“THE DOMINION”

Wellington, New Zealand.

Monday, 1 October, 2001.

Page 2.

CHRISTCHURCH RIPE FOR MORE ABUSE CASES, SAYS WRITER

By Alan Samson

THE "snobbery" of Christchurch and the messianic zeal of some of its citizens were an almost inevitable spawning ground for false charges against Peter Ellis, the author of the first book on the 1993 child abuse case says.

Speaking before publication of A City Possessed, Lynley Hood said Christchurch in particular was ripe for another creche case. It was "no surprise" "bizarre" claims against Ellis arose in Christchurch.

"Theoretically it could happen anywhere, but Christchurch is vulnerable, partly because it is the epicentre of child abuse allegations."

It was a "class-conscious" city, which made it easier for the community to divide over issues, "them and us, good and bad".

The Ellis convictions, for which he served seven years' jail on 13 charges of abusing children at the Christchurch Civic Childcare Centre, had highlighted the justice system's inability to distinguish between true and false allegations of child abuse, Hood said, and "nothing has changed".

"There is every potential for another creche case to happen. The same sex-abuse interview and counselling methods are being taught and used, the same standards are being used by the police.

"There's also the same fundamental belief underpinning everything, that all men are at heart dangerous sexual predators, even the most decent of them, and can't be trusted near children."

Along with this belief system went an official exaggeration of the prevalence and severity of ordinary sexual abuse.

"This encourages ideas of conspiracy. `How can we have such widespread abuse without evidence?' It's a milieu for phantom abuse.

"As long as unreliable methods are being used, the conditions (for another creche case) are out there."

Hood strongly maintained that Ellis was innocent. Pointing the finger instead at a milieu of social hysteria and a "fixed mindset" of police and welfare workers, she renewed calls yesterday not only for a pardon for Ellis but for a commission of inquiry into the criminal justice system.

Hood said the charges against Ellis had arisen at a time of international moral panic, when several books identifying satanic and ritual abuse had been published and welfare agencies had been swept along.

CAPTIONS: Hood Ellis