The Christchurch Civic Creche Case
	News Reports - Home 2007 Index
	The Press February 20 2007 Steer clear of her Letter to the Editor by Lynley Hood, Dunedin Some people achieve prominence through the quality of their work. Others achieve the same result by bullying their critics into silence. Freda Briggs’ reply (Feb 10) to Ross Francis’ letter (Feb 3) suggests that she falls into the latter category. The essential point of Ross Francis letter remains unchallenged: there are no signs of behaviours symptomatic of sexual abuse. Indeed, non-abused children can and do exhibit the same behaviours as abused children. The misdiagnosis of sexual abuse on the basis of spurious behavioural indicators, as advocated by Freda Briggs, destroys families, divides communities and leads to the imprisonment of innocent people. Ross Francis is right. Politicians, teachers, parents and police should steer well clear of Freda Briggs.