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The Press

Features Story

SIX OF THE BEST - who made a difference in 2001?

29 December 2001

by Geoff Collett

The Press presents the six people it considers made an impact or contribution which really stood out.

ANIKA MOA:

PETER JACKSON:

SIR PETER BLAKE:

HELEN CLARK:

STEVE HANSEN:

LYNLEY HOOD:

In November, 10 years to the month since the Christchurch Civic Creche case was launched onto its infamous course, Lynley Hood delivered what to many minds is the most compelling evidence yet that the case has been a travesty .Her long-awaited book, A City Possessed, proved to be an epic study of the "moral panic" that descended on the city over the allegations of sexual offences against children at the creche, and the justice system's failings in trying to address them. She maintains that she did not take on the project to act as advocate for anyone involved. But her detailed analysis of the case, which resulted in the controversial 1993 conviction and imprisonment of creche worker Peter Ellis for sexually abusing children at the centre, clearly bolstered Ellis's campaign for a pardon.

Justice Minister Phil Goff has thus far stood firm against the evidence of Hood's findings. He prefers to stick with the conclusions of the Ministerial Inquiry conducted by Sir Thomas Eichelbaum, ruling against a pardon.

Hood herself insists that she has found serious problems in the justice system which the Government must address, and a number of learned legal sorts have endorsed her argument.And while that demand seems to fall on deaf ears in officialdom, Hood has ensured that a decade on, the city possessed is no less intrigued, even troubled, by the bizarre tale of the Civic Creche.