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Otago Daily Times
June 24
1998
Family's account of Civic Creche case
By Lisa Hearn
Lisa Hearn is on the Otago Daily Times editorial staff.
A Mother’s Story
The Civic Creche Child Sex Trial
Joy Bander
Howling at the Moon Productions, pbk, $19.95.
On June 5, 1993, a jury found Peter Ellis, the child-care worker at the
centre of the highly controversial and emotionally charged Christchurch Civic
creche case, guilty on 16 of 25 counts of sexual abuse of young children in
his care at the creche.
It was a six-week-long trial that shocked the nation, and the verdict has
divided public opinion for the past five years.
Many believe Ellis was the victim of a witch-hunt fuelled by hysterical
parents, seeing the evidence of the child complainants as contaminated and
insufficient to seal a true conviction.
Joy Bander, the author of this book, does not share this opinion.
Writing under a pseudonym in keeping with the identity suppression orders
made by the trial judge, Bander is the mother of one of the child
complainants who gave evidence of abuse by Ellis while in his care at the
creche.
Her story is a personal, honest account of the devastating effect the Ellis
case had on her, her son and her family. Like so many other parents, the idea
that one of her own children would ever be a victim of sexual abuse was
simply inconceivable. She describes the overwhelming feelings of shock and
disbelief when her son made his first disclosures, and later the guilt,
self-blame, grief and anger. She had attributed her son's tiredness and
reluctance to attend the creche to her separation from her husband, and the
personal anguish she feels for not seeking other, deeper, possible reasons is
evident.
Battling to come to terms with what had happened, Bander stood by her son as
he struggled through long evidential interviews, weekly therapy sessions, increasingly
bad bouts of misbehaviour, an Aids test and finally the trial itself. Bander
and her husband also gave evidence, both at the first depositions hearing and
the actual trial, an experience Bander found "gruelling". Despite
its obvious bias, her discussion of the trial remains reasonably balanced,
with extracts from both Crown and defence submissions included.
After the guilty verdicts, Bander was relieved Ellis had been convicted, yet
still angry and saddened at what her son had suffered. Her anger is clearly
reflected in her thoughts on Ellis's 10-year sentence. She believed firmly at
the time it was handed down that it was far too light. Such was her outrage,
she even recalls thinking it was a pity the death penalty wasn't in.
Time, however, is a great healer and Bander admits she is beginning to see
things differently. Forgiveness, however, is still a tough issue and while
the intensity of her anger and grief may have diminished, she remains firmly
of the opinion that "Ellis got all he deserved, and I certainly don't
feel that I owe him a thing".
A powerful, moving story tracing the lives of one family closely involved in
the Peter Ellis case, the book is especially recommended for the parents and
families of children who have been the victims of sexual abuse.
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