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Otago
Daily Times
August 23, 2003
Support for testimony
by Jane Smith
Publisher Barry
Colman has pledged to share half the expenses the Commissioner for Children
Roger McClay has offered to former Christchurch Civic Creche children to
testify before Parliament's justice select committee.
"I believe convening a royal commission of inquiry into the affair is
the right way to investigate the very serious issues it has raised. But if
the people involved at the creche want to testify before a Parliamentary
committee which may throw more light on to this case, I would welcome
it," Mr Colman said
Mr McClay has said he did not have $20,000 "like big powerful
people" who supported convicted paedophile Peter Ellis, but there were
"a few dollars" available from a fund gifted to his office to help
the victims of child abuse.
Mr Colman applauded Mr McClay's initiative and said he would match any money
given by the commissioner's office to the allegedly abused children, now
teenagers, so they could testify.
"Any money I have spent so far has been to . . . get to the bottom of
this Peter Ellis affair. If I can do something to throw even more light on
this issue I would be glad to help," he said.
He said Mr McClay needed to keep an open mind on the Ellis case in light of
the "highly questionable testimonies" of the children which led to
Ellis' conviction.
"I don't know any big, powerful people who are campaigning for any other
reason than finding out the truth. Huge numbers of New Zealanders are very
uneasy about the blatantly biased and uncorroborated evidence used to arrest
the five creche workers and convict their only male staffer of child abuse .
. . Many people think Ellis was a victim of a witch hunt and didn't get a
fair trial."
Last month, Mr Colman offered a $100,000 reward for new information and
earlier this month paid $20,500 to publish unedited sections of the
youngsters' testimonies on two full pages of the Sunday Star Times .
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