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Cartoon, Garrick Tremain, August 4, 2003
2003-0814 - NZ Herald - Ellis Case
by
Barbara Faithfull - In their criticism of Lynley Hood's book A City
Possessed, Jeffrey Masson and Emma Davies laboriously defend the credibility
of the "one in four" sex abuse figures which Hood discounts. They were of course, used with great
success in the scandalously misleading publicity for the 1988 telethon.
.....certain people persist not only in giving credence to those mythical
figures, but even fiercely defending them. With some it will be simply
through ignorance, but with others this will not be so, in which case we need
to ask why.
2003-0814 - The
Press - Guilty or liberal scapegoat?
by Rosemary McLeod - I may be the only person who didn't leap to join the
Peter Ellis campaign when they were asked. It's not that I have an opinion on
his guilt or innocence, and that's the first reason why I didn't join up,
it's that the issues that arose from the Christchurch Civic Creche case seem
to look different to me.
2003-0813 - NZ Herald -
Ellis Case
by Tighe Instone - (to be added)
2003-0813 - NZ Herald - Ellis Case
by Lynley Hood - As befits supporters of recovered memory therapy (now known euphemistically
as abuse-focussed therapy), Jeffrey Masson and Emma Davies rely on statistics
that have been either discredited or misrepresented to support their
otherwise insupportable beliefs
2003-0812 - NZ Herald - Ellis Case
by
Dr John Read - Three days after reading that Otago University awarded Lynley
Hood an honorary doctorate, Jeffrey Masson and Emma Davies publish the first
balanced analysis of the many biases in Hood's book. How could Otago University's
examiners have missed all the misrepresentations and omissions identified by
Drs Masson and Davies? Fortunately it was a doctorate for literature not
science. A good story does not need to fit the facts.
2003-0812 - Newstalk
ZB - Ellis campaign on the web
Publisher
Barry Colman puts further testimonies from children at the Christchurch Civic
Creche on to a website. Mr Colman says Peter Ellis was convicted on 16 counts
of abusing seven children, despite the fact there was no physical evidence,
and there were no adult eye witnesses. He was convicted solely on the
testimony of seven young children. On the website, Mr Colman points out that
the oldest and most credible of the child witnesses later retracted her
allegations, saying she lied about what happened because she thought that was
what her mother and the interviewer wanted her to say.
2003-0811 - Dominion Post -
To the point
by
Dennis Pennefather - If I understand your editorial on Peter Ellis correctly
(August 5), you are saying that it's more important to stay with a verdict
handed out by the justice system, regardless of whether it is right or wrong
when considered against all available evidence, than to challenge the system
in the event that he was innocent. Is that your position -- that you've got
to break a few eggs to make an omelet?
2003-0811 - peterellis.org.nz - Toddler
Testimonies
On the 3 August, Barry Colman published an advertisement in the Sunday Star
Times, in which he included transcripts of interviews with some of the child
complainants. Barry Colman has now included fuller transcripts, previously
not published for lack of space, on the website.
2003-0811 - NZ
Herald - Ellis book research questioned
Lynley Hood's book on the Peter Ellis case has inspired a petition to clear
his name. Jeffrey Masson and Emma
Davies question the book's treatment of research on child sexual abuse.
Unlike some of the petitioners, we cannot comment on the guilt or innocence
of Peter Ellis, but if the research of the first three chapters of Lynley
Hood's book A City Possessed is anything to go by, one should be cautious
about her analysis.
2003-0810 - Sunday
Star Times - The Ellis case: Time for Action
Editorial - The Peter Ellis case won't go away. Despite repeated court hearings
and an inquiry by Sir Thomas Eichelbaum, the suspicion persists that an
injustice has been done. Justice Minister Phil Goff points to these
investigations and refuses to re-open the case, despite a petition signed by
11 law professors, 11 Queen's Counsels, and a retired high court judge. Goff
is wrong to refuse. The Christchurch Civic Creche affair suggests the experts
can get it repeatedly wrong. Disturbing problems and issues remain, and a
royal commission is needed to examine them
2003-0810
- Sunday Star Times - Ellis case our Salem witch hunt
by
Peter Williams, QC - In a society where the rights of the underdog are less
and less respected, it is refreshing and perhaps even comforting that
millionaire publisher Barry Colman should take up cudgels on behalf of Peter
Ellis, wrongly convicted of child sexual abuse. The published testimonies of
witnesses clearly reveal a pattern of childish, bizarre, unreliable fantasies
similar to the evidence in the Salem witch trials that caused 19 convicted
"witches" to be hanged and many other suspects persecuted in
Massachusetts in 1692.
2003-0810 - Sunday
Star Times - Show some courage
by
G Mutch - Barry Colman has dispelled the myth that no abuse occurred in terms
of the Christchurch Civic Creche case. Indeed the video transcripts suggest
not inconsiderable harassment of victims by CYFS interviewers
2003-0810 - Sunday Star Times
- Obvious
by
Ralph Williams - It becomes blindingly
obvious the only abuse suffered by the Christchurch creche children was
perpetrated by the interviewers
2003-0810 - Sunday Star
Times - Demand justice
by
K Barnett - With reference to the Peter Ellis transcripts published - Phil
Goff, please read them. .....Come on New Zealand, rise up and demand justice
for Ellis.
2003-0810 - Sunday
Star Times - Suiting themselves
by
Ian Hood - After reading "The toddler testimonies", it is clear why
this evidence was barred. The jury would have laughed the case out of court
2003-0810 - Sunday Star
Times - Waste of money
by
Glen Stanton - After reading those interviews, I would say he was more than
likely guilty and got off lightly serving only 6-1/2 years of his ten year
sentence
2003-0810 - Sunday Star
Times - Why complain?
by
Simon Bergman - those on Ellis' side and those prosecuting him agreed not to
put [the testimony] before the jury. So, where's the beef?
2003-0810 - Sunday Star Times
- No crime
by
Jerome O'Malley - It is increasingly apparent that the "new"
evidence required by Phil Goff to set up a commission of inquiry is the
testimony that was never presented to a jury.
2003-0810
- Sunday Star Times - Wake up Phil Goff and smell the injustice
by Lynley Hood - Author Lynley
Hood, whose book A City Possessed
reignited debate over the Christchurch Civic Creche saga and the safety of
Peter Ellis' convictions, tells Phil Goff the 15 things he should know about
the case.
2003-0810
- Sunday Star Times - Goff wrong about need for new Ellis evidence
by
Deidre Mussen - New evidence is not required by law to establish a Royal
Commission of Inquiry into convicted child sex abuser Peter Ellis' case,
despite Justice Minister Phil Goff's insistence for it. Under the 1908
Commission of Inquiry Act, a minister decides whether a case warrants asking
cabinet to decide if an inquiry is needed. The minister sets the threshold
for deciding to seek an inquiry, in consultation with his or her officials
and the Crown Law Office. Cabinet's approval is the next step but ultimately
the governor-general must give approval for an inquiry to be established.
2003-0810 -
Sunday Star Times - A creature of contradictions
by Anthony Hubbard - The campaign to clear Peter Ellis, convicted of child
abuse in the 1993 Christchurch Civic Creche case, refuses to die. Anthony
Hubbard meets the man at the centre of the storm. It's a dodgy game, says
Peter Ellis, lifting one's spirits. He blows out a mouthful of smoke and the
canaries witter and cheep. "Hope's an extraordinarily cruel word. You
get your hopes up, you get your hopes dashed. So you just flatline."
Ellis sits on the bed in his vast yellow room, an outsider in the saga of the
"Peter Ellis case".
2003-0810 - Sunday Star
Times - The story so far
The Peter Ellis case: Significant events summarised by date
2003-0809 -
Dominion Post - As credible as abductions
by Bernard Robertson - Your
editorial on the Peter Ellis case (August 5) was little short of disgraceful,
suggesting that the integrity of the justice system can be preserved by
sweeping these matters under the carpet...... Sir Thomas Eichelbaum went
beyond his terms of reference in his conclusion and if the process he
followed had resulted in a judicial decision, it would be thrown out on
appeal as being one-sided. He was advised by a Canadian "expert" in
satanic ritual abuse, a subject that has about as much credibility as alien
abductions. The whole point about the jury verdict is that the jury was
hoodwinked by not being allowed to see the evidence the public is now being
shown
2003-0809 - The Press - Ellis case
by G Mutch - If Arthur Allan Thomas is following the Peter Ellis saga,
he must be counting his lucky stars that Phil Goff wasn't around during his
fight for justice
2003-0809 -
Dominion Post - The book has been written
by Norman Orange - It is not just the integrity of the justice system
that we should be concerned about but equally, the integrity of the police,
the parents, the children and the social workers. The book has been written.
All it requires is for the justice minister and his colleagues to have the
courage to instigate an inquiry that will allow this shameful issue to be put
to rest.
2003-0809
- Letter to NZ Herald - Congratulations to Diana Wichtel
by
Gordon Waugh - Congratulations to Diana Wichtel (Comment, Aug 9) for her
clear insight into the Ellis conviction and for her courage to constructively
criticise that shameful affair. The Christchurch Creche case is virtually
identical to scores of others overseas. With few exceptions, those
convictions have since been quashed by appellate courts because the beliefs,
assumptions and interrogation methods used were unreliable, unsafe and
fatally flawed.
2003-0809 - NZ
Herald - Women and the Peter Ellis affair
by
Diana Wichtel - The women never seem to be mentioned by parents of the creche
children and others who oppose any further questioning of the Ellis verdict.
If we are to believe the children in the case of Ellis, surely we must
believe them in the case of the women, too. If the women were also
paedophiles, why doesn't anyone care? "Some people seem to think that
because Ellis continues to say he's innocent, he must be," wrote
commentator Sandra Coney in 1999. What Ellis says doesn't worry me a bit.
What does concern me is what those who believe so strongly that Ellis is
guilty fail to say anything about the women. As long as Ellis' conviction
remains in place, they seem content.
2003-0809 -
NZ Herald - Author gets top marks for Ellis-case work
by
Alan Perrott - Lynley Hood, author of a controversial book which pulled apart
the case against convicted child molester Peter Ellis, has been awarded a
doctorate in literature. The Dunedin-based author will be capped at the
University of Otago in December. Her book A City Possessed: The Christchurch
Civic Creche Case was published in 2001 and immediately sparked calls for a
royal commission of inquiry into the case. Hood said she was honoured to have
her work recognised, but doubted it could boost the credibility of her
campaign. "It's got a lot of credibility already," she said.
2003-0809 - NZ
Herald - Still a sucker for a bloody good story
by
Michele Hewitson - The "ad" was a sampling of court transcripts of
the testimonies of child witnesses in the Peter Ellis case. They came into
Colman's hands after he signed a petition calling for a commission of
inquiry. And after he had offered a reward of $100,000 for fresh information
on the case. He won't say who gave him the transcripts, or where he's keeping
them now. Much as he likes a spot of intrigue, he is keeping the location
safe because he doesn't particularly relish the thought of "the
gendarmes" popping in to quiz him about the provenance of these
particular papers.
2003-0808 - National
Business Review - Packing off the forces of darkness
by Jock Anderson - It seems
people attending a "children's issues" conference in Dunedin were
called on to discuss how to counter a petition by prominent citizens calling
for a royal commission of inquiry into the Peter Ellis affair. Those who
turned up apparently considered an anti-petition petition, before dropping
that idea....................a CYFS psychologist claimed the statement missed
the point - the Ellis petition was about injustice and bad practice - and she
applauded the petition.
2003-0808 - The Press - Ellis case
by Max Podstolski - Yes, Peter Ellis was and still is unconventional
(August 6). The knives were out for him because he dared to flaunt his
difference, in a society which values being a team- player above everything
else.
2003-0808 -
NZ Herald - Drive for tougher child porn verdicts
NZPA
- New Zealand Council for Civil Liberties chairman Michael Bott said the
Government also needed to be mindful of public pressure, which could easily
result in a witchhunt. "The Peter Ellis trial, for example - ritualistic
abuse was the latest fashion, everyone was into that and you had quite
draconian sentences put on people with very little evidence."
2003-0807 - Dominion
Post - Bizarre and shameful
by Martin Bond - Could you have quite missed the point of the ever-growing
unease about the outcome of the Christchurch Civic Creche case (Editorial,
August 5), and are you suggesting that a compliant citizenry should connive
with its legal system in the jailing of an innocent man?
2003-0807 -
Dominion Post - Evocation of McCarthy era
by Chris Norman - I do not think I have ever disagreed more with an editorial
in your newspaper than I do with that on the Peter Ellis case (August 5). The
publication of the children's statements last weekend was very much in the
public interest because it is the only evidence there was -- there was
nothing else. Because this evidence was from children, it was allowed to be
edited.
2003-0807 -
Dominion Post - Transcript is new evidence
by Dan Dungan - Your editorial .....makes a good case for our legal system,
warts and all, but it is not entirely accurate. I saw no "spin" in
Sunday's two-page spread, but rather a straightforward, presumably accurate,
transcript of evidence not presented to the original jury. Surely that
qualifies it as, in a sense, new evidence.
2003-0806
- Letter to the Dominion Post - There, but for the grace of God, go I
by
Gordon Waugh - The call for a Royal
Commission to investigate matters surrounding the conviction of Peter Ellis
has little to do with his guilt or innocence. It is focused on the methods
used by counsellors to derive evidence, their automatic presumption of guilt,
the reliability of such evidence, how and why it was filtered, the systemic
flaws in the ACC system, and the extensive amendments to Section 23 of the
Evidence Act.
2003-0806 -
Letter to National Business Review - I congratulate Barry Colman
by Gordon Waugh - I congratulate Barry Colman on his courage to actually do
something about the conviction of Peter Ellis...... The Christchurch Creche
case is virtually identical to scores of others overseas. With few
exceptions, those convictions have since been quashed by appellate courts
because the methods used, and the children's evidence, were unreliable and
fatally flawed. Over the past decade, those same methods have resulted in
tens of thousands of New Zealand men being accused of sexual abuse. The
effect has been devastating to our community.
2003-0806 - Stuff -
Relevant information
Letter
by Duncan W Boswell - If there is unpublished evidence which may or not be
relevant to the overturning of the conviction of Peter Ellis it should be
made available to the court and public of New Zealand whereby its relevance
can be fairly judged.
2003-0806 - Waikato
Times - The Peter Ellis debate
Dianne
Farrell -"One can only speculate that publishing transcripts is making
money for someone at the expense of victims of sexual abuse everywhere."
Donna Hansen - "My family are all of the opinion there has been a
miscarriage of justice and that hysteria has played a very subtle part."
Jan Curran - "There is so much graphic material .... that leads me to
conclude that the jury was right when they convicted Peter Ellis
2003-0806
- The Press - Victims of abuse the ones with a life sentence
Letter
to the Editor by Helen Sutherland - I too am concerned about current attempts
to overturn the conviction of Peter Ellis. The belief in Ellis' innocence has
been fuelled by Lynley Hood's book A City Possessed. This book has been
presented as "fact" but in my opinion it is not.
2003-0805 - Otago
Daily Times - Ellis to petition Privy Council
NZPA
- Peter Ellis' lawyer, Judith Ablett Kerr, hopes to lodge his petition next
week seeking special leave from the Privy Council in London to proceed with
an appeal there, she said yesterday. The announcement follows heightened
publicity about Ellis' 1993 conviction for molesting children in his care
after millionaire publisher Barry Colman paid more than $20,000 for an
advertisement in a Sunday newspaper at the weekend
2003-0805 - NZ
Herald - Privy Council next for Ellis lawyer
Ms
Ablett-Kerr said Mr Colman's actions were "totally independent" of
her and of Ellis. Her role was to take the case to the Privy Council
2003-0805 -
Dominion Post - Creche case website welcomed
by
David McLoughlin and NZPA - Putting transcripts on the Internet of what the
children from the Christchurch Civic Creche case said is a good idea, an
academic says. It would enable people to see evidence denied to the jury and
make up their own minds about the credibility of the children, Canterbury
University criminologist Greg Newbold said yesterday.
2003-0805 -
Dominion Post - It's old evidence with a new spin
Editorial - A plan to put on a website all the witness transcripts from the
Christchurch Civic Creche court case, whether they were used in evidence or
not, is the latest disturbing development in efforts by a growing number of
campaigners to overturn the guilty verdict made by a jury in the Christchurch
High Court.
2003-0804 - The Press -
Inquiry 'not justified'
NZPA - Mr Goff said that although the trial judge ruled against playing
transcripts of claims which did not lead to charges against Ellis, the jury
knew "that some of the material was bizarre and fanciful."
2003-0804 -
One News - Little hope over Ellis transcripts
The
publishing of transcripts from evidence gathered in the Peter Ellis
Christchurch Civic Creche case looks unlikely to have any impact on the bid
to clear his name. Goff says the case has already been under scrutiny at a
depositions hearing, a court case, two appeals and a ministerial inquiry
Ellis's mother, Lesley Ellis, says reading through the transcripts in the
paper has reminded her what a frightening time it was when the investigation
was going on, because she knew some of the accusations were against her.
Ellis says she and her son have not been involved in this latest campaign,
and they are concentrating on the formal legal channels with their counsel,
Judith Ablett-Kerr.
2003-0804 -
Waikato Times - Ellis case stays in public eye
Editorial - The transcripts demonstrate the fertile imaginations of children.
Parts of the testimonies are clearly fantasy; other parts are confused and
contradictory. They do nothing to dispel disquiet over the interviewing
techniques used on children at the creche at the time Ellis was employed
there more than 10 years ago.
2003-0804 -
Waikato Times - Ellis case adverts 'unfair' to kids
by
Sid Pickering and NZPA - Commissioner for Children Roger McClay has
criticised a move to publish previously unheard children's evidence in the
Peter Ellis case. Mr McClay said Ellis had already been tested by the justice
system and found guilty. Publishing the testimony was unfair. "It's easy
to make a 4-year-old child look stupid," he said. "I've met many
parents of these children and I know that each time this comes up it causes
more trauma. It's a part of their lives that they would like to forget."
2003-0804 - ZB
Talkback - The Toddlers Testimony
by
Gordon and Colleen Waugh - We read with much
interest the transcripts of the interviews with the Creche Children published
in the Star-Times yesterday. They clearly show how those children were
coerced into making outrageous and ridiculous allegations of abuse by Peter
Ellis and others. This has been a common practice from the early 1990's and is
still used today. When we were operating COSA (Casualties Of Sexual
Allegations Incorporated) from 1993 to 2000, we dealt with scores of similar
cases, and thousands of cases of "Recovered Memory", all created by
badly trained counsellors using unscientific, unethical, and unsafe methods.
We still get calls for help today from people wrongly accused as a result of
this destructive gobbledygook
2003-0804 -
Dominion Post - Ellis supporter to set up website
by
Bess Manson - The crusader determined to vindicate convicted child molester
Peter Ellis is to launch a website with the transcript of tapes of every
child who gave evidence in Ellis' 1992 trial. This latest move by publisher
Barry Colman follows a two-page $25,000 advertisement he took out in the
Sunday Star Times yesterday which featured excerpts from some children's
taped transcripts never heard by the jury in Ellis' trial. The transcripts
showed some children had been interviewed up to six times. Mr Colman believes
the jury only heard interviews that suited the prosecution.
2003-0804
- Otago Daily Times - More Ellis details to follow advertisement
by
Joanna Norris - Businessman Barry Colman......plans to publish more details
on a website this week. "We did it so that people could make a judgement
for themselves," Mr Colman told the Otago Daily Times yesterday. .....
National list MP, Katherine Rich, of Dunedin, who with fellow-MP Don Brash
has been organising a petition calling for a royal commission into the case,
last night said she supported Mr Colman's stance. "I think what he is doing is really
important because so much evidence was not put before a jury."
2003-0804
- NZPA - Testimonies do not justify another inquiry - Goff
Mr
Colman said he had widespread public support for his advertisement. "I've
had more than a dozen phone calls, and every one of them has been positive
about what I have done. "It's been quite amazing. A lot of people have
been congratulatory and said the transcripts were a real eye-opener.
"Generally people have had no idea what went on, so this has been
heartening."
2003-0804 -
NZ Herald - Testimonies not new evidence says Goff
by
Mathew Dearnaley and NZPA - Justice Minister Phil Goff says he has legal advice
that previously unpublished testimonies of children in the Peter Ellis
paedophile case do not justify another inquiry. Mr Goff said last night that
the Crown Law Office assured him all tapes and transcripts were made
available to defence lawyers for cross-examination purposes before the jury
convicted Ellis. He said he sought an opinion from Crown Law after receiving
late last week an advance copy of yesterday's advertisement, and was told it
contained no new evidence.
2003-0804 - Newstalk ZB - Goff
rejects pressure for another Ellis inquiry
Justice
Minister Goff says previous inquiries into Ellis case convince him no need
for Royal Commission of Inquiry. The Justice Minister says any doubts he had
about the Peter Ellis case were laid to rest some time ago, and he will not
bow to pressure to launch a Royal Commission of Inquiry.
2003-0804 - Newstalk ZB - More
Labour support possible for Ellis
Petition calling for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into Peter Ellis's child
abuse convictions may get more Labour signatories. There is renewed hope more
Labour MPs will sign a second petition calling for a Royal Commission of
Inquiry into Peter Ellis's child abuse convictions.
2003-0804 - Newstalk ZB - Ellis
supporters ponder options
Campaigners for Royal Commission into Ellis' conviction believe justice
minister will eventually bow to public pressure. Peter Ellis supporters are
considering their next move after the Justice Minister's rejection of their
latest bid for an inquiry
2003-0804 - Newstalk ZB - Goff
dismisses Ellis transcripts
Justice Minister Phil Goff says there is nothing new in Sunday paper ads
featuring Ellis case transcripts Claims by Justice Minister Phil Goff that
there is nothing new in published transcripts of evidence given by children
in the Christchurch Civic Creche case are being disputed.
2003-0804 - NBR -
"Toddler Testimonies" dominates talkback
Discussion about verbatim transcripts of interviews with several of the
children at the centre of the Peter Ellis case has dominated the talk back
airwaves since being published in the Sunday Star Times. The transcripts were
published after the Crown Law Office said bids by Child, Youth and Family
(CYF) to block them would probably not succeed in court
2003-0803 -
Newstalk ZB - Ad man hits back at Commissioner
Businessman
who paid for paper ads to try to clear name of Peter Ellis has hit back at
Children's Commissioner. Barry Colman says the commissioner should be more
concerned about the way the children in the case were treated by the system,
and that the way they were interviewed does not happen again.
2003-0802 - Newstalk ZB -
Hard to relive pain
Child
Youth and Family's Shannon Pakura says she is worried the ad will stop other
children from speaking out against sex abuse. She says one parent in the
Ellis case told her it will be hard to relive the pain
2003-0803 - Newstalk ZB -
Nothing new in adverts
The
Justice Minister sees nothing new in testimonies from the Peter Ellis case
that have appeared in newspaper ads..... Mr Goff says he's had the
testimonies checked today by the Crown law department. He says they were
either heard by the jury or referenced by defence counsel in
cross-examination. Phil Goff says a few inconsistencies doesn't mean
everything in the children's testimonies should be dismissed
2003-0803 - One
News - 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
2003-0803 - Sunday
Star Times - The Toddler Testimonies
Advertisement by B N Colman - The Christchurch Civic Creche case began in
November 1991 with the ambiguous comment of a three-year-old boy. He
was.interviewed by CYFS and disclosed nothing. But, like a careless match
tossed into the tinder-dry landscape of a Canterbury summer, his comment
sparked an inferno. Meetings were held, support groups were established,
counselling was provided. Sex abuse experts warned parents their children's
bed wetting, tantrums and sleep disturbances could be signs of sexual abuse.
Anxious parents questioned their children.
Here are unedited excerpts from transcript of some of the videotapes recorded
with those key complainant children. Some of these videotapes were seen by
the jury, some were not. For legal reasons, children’s names and other
identifying details have been changed or deleted.
2003-0803 - Sunday Star Times - Toddler
Testimony Transcripts
Note that the transcripts as published in the Sunday Star Times on 3 August
have now been replaced with fuller and additional transcripts, provided by
Barry Colman.
2003-0803 -
Sunday News - Goff says no to Ellis inquiry bid
by
Simon Bradwell - Justice minister Phil Goff has rejected the latest bid to
send the Peter Ellis case back to court. Goff told Sunday News that a
high-profile newspaper campaign today was not enough to convince him to order
an inquiry into Ellis's conviction on child abuse charges.
2003-0803
- Sunday Star Times - Ellis case transcripts go public
by
Deidre Mussen - An Auckland businessman who offered a $100,000 reward for new
evidence into convicted child sex abuser Peter Ellis' case has today revealed
some of the children's withheld testimonies. Millionaire National Business
Review publisher Barry Colman has spent $20,500 on two full-page
advertisements in today's Sunday Star-Times - despite efforts by Child, Youth
and Family to stop publication - featuring excerpts of some children's taped
testimonies never shown during Ellis' 1992 trial.
2003-0803 - NBR -
"Toddler Testimonies" will go ahead
Verbatim
transcripts of interviews with children at the centre of the Peter Ellis case
will be published in Sunday papers after a ruling by the Crown Law Office
said bids by Child, Youth and Family (CYF) to block them would probably not
succeed in a court. The transcripts are being published as a two page
advertising spread underwritten by publisher Barry Colman
2003-0802 - The Press -
Your view on Peter Ellis
A
Press Community Issues Survey - The Press commissioned Opinions Market
Research Ltd to survey community views on the Peter Ellis debate. A telephone
survey of 400 Christchurch and 200 Canterbury residents was conducted from
July 26 to 28.
2003-0802 -
Newstalk ZB - Ellis Case Testimony To Be Published
Businessman
Barry Colman is defending his decision to publish children's testimony from
the Peter Ellis case. Mr Colman says the so-called toddler testimonials will
show that evidence in the Christchurch Civic Creche case was biased. He says
it might be painful for the families involved to read the evidence, but they
must remember the pain that has been inflicted on Ellis.
2003-0802 - One News
- Concern over child testimonies
Child
advocates are outraged that testimony from the Peter Ellis case will feature
as an advertisement in a Sunday newspaper. .....It contains child testimonies
that are graphic in detail and of a sexual nature and Colman says this is
evidence that 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," says Colman.
2003-0802 -
Dominion Post - CYF fails to stop Ellis testimony
by
Leah Haines - Child, Youth and Family has failed to stop a businessman from
publishing never-before-exposed children's testimonies he says will exonerate
convicted paedophile Peter Ellis. The department received advice on options
to stop the word-for-word testimonies of children as young as toddler age
from being printed tomorrow but said yesterday it was powerless to stop
publication. Children's Commissioner Roger McClay confirmed he also wanted
the transcripts, due to fill a double-page advertisement in Sunday papers,
stopped. Both Mr McClay and chief social worker Shannon Pakura said they were
concerned that publication could deter other children from giving evidence in
future cases if they knew their interviews could be dredged up later
2003-0802 - One
News - Child testimonies to be released
Child
Youth and Family (CYF) says it will not take legal action to stop previously
unreleased children's testimonies being published in a bid to clear Peter
Ellis' name
2003-0802
- The Press - Two out of three in survey want Ellis case inquiry
by
Amanda Warren - Two-thirds of Cantabrians want a Royal Commission of Inquiry
into the case of convicted paedophile Peter Ellis. Overwhelming support for a
review of Ellis' conviction in the high-profile Christchurch Civic Childcare
Centre child abuse case has emerged in the first of a Press community issues
survey. The survey of 600 people found 68 per cent felt there should be a
Royal Commission of Inquiry. Only 17 per cent said there should be no review,
and 16 per cent did not know.
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