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This page last updated January
29 2006
2003-0600 - Evasion - The Fall Guy
by Anne Mathers - Reading Lynley Hood's exact and exacting account of the
Christchurch Civic Creche child abuse case, you imagine it must have taken a
person of perfect composure and delicate negotiating skills to get it
written. The case of four female and one male crèche worker charged with
horrific sexual abuse of numerous children in their care divided the small
city in the early 1990s. Charges against the women were thrown out, but Peter
Ellis, the sole man charged with the crimes, spent seven years in prison, and
was released in early 2000 as one of New Zealand's most notorious child sex
offenders.
2003-0528 - The Press - The Quality
of Mercy
By
Matt Conway - A Justice ministry review has recommended setting up an
independent board, perhaps chaired by a retired judge, to investigate
wrongful conviction claims. The proposal echoes Britain’s Criminal Cases
Review Commission, launched in 1997 to probe suspected miscarriages of
justice. Its genesis was the disquieting Birmingham Six affair, in which six
men were wrongly jailed for IRA pub bombings. The review here was prompted by
the increasing complexity and number of mercy pleas (55 in the last eight
years), including such high profile cases as convicted child abuser Peter
Ellis…..
2003-0420
- Sunday Star Times - Offenders' mercy system in for rejig
by
Deidre Mussen -- An overhaul is planned for the system used by convicted
offenders claiming a miscarriage of justice. A Justice Ministry discussion
paper on the royal prerogative of mercy system recommends establishing an
independent body to consider petitions. It was prompted by the increasing
number and complexity of petitions over the past five years and changes
overseas for miscarriage of justice cases.
2003-0420
- Sunday Star Times - Campaigners give up on Ellis over net dispute
by
Amie Richardson -- Convicted child abuser Peter Ellis' longest campaigner has
given up the fight to clear his name after a dispute over whether Ellis
should buy a computer. Supporter Winston Wealleans, who has campaigned for
Ellis for 10 years, said he encouraged him to buy a computer so he could
access and exchange information with people over the internet. Ellis refused
2003-0415 --Otago Daily
Times - Letter to the Editor by Suzanne George
I
perceive a mind-set and inconsistency in Lynley Hood's research into alleged
child sexual abuse in her book, A City Possessed. She states
"credibility will be destroyed if [biographers] ignore their
responsibility to tell readers the whole story, without fear or favour".
That rule applies to all so-called academia. I challenge the apparent failure
to fully investigate why, during the 1970s, a critical mass of women (not
necessarily radical feminists) took decisive action against both sexual and
domestic violence, why there was a proliferation in women's studies courses,
and a perceived failure to fully explore recovered memory, among other
one-sided inconsistencies
Follow up Correspondence:
2003-0429
- Otago Daily Times - Letter by Suzanne George
My
lawyer interacts with social workers and they try to deal with the sexual
abuse epidemic.
2003-0508 -
Otago Daily Times - Letter by Lynley Hood
A
City Possessed ... contains many substantiated examples of ACC fraud based on
false allegations of sexual abuse
2003-0508 -
Otago Daily Times - Letter by Mel Tapp
I
have found Lynley Hood's book well researched and fail to see how any
fair-minded person could feel justice was done in this case
2003-0508 - Otago Daily
Times - Letter by Dave Witherow
Suzanne
George still doesn't know what she's talking about
2003-0519
- Otago Daily Times - Letter by Suzanne George
Many
women feel betrayed by this book
2003-0411 - Maxim
Institute - Teaching the young
It's
no surprise that a decade after the conviction of Peter Ellis in the
Christchurch Civic Creche case the proportion of men in early childhood education
(ECE) has fallen from 2 percent to 1 percent.
2003-0409
- Independent - Govt plans another constitutional change - in secret
by
Jenni McManus - At present, the Governor-General, acting on the advice of her
ministers, can issue a pardon without reference to the courts if the
government believes this is warranted, as happened with Arthur Allan
Thomas....... Alternatively, the matter can be referred back to the Court of
Appeal under the Crimes Act, as happened recently with Peter Ellis, David
Dougherty and David Bain.
2003-0402
- Otago Daily Times - Independent, regionally-based appeal court is needed
by
Fred Fastier -- An international
appeal court based in the South Pacific might be a better option than the
Government's proposed Supreme Court as New Zealand's final court of appeal
.....
...... Recently, many New Zealanders
have been reading Lynley Hood's A City Possessed. This is a detailed account,
not only of the trial of Peter Ellis, but also of the building up of a
climate of opinion that almost certainly precluded a fair trial. Due to the
efforts of pressure groups, Parliament has so altered the rules of evidence
obtaining in child abuse trials that the scales of justice were savagely
tipped against the defendant. Witnesses are ordinarily required to give
evidence in person and to be subject to cross-examination, because that is thought
to make it much easier for the judge and jury to assess the credibility of
the evidence.
In the Christchurch creche case, the children did not appear in court, their
evidence being provided in the form of videotapes. It was presumed that
children of even that tender age would be telling the truth. As it happened,
the oldest subsequently admitted that his evidence was false. It is difficult
to imagine how some of the acts that Mr Ellis was alleged to have committed
could have taken place at all, let alone without their having been witnessed
by adults; yet no adult witnesses of these acts were produced by the
prosecution. Its case was based on what could be deduced from videotapes
featuring preschool children.
Why do I mention this case? My basic concern is the part played in it by
defective legislation. Altering rules of evidence made it possible to obtain
a conviction that almost certainly would not have resulted had the ordinary
rules applied
2003-0400
- Journal Australia NZ College of
Psychiatrists - Review of A City Possessed
Review by Lisa Brown -- Whether or not you agree with author Lynley Hood's
views on the falseness of the allegations is not the point of reading this
book; the book effectively raises questions that anyone in the area of child
sexual abuse will find interesting and challenging.
2003-0319 - NZ Herald -
New look at no touch teaching
by
Theresa Garner -- . A teachers' policy
of avoiding physical contact with children is under review after new research
found a vicious circle of self-surveillance and anxiety. University of
Auckland education lecturer Alison Jones interviewed 55 primary school
teachers and principals on their reluctance to touch children because of
widespread social anxiety about sexual abuse.
2003-0303 - NZEI: Rourou -
What’s all the fuss about?
New January 29 2006
 The
"touch" issue is a biggie in early childhood, particularly since
the Christchurch Crèche case involving Peter Ellis, who was jailed for sex
offences against children in his care. "For me, it always sits there -
that one day there might be an accusation," Wilson says.
2003-0224 - Minister
Justice - Press Conference
Hon Phil Goff - The charges on which Peter Ellis had been convicted were properly
found. That was supported by the independent evidence of two international
experts in child abuse and the hearing of evidence of child witnesses. Given
that advice, there was no other conclusion that I could come to but that the
matter not proceed. I have invited Mr Ellis and his advisers and supporters
that they are able to lodge a petition for the exercise of the royal
prerogative of mercy. The criteria that are required for that are that there
needs to be new evidence that has not already been considered before a court
of law.
2003-0222 - Daily News -
Right to do anything should have no gender limitations
Editorial - There are more subtle and insidious changes as well that are shifting
the balance in ways that will hurt all society. The vexing issue of claims of
sexual misbehaviour is an example where the males are automatically
mistrusted. People like Peter Ellis claim to be among the ultimate victims,
but so are a host of other men -- from school teachers to some fathers who
are scared to be left alone with children
2003-0202 - Sunday
Star Times - Where's the evidence for war?
by
Frank Haden - Peter Ellis, falsely accused in the Christchurch Civic Creche
case, will have recognised the cynicism of Iraq being told the lack of
evidence of hidden weapons is proof it has them. Ellis was told the lack of
evidence to back up the children's allegations was proof he was guilty. We
are told to prove we don't have any weapons, the Iraqis say. How can we prove
a negative? Ellis couldn't prove it, either.
2003-0120 -
Southland Times - Looking into a deviant's mind
Editorial - As the risks become better known, the protective instincts of society
kick in, understandably, though in ways not always appropriate. Many now
believe the conviction of Peter Ellis in the Christchurch civic creche case
was, at best, unsafe. Dr John Edgar
was emphatically acquitted of eight charges of indecency against Hamilton
children, though only after a nightmare of recriminations and reproach. More
than that, though, the climate of suspicion is making it harder for men to
enter teaching ranks or, for that matter, to show such innocent displays of
affection as gathering a child into their lap.
2003-0115 -
Christchurch Star - Notable police career earns QSM
Police
officers could write a book about phone calls in the middle of the night
which change their lives for months on end, says new Queens Service Medal
recipient and ex-cop Brian Pearce. The former CIB Detective Inspector was
awarded his QSM in the New Year's honours list. ....... cases he has worked
on included ....administration level work in the civic creche
2003-0111 - NZ Herald -
The courage of conviction
by
Paula Oliver -- . Writer Lynley Hood,
who wrote the award-winning book A City Possessed: the Christchurch Civic
Creche Case, is not a campaigner in the Karam style. She is seen as an
advocate for Peter Ellis - the man convicted of abusing children in a creche
- but in fact, approached her task not caring if he was guilty or innocent.
She says she was interested in the panic surrounding child sex cases and how
public outrage could outweigh the scales of justice. It was only as she
researched that she began to see flaws in the case against Ellis and the way
the justice system handled the complaints. "It was an uncomfortable
position to find myself in. I wasn't used to taking sides in my books."
2003-0110 - NZ Herald -
Question time: Don Brash, National
Question:
What book are you reading at present?
Brash: A City Possessed by Lynley
Hood, the Peter Ellis story. It's a profoundly disturbing book.
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