
What do you mean by that?
Nigel Hampton:
Committed
themselves to a philosophy in a sense.
Melanie
Reid
Which was?
Nigel Hampton:
That such things
existed and these were going to be the people that proved that they existed.
Louise Wallace Back Announce:
More from Nigel
Hampton QC later in this story. Coming up next the theories, the selection of
evidence and the pressure applied to parents.
(Duration:
20'42")
Link to "The Case In
Question" Part 2 - Nov 16, 1997
Link to "The Case In
Question" Part 3 - Nov 16, 1997
Link to "The Case In
Question" Review - Nov 23, 1997
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