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Otago Daily Times
Friday,
21-November 1997
Detective's behaviour discounted
Christchurch: The morals of a detective involved in the Christchurch
creche sex abuse inquiry had no bearing on its outcome, Police Association
president Greg O'Connor said yesterday.
Mr O'Connor said he was appalled that former detective Colin Eade's
relationship with two mothers of children at the creche was being used in
defence of former Christchurch Civic Childcare Centre worker Peter Ellis.
"The detective's behaviour may have been inappropriate, but the
relationships occurred after the inquiry had finished and he'd left the
police," Mr O'Connor said.
Ellis has served more than four years of a 10-year sentence after he was
found guilty of abusing seven children in his care after a trial in 1993.
Although the verdict has always been controversial, renewed doubts were
raised on Sunday when TV3's 20/20 programme made several new allegations including
that:
· A key detective on the case, Colin
Eade, had intimate relationships with the mothers of two complainants.
· He propositioned another mother
whose child was to make a complaint and also suffered psychological
difficulties during the inquiry.
· A juror knew a mother of one of the
complainants through her lesbian relationship with the mother's workmate.
Police Commissioner Peter Doone announced this week that the detective's
behaviour would be investigated although the nature of the inquiry had not
yet been finalised.
Mr O'Connor said he was astounded at the public and political reaction to
"one very unbalanced television programme".
"The performance of the detective was a very minor part of the final
outcome. What matters is that the evidence was heard by a jury and judge and
Ellis was found guilty. The judge took the unusual step at the end of the
trial of commenting that he agreed with the jury's decision."
The conviction of Ellis as a paedophile was upheld on appeal.
Mr Eade yesterday admitted he had propositioned the mother of one of the
children at the centre of the 1992 inquiry.
He said he had made "an inappropriate comment" to the mother of one
of the children during a telephone call after coming home from "a night
out on the town".
"I have deeply regretted it ever since and the next day I spoke to that
parent and in a pretty pathetic attempt to justify it, I said I was joking
and the result of that was she made a complaint," he said yesterday.
He confirmed he had relationships with two other women connected to the case
after the case was over.
Mr Eade said the relationships happened after the inquiry and after he had
left the police force.
He said allegations that he was mentally unstable were not true.
He said he left the police on psychological grounds relating to stress. He
was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder which he suffered during
the inquiry.
Canterbury police district manager Warwick Nicholl said police had no
difficulty with an inquiry into police conduct during the creche inquiry.
A statement from the parents of several complainants in the case supported Mr
Eade yesterday. - NZPA
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