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updated Jan 29 2006
2002-0629
- Otago Daily Times - Winning author calls for inquiry
By Jon Bassett - Controversial Dunedin
author Lynley Hood used yesterday's announcement she had won a prestigious
Montana New Zealand Book Award to again call for a royal commission into the
Christchurch creche case. A City
Possessed: The Christchurch Creche Case
(Longacre Press, Dunedin)
won the history section of the competition and a $5000 prize for Ms Hood. Ms
Hood's book is now in line for the Montana Medal for non-fiction and the
accompanying $10,000 prize, to be announced next month
2002-0629 - Dominion -
Creche case book a winner
by David McLoughlin - Justice Minister Phil Goff has not yet read an official
report on Dunedin author Lynley Hood's book A City Possessed, which yesterday carried off an important
Montana Book Awards prize. Hood's book, an in-depth look at the 1990s
Christchurch Civic Creche sex abuse case, was the history category winner and
goes on the shortlist for the Montana medal for non-fiction at the awards
ceremony on July 20.
2002-0629 -
The Press - Prize revives creche controversy
Author Lynley Hood used yesterday's announcement that she had won a
prestigious Montana New Zealand Book Award to again call for a Royal
Commission into the Christchurch
creche case. A City Possessed: The Christchurch Creche Case (Longacre Press),
won the history section of the competition and a $5000 prize for Hood
2002-0628 -
Nelson Mail - Calls for inquiry growing: author
Dunedin author Lynley Hood's A City
Possessed has been named the winner of the history section of this year's
Montana New Zealand Book Awards. Ms Hood said there was a growing demand in
the legal profession for a judicial inquiry into the issues raised in her
book.
2002-0628 - Waikato
Times - Award for Ellis book
Dunedin author
Lynley Hood's A City Possessed was
today named winner of the history section in this year's Montana New Zealand
Book Awards.
2002-0628 - NBR - Bookworms
by Deborah Hill-Cone - The shortlist of contenders for the country's most
prestigious book prize, the Montana Book Awards, is be announced at lunchtime
today at a function at Mantell's in Auckland.
The credibility of the long-running competition will be under attack if it
doesn't recognise Lynley Hood's meticulously researched A City Possessed: The Christchurch Civic Creche Case ……But will Justice Minister Phil Goff
finally find the time to read it?
2002-0626
- Waikato Times - Goff unmoved by Ellis controversy
NZPA The letters keep coming but
Justice Minister Phil Goff appears unmoved on the Christchurch creche case book, A City
Possessed. The 600-page book by Dunedin author Lynley Hood throws the guilt
of creche worker Peter Ellis into serious question and points to flaws in the
way the justice system handles complaints of sexual abuse
2002-0625 - Otago
Daily Times - Goff unmoved by book
NZPA - The letters keep coming but Justice Minister Phil Goff appears unmoved
on the Christchurch creche case book, A City Possessed . The
600-page book by Dunedin
author Lynley Hood throws the guilt of creche worker Peter Ellis into serious
question and points to flaws in the way the justice system handles complaints
of sexual abuse. The book has sparked a flood of letters to Mr Goff, who so
far has not found time to read it.
2002-0625 -
Press - Ellis letters pour in but Goff unmoved
by Martin Van Beynen - The letters keep coming but Justice Minister Phil Goff
appears immovable on his stance on the Christchurch
creche case book A City Possessed. The 600-page book by Dunedin author Lynley Hood throws the guilt
of creche worker Peter Ellis into serious question and points to flaws in the
way the justice system handles complaints of sexual abuse.
2002-0604 - National Business Review -
Hood gains traction in book awards
The Montana Book
Awards judges have made a brave call in their selection of Dunedin author
Lynley Hood as a finalist in the history section for A City Possessed (Longacre). Hood’s book is by far the most
controversial to be published in past few years. It reveals how a small group
of health professionals, aided and abetted by a sympathetic media, culpable
politicians and judicial officers, not to mention the financial fuel provided
by the ACC gravy train, brewed up an hysteria over “ritual sex abuse” into a
fullscale Salem-style witch-hunt in Christchurch. As has also been exposed
around the world, this strange phenomenon was a heated concoction of feminism
and Puritanism.
2002-0601 - Press - Lynley
Hood - Author
by Martin Van Beynen - Having her book, A City Possessed, read and acclaimed
is very nice, says Dunedin author Lynley Hood, but what about a debate on the
issues it raises? Martin Van Beynen
talks to her about writing, wrongs, and the Christchurch Civic Creche case.
2002-0531 - xtramsn - A
City Possessed - a review
by Sarah Putt - Author Lynley Hood describes writing this investigation into
the conviction of childcare worker Peter Ellis as the literary equivalent of
a solo crossing of Antarctica. And after
reading the 600 or so pages of carefully researched, thoroughly argued points
I can quite believe it
2002-0529
- Otago Daily Times - Demonising any class of people is wrong
Demonising any class of people as devoid of humanity and beyond redemption is
wrong, writes Dunedin author Lynley Hood. There are dangers in the parallels
between the Christchurch Civic Creche case and the recent conviction of
Raymond White that we ignore at our peril.
2002-0521 -
Ministry Justice - Report On Hoods Book by Val Sim
by Ministry of Justice, Report to the Minister of Justice Phil Goff:
You have asked for a report on the book “A City Possessed” on the
Christchurch Civic Crèche case. In
particular, you asked whether the book discloses any new information which might
point to the need for further inquiry into the Peter Ellis case.
2002-0504 -
Dominion - Ellis turns to Privy Council
Peter Ellis, jailed for 10 years after being convicted of child sex abuse,
would almost certainly take his case to the Privy Council, his lawyer, Judith
Ablett Kerr, said yesterday. Ellis, who was found guilty of abusing seven
children from a Christchurch
creche in 1993 and freed from jail in 2000, has always maintained his
innocence. But he has exhausted all avenues in New Zealand to clear his name.
2002-0504
- Otago Daily Times - Ellis case could be election issue - Hood
by Fiona Clarkson - The Peter Ellis case could become an election issue, the
author of a book calling for a full case review and pardon for the former
Christchurch man believes.
2002-0503 -
NBR - New findings in controversial Ellis case
by Deborah Hill Cone - The emotive Peter Ellis case is set to re-ignite, with
a new poll out today showing most people think the convicted child abuser is
innocent, ahead of new legal proceedings to be filed. Mr Ellis' lawyer Judith Ablett-Kerr QC
revealed to NBR this week that she was preparing to take the Ellis case to
the Privy Council "before it disappears."
2002-0503 - NBR -
Poll reveals public view on case
by Deborah Hill Cone - A new poll out today which reveals most people think
convicted sexual abuser Peter Ellis is innocent will put more pressure on the
government to revisit the controversial case. The National Business Review
Compaq poll found 51 % of people now believe Ellis was not guilty of sexual
abuse at the Christchurch
crèche.
2002-0503
- Christchurch Citizen - Surely not further period of witch-hunting?
by Nick Lindo - Ellis re-visited? Can it really be true that yet another
charge of "child abuse" is about to be brought against Peter Ellis,
this one from a now 20-year-old who appears to feel he missed out on the orgy
of hysteria and false accusation, rampant in Christchurch during those disgraceful days
of 1992/3?
2002-0502 -
Evening Post - What do police want to prove?
by Gavin Dillon - Is it possible that Dunedin author Lynley
Hood, in her book A City Possessed, demonstrates her prowess as a
crime-buster in showing the police up as well behind the eight-ball and
losing their way?
2002-0500 - The Best
- The crazy case of Peter Ellis
by Greg Newbold – Review of A City Possessed - Even now, it
seems, few people believe that Ellis is guilty of anything. Cynical
journalists like Frank Haden, David McLoughlin, Melanie Reid, George Balani,
and Martin van Beynen - the only journalist to have sat right through the
trial - clearly think he is innocent. As more people read Lynley Hood's book,
and learn how Peter Ellis was railroaded into infamy, the injustice of his
case will become increasingly accepted. Like the witches who were burned in
the crazes of the Renaissance, history will judge Peter Ellis to have been
convicted on the basis not of reason, but in a frenzy of blind hysteria and
prejudice. At some point, this may officially be recognised. But at the
moment the judiciary is turning away from the plight of a man impugned by
some of the most absurd testimony ever heard in a New Zealand court. While that
situation remains, the legal system of this country stands indicted of
credulity, intransigence and dereliction in its duty to provide justice for
all, without fear or favour.
2002-0427 - Otago Daily
Times - Peter Ellis
by J K Gallagher - A City Possessed can upset only those who haven't read it.
Attention, Phil Goff. Lynley Hood explains, very clearly, a phenomenon that
occurred and the reasons that ancient malaise, mass-hysteria, took Christchurch over
because (as Hood's extraordinary amount of research reveals) the time was
right.
2002-0424 - Waikato
Times - Abuse probe widened
NZPA - Christchurch police are widening their investigation into the latest
complaint laid against Peter Ellis, to include two other people the alleged
victim claims also abused him.
2002-0424
- The Press - Police pursue abuse claim to two others
by Yvonne Martin - Police are widening their investigation into the latest complaint
laid against Peter Ellis to cover two other people the complainant claims
also abused him. A young Christchurch
man laid a formal complaint in January 2001 alleging that he was sexually
abused by Ellis and others when he was a boy at the Christchurch Civic
Childcare Centre. The complainant, now 20, was not party to the original
police inquiries in 1992-93 which resulted in Ellis being sentenced to 10
years jail for his conviction on 13 charges of abusing children in his care.
2002-0424 -
The Press - Police defend investigations' time
by Yvonne Martin - The police's child abuse unit, which is operating at
half-strength this week, has defended the time it takes to investigate sex
abuse allegations. The latest
complaint against Peter Ellis by a 20-year-old man was laid 15 months ago and
is still under investigation by the Christchurch
unit.
2002-0424
- Otago Daily Times - Man alleges abuse by Peter Ellis, others
NZPA - Christchurch: Police are widening their investigation into the latest
complaint laid against Peter Ellis, to include two other people the alleged
victim claims also abused him. A young Christchurch man laid a formal complaint in
January 2001 alleging he was sexually abused by Mr Ellis and others when he
was a boy at the Christchurch Civic Childcare Centre.
2002-0424
- Evening Post - Police widen Christchurch abuse probe
NZPA - Christchurch
police are widening their investigation into the latest complaint laid
against Peter Ellis to include two other people the alleged victim claims
also abused him. A young Christchurch
man laid a formal complaint in January 2001 alleging he was sexually abused
by Ellis and others when he was a boy at the Christchurch Civic Childcare
Centre.
2002-0424 - The Press -
Ellis complaint widens
by Yvonne Martin - Police are widening their
investigation into the latest complaint laid against Peter Ellis to cover two
other people the complainant claims were also abused by him. A young Christchurch man laid a
formal complaint in January 2001 alleging that he was sexually abused by
Ellis and others when he was a boy at the Christchurch Civic Childcare
Centre.
2002-0411 - Otago Daily
Times - Peter Ellis (Letter to Editor)
by Godfrey Bell, Auckland - I congratulate Ishbel Macdonald and her friends
on taking the stance not to vote Labour if the Minister of Justice does not
read Lynley Hood's A City Possessed
2002-0405
- Otago Daily Times - Peter Ellis (Letter to Editor)
by Ishbel Macdonald - If Justice Minister Phil Goff doesn't read Lynley
Hood's A City Possessed we will not be voting Labour in the next
election
2002-0327 - Nelson
Mail - Review of "A City Possessed"
Reviewed by Paula Batters - From the very first chapter, it soon becomes
clear that author Lynley Hood is not adverse to pulling punches. Dealing with
the sad and shocking story of one of New Zealand's most high-profile
criminal cases, this is a book to be taken seriously.
2002-0326 - Otago Daily
Times - Peter Ellis (Letter to Editor)
by Frank Macskasy - Justice Minister Phil Goff's refusal to read and consider
Lynley Hood's book, A City Possessed , about Peter Ellis, does not
engender confidence in the minister.
2002-0321 - Waikato Times -
Speak Up
by Frank MacSkasy - Phil Goff's refusal to read and consider Lynley Hood's
book, A City Possessed, about Peter Ellis, does not engender confidence in
the minister.
2002-0314 - Otago Daily
Times - Peter Ellis (Letter to Editor)
by Gordone Weare - Peter Ellis is the nation's "greatest victim of
political correctness".
2002-0312
- Southland Times - Taking todays moral high ground
by Penny Jamieson - Perhaps the moral panic that Lynley Hood has identified
as a factor in the conviction of Peter Ellis in the Christchurch Civic Creche
child abuse case was an over-strong reaction to our unease about some of the
ways in which we have made childhood an opportunity for business.
2002-0312 -
Otago Daily Times - Perhaps we should judge not
by Penny Jamieson - Perhaps the moral panic that Lynley Hood has recently
identified as a factor in the conviction of Peter Ellis in the Christchurch
Civic Creche child abuse case was an over-strong reaction to our unease about
some of the ways in which we have made childhood an opportunity for business
2002-0304 - Otago Daily
Times - Peter Ellis (Letter to editor)
by Ian Morgan - I am extremely concerned that nothing further is being done
to reopen the Peter Ellis case
2002-0300 - Massey
University Extramural Students' Society - Book Review
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?
2002-0227
- Dominion - Extract from: Goff sitting on report about Bain murders
by David McLoughlin - Last March, a report by Sir Thomas on the Christchurch
Civic Creche case was leaked days after publication of former chief justice
Sir Thomas Eichelbaum's report on the same case. The latter said childcare
worker Peter Ellis had failed to prove "by a distinct margin" that
he was innocent of child sexual abuse, but Sir Thomas Thorp said there was
"serious doubt" about the safety of Ellis's convictions
2002-0227 -
New Zealand Doctor - Sexual abuse case drop no surprise
by Ross Ogle - Dr Patrick Kelly ....has been reported in the national media
as "puzzled by the dramatic drop-off in reported sexual abuse of children".
The answer is pretty obvious to the rest of us, at the risk of popping
Patrick's bubble, may I suggest that he in his spare time read A City
Possessed by Lynley Hood, about the Christchurch Civic Creche case and Peter
Ellis.
2002-0224 - Sunday Star
Times - Faith Lost
by Peter Ellis - Is it any wonder the public has lost faith in the police?
2002-0223 -
Southland Times - Book Review of A City Possessed
Reviewed by Chris Chilton - Lynley Hood's book is important because of its
challenge to New Zealand's
judicial system. Whether you believe Peter Ellis performed the sex crimes
against Christchurch
children that he was found guilty of in 1993 is barely as relevant as the
questions Hood asks about the fallibility of the process that convicted him.
At the very least, A City Possessed
presents a compelling argument that the process is as fallible as the humans
who devise and uphold it.
2002-0223
- Dominion - Goff to be briefed on Ellis sex case book
Justice Minister Phil Goff, criticised for not having read Dunedin author
Lynley Hood's book on the Christchurch Civic Creche case, will get a
departmental briefing on what it says.
2002-0221 -
NZ Political Review - Agenda politics - our legacy
by Keith Rankin - “How could large numbers of intelligent people be persuaded
to support the conviction of a man for a crime that never took place? Quite
easily, actually. If we know our history, we know that convictions that defy
reason have taken place many times”.
2002-0221 - The Press - Ellis Case
by Tighe Instone - “The publication of Hood's A City Possessed does not
appear to have added anything new to the debate re Ellis' guilt or innocence.
It probably has added to, and perpetuated the myth that massive hysteria
surrounded the case”.
2002-0221 -
Otago Daily Times - Phil Goff and the Ellis case
Peter Ellis served nearly seven years in jail, of a 10-year sentence, for
"crimes" that are about as valid as those that condemned
17th-century witches.
2002-0220 -
Otago Daily Times - Ellis calls for new inquiry
Peter Ellis has called on Justice Minister Phil Goff to launch a new inquiry
into his conviction after the New Zealand Law Journal highlighted
flaws in the way his case was handled.
2002-0219 - Waikato
Times - Ellis wants new inquiry
NZPA - Peter Ellis has called on Justice Minister Phil Goff to launch a new
inquiry into his conviction after the New Zealand Law Journal highlighted
flaws in the way his case was handled.
2002-0219 -
Evening Post - Ellis Repeats Inquiry Call
NZPA - Peter Ellis has called on Justice Minister Phil Goff to launch a new
inquiry into his conviction after the Law Journal highlighted flaws in the
way his case was handled.
2002-0219 - The Press -
The Peter Ellis Case
by G Mutch; Since
the publication of Ms Hood's book, silence
has reigned over virtually everyone involved in the injustice to which it
refers
2002-0219 - The
Press - Ellis asks Goff for new inquiry
Peter Ellis has called on Justice Minister Phil Goff to launch a new inquiry
into his conviction after the New Zealand Law Journal highlighted flaws in
the way his case was handled
2002-0219
- Daily News - Even Phil Goff will not be able to ignore Ellis case soon
Peter Ellis served nearly seven years in jail, of a 10-year sentence, for
"crimes" that are about as valid as those that condemned
17th-century witches. The wide and
long-standing public scepticism about the bizarre case has won another significant
supporter, the New Zealand Law Journal
2002-0218
- Dominion - Handling of Ellis case flawed, says law editor
NZPA - The New Zealand Law Journal has attacked the legal system's handling
of the Peter Ellis case, using Dunedin writer Lynley Hood's book A City Possessed as a starting point.
In an editorial to be published today, the independent publication says
former chief justice Sir Thomas Eichelbaum's judgment when leading a
ministerial inquiry into the case was either wrongly directed or at fault.
The writer of the article, journal editor Bernard Robertson, calls for the
repeal of part of the Evidence Act, questions if the appeals process can
deliver justice, and says that courts have been "conned" by
psychologists.
2002-0218 - NZ
Herald - Law journal attacks Ellis process
The legal system's handling of the Peter Ellis case was flawed, says
the New Zealand Law Journal. In an
editorial to be published today , the independent publication says former
Chief Justice Sir Thomas Eichelbaum's judgment, when leading a ministerial
inquiry into the Christchurch Civic Creche child-abuse case, was either
wrongly directed or at fault.
2002-0218 - New Zealand
Law Journal - Editorial - The Ellis Case
by Bernard Robertson; There are
several systemic matters which clearly require attention and which, it seems,
require attention today just as much as a decade ago.
q
Police investigation:
q
Section 23G of the Evidence Act
q
Psychological evidence
q
The appeal structure
2002-0216
- Waikato Times - Ellis case shows legal flaws:-Paper
NZPA - The New Zealand Law Journal has attacked the legal system's handling
of the Peter Ellis case, using Dunedin author Lynley Hood's book A City
Possessed as a launching point for its attack.
2002-0216
- Otago Daily Times - Hood book reference in attack on Ellis case
The New Zealand Law Journal has blasted the legal system's handling of
the Peter Ellis case, using Dunedin author Lynley Hood's book A City
Possessed as a launching point for its attack
2002-0208 - The
Press - A City Possessed - Karen Zelas
Letter to the Press by Karen Zelas, and response by N Gillespie, asking Zelas
for a comment on the book A City Possessed
2002-0204 - Listener -
Unbelievable Abuse
by Lynn Crook… Dr Michael Corballis takes a provocative stance in his review
of Lynley Hood's A City Possessed:
2002-0203 - Sunday News -
Guilty or not?
by Daphne Fletcher; How that man got jail I'll never understand
2002-0201 - Rotary
Club of Invercargill - Book Review
by Mike Prouting; This is a work of
scholarship of the highest academic standard . . . the interpretation is a
very important one, and is clearly supported by the evidence".
2002-0201 - NZ Truth - Justice
a dream
by Brian Andrews; I dreamt that Phil
Goff ….. eventually apologised to Ellis.
2002-0131 - The
Star - The Rich Report - A City Possessed
by Katherine Rich, M.P. “There is not
space in this column to list the evidence but it's my personal opinion that
if the jury had seen and heard all the evidence (despite the mood of Christchurch at the
time) Peter Ellis could not have been found guilty beyond reasonable doubt”.
2002-0127 - Radio NZ -
Sunday Supplement2002-0121_Listener_MaladyLingersOn.htm
An attack on 'a review on a book about the Civic Creche Case' by Anne Else.
She was obviously referring to the review of 'A City Possessed' in the
latest Listener (refer 2002-0121), but she didn't name the journal or the
book. She obviously hasn't read the book.
2002-0121 - Listener -
Malady lingers on
Review of A City Possessed, by Michael Corballis
”This courageous book, which has already featured in the pages of this
magazine, is a detailed, step-by-step account of what happened in the
Christchurch Civic Creche case. Lynley Hood has set this sorry affair in the
context of the wave of hysteria over ritual child abuse that swept the
Western world in the 1980s and early 1990s “
2002-0120
- Sunday Star Times - Childrens testimony unreliable
by Bernard Gadd - Readers
of the Sunday Star-Times' coverage of Lynley Hood's meticulous investigation
of the Peter Ellis case might be interested to know a recent study has
demonstrated clearly that testimony regarding sexual abuse from children as
young as those in the Christchurch creche case cannot be relied upon. The study is presented in the Journal of
Experimental Psychology: Applied Vol 7, p 27.
2002-0120
- FARE - Commission of inquiry must investigate court corruption
"Corruption in the Court system is a common occurrence", FARE
spokesperson Darryl Ward said today
2002-0119
- Dominion - Job threat stopped expert's Ellis evidence
by David McLoughlin - A senior Christchurch
psychologist says he was "frightened" out of giving expert evidence
at the 1993 Peter Ellis trial by a Justice Department official who suggested
he would miss out on further state-funded referrals if he did.
2002-0114 - North
and South - An Authors Moral Right
by Lynley Hood - Lauren Quaintance’s article The Lonely Journey of Lynley
Hood (November) and Ros Henry’s response (Letters, December) raise
questions about the ethical and moral dimensions of book editing…..(the
letter is in response to the censorship problems Lynley Hood experienced in
publishing A City Possessed)
2002-0113 -
Sunday Star Times - Money for old sex abuse
by Frank Haden - I was horrified to hear of a law firm’s plans to
investigate and prosecute claims for compensation for alleged sex abuse in
return for a quarter of the proceeds ….
2002-0113 -
Sunday Star Times - Past forgotten in ACC shift
Editorial - Once again our flawed
and problematic accident compensation regime, in attempting to take a step
forward, has taken more than two back.
2002-0112 - The Press -
What are you mad about?
by Warwick Roger - Over the summer break I read A City Possessed, Lynley
Hood's colossal work of investigative journalism on the Christchurch Civic
Creche alleged child sexual abuse case…..
2002-01 - FMS Newsletter -
A City Possessed
The 672 pages of this meticulously researched book follow this framework to
show what went wrong in the most notorious day care case in New Zealand
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