http://onenews.nzoom.com/onenews_detail/0,1227,210443-1-7,00.html

One News
ONE News sourced from TVNZ, RNZ, Reuters and AAP
August 3 2003

Paper publishes creche abuse ad

Exerpts from a series of interviews with five and six-year-olds, some of which were withheld from the jury in the case of the convicted child sex offender Peter Ellis, have been published in a Sunday newspaper.

Ellis supporter Barry Colman paid for the publication, saying the interviews were conducted by the Child Young Persons and their Families Service.

Several interviews conducted with children, identified as B, K and E, discuss occasions when the children say they were with Ellis at his house or at the Christchurch Civic Creche 10 years ago.

The material is headed with a question asking whether Ellis is a child molester or the victim of a witch hunt.

Ellis served 10 years in prison for sex offences against children but has maintained his innocence.

Some of the testimony published as a paid advertisement in the newspaper was never heard by the jury. Colman says he hopes the interviews will boost public awareness of the case and show that much of what has been said is just fantasy.

On Saturday, child advocates expressed outrage that graphic information from interviews was to be published as an advertisement.

Colman paid $25,000 to print the interviews because he said the evidence was not given to the jury during Ellis' trial.

"It is not erotic in any shape or form. It shows a lot of children who are very confused, who are asked the same question over and over again till they get the answer the interviewer writes," the businessman said.

But child advocates are worried the publication will stop victims from speaking out and provide more material for paedophiles.

"We already have a sophisticated ring of paedophiles out there that already have too much information...I do not think it would be helpful for them to have any more," said Heather Henare from Child Abuse Prevention Services.

Shannon Pakura, Chief Social Worker for Child, Youth and Family, says there was nothing they could do to stop the advertisement being printed.

Ellis was released in 2000 after serving a six and a half years in jail for sexual abuse at the Christchurch Civic Creche.