The Herald
July 4 2003

Letter to the Editor
by Ian Hassall, Epsom

Much of the concern in the Ellis case appears to hinge on two points - the screening out of some children's testimony and the credibility of children's evidence in general.

On the matter of screening, if children's evidence is either irrelevant or lacking in credibility it seems quite proper that it should not be put forward by the prosecution. This was what happened, according to her own account, in the case of one of the children, now a young woman, who has added her name to the list of petitioners. Her evidence indicated she had not been abused, so it was not included in the trial.

With regard to the reliability of children's evidence in general, it is possible to arrive at an approximation of the truth based on adult and child testimony and the processes that we have painstakingly accumulated over the centuries for testing it. Our system of justice is not perfect and never will be but it is the best method we have of getting at the truth.

There is a risk to children in the present debate of the clock being turned back to a time when they were disbelieved simply because they were children and effectively excluded from a justice system that failed to accommodate them.   Abusers should not be allowed to feel safe in their activities and the children should not be denied the opportunity to escape.