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The Sunday Star Times
August 17, 2003
Put an end to the Ellis insanity
Letter to the Editor
by Alan Wilkinson (Russell)
You
are absolutely right (August 10) that the Ellis case needs an investigator
independent of the New Zealand judiciary.
There is no need for new evidence, simply for new and unbiased eyes to
examine all of it and finally put an end to this insanity and injustice.
My wife worked at the civic creche before Peter Ellis. Had we not moved to Auckland, she would
almost certainly have been falsely accused along with all the other innocent
and good people who worked there.
The accusations should have been dismissed in a moment as farcical and
impossible.
They were by everyone who knew intimately how the creche operated and also
knew the nature of the prime accuser.
Justice Williamson made a mess of both the Ellis and Bain cases by
suppressing evidence helpful to the defence.
The Sunday Star Times
August 17, 2003
Justice doesn't count
Letter to the Editor
by Bill McMillan (Paraparaumu
Beach)
The history of the Peter Ellis case tells me that protection of a lucrative
judicial infrastructure rates more highly than justice for the individual.
The Sunday Star Times
August 17, 2003
The bigger picture
Letter to the Editor
by Tessa Bowden (Dunedin)
It is of concern that attempts in recent months to refocus public attention
on the Peter Ellis case may distract the public from the larger picture of
what has happened in Christchurch.
There would seem to have been a disproportionate number of paedophile sexual
abuse cases in Christchurch
compared with other parts of New
Zealand. Perhaps we should be asking
questions about this.
Father Paddy Thwaites was the parish priest at Riccarton. He was convicted of
sexual abuse in 1999 and served a prison sentence. He has always maintained
his innocence. The people who know him are aware of his innocence.
Clearly, the deafening silence in support of Thwaites is inversely
proportional to the very vocal resurgence in concern as expressed in recent
months about the Ellis case.
What other elements do the Twaites case and the Ellis case have in common?
Is the Ellis case part of a larger and different picture over time than has
been considered thus far?
The Sunday Star Times
August 17, 2003
Out of Harry Potter
Letter to the Editor
by Jill Whitehead,
(Auckland)
How the Christchurch Civic Creche saga ever got to court is quite incredible.
To convict Peter Ellis on such trumped up, bizarre charges is quite appalling
and for a judge to disallow the jury from hearing all the videotapes was an
absolute disgrace.
Thank you Barry Colman for having the guts to publish the excerpts from the
transcripts recorded from these poor brainwashed children.
It is apparent from each interrogation their imaginations ran completely
riot.
Apart from their sexual fantasies, talk about trapdoors and secret doors in
the wall sounds like something out of
Harry Potter.
For the most credible of the child witnesses to retract her allegations and
state she had lied because she had said what she thought her mother and the
interviewer wanted to hear says it all.
This case has been ludicrous from start to finish. It has ruined one man's
life and reputation, put the reputations of the women creche workers on the
line, cost the taxpayers millions.
I hate to think what these sick adults have done to the poor children
involved - the scars will probably last for years.
My heart and compassion goes out to children and their families who genuinely
have been the victims of paedophiles.
If Phil Goff still thinks this case does not need a further inquiry he is not
the minister of justice this country needs and should resign.
The Sunday Star Times
August 17, 2003
Believing the Children
Letter to the Editor
by Dorothy Dean,
(Bluff)
Around the time Lynley Hood's book appeared, I heard her being interviewed by
Kim Hill.
I formed an impression of an obsessed and bigoted anti-feminist who will
brook no opposition to her convictions.
This led me to harbour doubts about the likely objectivity of the book. So I
have to confess that I have not read it - head in the sand stuff.
Your editorial (August 10) suggests that highly qualified experts are able to
get things wrong but you then cite other experts who have signed the petition
as justification for a royal commission.
Right now the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston is about to pay $US55
million to children abused by clergy over six decades.
All those unbelieved children. Some of them must have spoken about the abuse
they were suffering.
Why weren't they believed? This says something about our western culture and
the assumptions about believing children perhaps.
Did Ellis have any history of paedophilia prior to being employed at the
creche?
Of course, I don't believe in the supernatural silly nonsense but was all the
evidence so tainted and ridiculous that it all had to be discredited?
Is it really so odd that the childish fantasy stuff was not given as
evidence?
Presumably the evidence that was provided was deemed convincing by the jury
at the time.
[Hood has never been interviewed by
Kim Hill - Sunday Star Times Editor]
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