Waikato Times
July 7, 2003

Flawed Practices
Letter to Editor
by Brian Robinson (June 27)

(Note: The published letter was abridged, and did not include the content shown in italics)

On 24 June, 140 prominent New Zealanders presented a petition to the Minister of Justice, requesting a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Christchurch Civic Creche case. On the same day, Parentline organised a public meeting about sexual abuse in Hamilton.

I attended the meeting and stared into the jaws of our local sex abuse industry. What I saw was not healthy, even though the cause of stopping child sexual abuse is very important and worthy.

The representative from the police sexual abuse team appeared to be in a time warp from the early 1990s. He described the police responsibilities only in terms of achieving a conviction. Hamilton police do not appear to have learnt from the Nick Wills case of 1995 and the John Edgar case of 1998 that they also have a responsibility to properly investigate cases with an open mind.

Speakers threw around exaggerated statistics without reference to sources, such as saying that "one in four girls are sexually abused" when they should have been very aware that the rate found in a comprehensive NZ study was significantly lower. Two speakers emphasised that complaints must "be believed", oblivious to the confirmatory bias that such a stance will generate. None of the speakers even mentioned, let alone expressed concern, that some complaints may be false, and of the horrendous consequences of supporting false sex accusations.

I am even more convinced of the urgent necessity for an inquiry into the crèche case. I have no confidence that the flawed practices that resulted in a grave injustice to Peter Ellis have been discarded.