Massey University Extramural
Students' Society Inc
Off Campus March 2002
Book Review
A City Possessed: the Christchurch Civic
Creche Case
by Lynley Hood.
(Published 2001, Longacre Press, Dunedin.)
Reviewed by Peter Hawes.
Lynley Hood's deconstruction of the Ellis case has been reviewed plenteously
and fairly enough - I have yet to read a critique that disagrees with her
findings. But none have captured the outrage that the book has engendered in
many breasts.
My own humble view is that it was a witch hunt of Ellis and I ask: how would
those who wittingly or unwittingly took part in this witch hunt feel if they
were confronted with the same basis of evidence as was used against Ellis?
I'm confident your opinion will reflect mine once you have read this
governmentally non-existent book. To illustrate, here's some quotes from a
page or two.
(To protect the children's identities, families are named after trees - Ms
Magnolia, Ms Dogwood, Ms Hickory, Ms Lacebark, Ms Cypress, Ms Laurel.
'S' is Sue Sidey, one of three DSW interviewers, trained by the eponymous Dr
Karen Zelas.)
"S: You told Mum that someone had touched your bottom and your vagina.
T(ess): Did I?
S: Yeah, with their fingers.
T: Who was it? Did I say?"
"'He killed all the people with axes,' said Ryan. 'He killed all the
boys not me cos I, I'm too fast for him... I'm really just joking,' he said,
'I'm really just telling things. He pulled off my tummy button...with pliers.
...He pulled um he put some cellotape on my penis and he took it off and
blood came out of it... I'm just joking at the moment...Actually there was so
much blood...it was all gone and I wasn't alive.'
First, Cathy Crawford, in consultation with her supervisor Dr Karen Zelas,
accepted that Ryan had made a genuine disclosure of sexual abuse. Next,
Detective Colin Eade accepted that Ryan had provided evidence of an offence.
Then, Crown prosecutor Chris Lange accepted that the charge of indecent
assault laid by Eade was reliable enough to go to court."
"Next day, she (mother) asked Bart if Peter had ever touched his bottom
or penis. 'Peter wouldn't do that to me,' Bart said. 'He's my friend.' This
response left Ms Dogwood with 'a gut feeling that there was something more to
come out', and she raised the subject with her son repeatedly over the coming
weeks."
"S: So um who lives with Peter?
K(ari): Oh he lives by himself.
S: Right, and does he have some friends?
K: Um of course he does yes, lots of friends, bad friends. His family don't
like him though.
S: How do you know that?
K: Because Mummy telled me.
S: ...Oh and what were they doing there when you went there, his friends?
K: They were showing the penis and the gina.
In response to further questioning Kari said that a man named Joseph 'teased'
her with his penis. But when Sidey invited her to demonstrate the 'teasing'
using naked anatomically correct dolls, the pubic hair on the male doll threw
her into confusion.
K: What is it?
S: Have you never seen that before on a -
K: No.
S: - near a penis.
K: No. What is it?
S: What do you think it is?
K: I don't know.
The police were unable to identify the location of the alleged 'teasing'. Nor
could they establish the identity of the mysterious Joseph. But they laid a
charge anyway. At the trial of Peter Ellis, Count 23 of the 28-count
indictment read: 'that Peter Hugh McGregor Ellis between May 1989 and 30 July
1991 at Christchurch did indecently assault Kari Lacebark a girl under the
age of 12 years in that he took the child to an unknown address where an
unknown man put his penis in her vagina'. Ellis was found guilty on this
charge."
"How did you get back to the crèche?
Daddy picked us up and took us back.
I don't think Daddy remembers this.
No, it was Marie. She picked us up and took us back to the crèche.
Since Marie Keys could not drive, this version of Kari's story was even more
unlikely than her previous one."
"But for Ellis to have offended on the scale alleged...he (Crown
Soliciter Brent Stanaway) needed co-offenders as well. ...To cope with this
problem Brent Stanaway found a solution that was as understated as it was
ingenious: he put Peter Ellis on trial with the Great Christchurch
Paedolphile Ring as his phantom co-defendants.
...Since they were not identified or charged the Crown did not have to
explain to the jury who Ellis's co-defendants were or what they were supposed
to have done..."
Interview of Sue Sidey by Lynley Hood.
SS: ... People were beginning to fear for their safety... they thought they
might be - their children or themselves might be silenced in some way. ..by
attack or whatever...(by) People who were supporters of the alleged
offenders. Or even the alleged offenders themselves.
"...What did you think prompted the Magnolias and other parents to make
the complaints?' she asked. 'Malice? A sense of mischief? Voyeuristic
pleasure?...'"
Comments to
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Massey University Extramural Students' Society Inc., New Zealand
URL: http://exmss.massey.ac.nz
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