“SUNDAY STAR-TIMES”

New Zealand

Sunday, December 2, 2001.

Page A10, Letters to the Editor

Get Ellis case right for kids

The Peter Ellis case (November 25) needs to be reviewed until we get it right. If our current Minister of “Justice” Phil Goff does not have what it takes to do the job then he must be replaced and if his party cannot do this, his party must be replaced.

This issue is not about Ellis, who must be exonerated and compensated, but the children and their families who have wrongly been convinced they were sexually abused. For them the effect is the same as if they were abused. We must not allow it to happen again. Perhaps Ellis can be sacrificed to protect the current criminal justice system, but not the children.

It is our system that is guilty and the system must learn from its mistakes to prevent repetition. When all the evidence is examined, rather than simply the legally admissible evidence on which the convictions were based, it is clear that no actual abuse occurred. The sooner we all see this the better. Goff must remove his blindfold and carefully read Lynley Hood’s book, A City Possessed

Rob Mawson, Mosgiel