|
|
The Christchurch Civic Crèche Case |
|
|
|
|
A City Possessed: Whenever a high-profile criminal case comes to court, we
wonder: Is the person charged guilty or innocent? Will all the facts come to
light? Just what is the truth anyway? The case that rocked Christchurch in the early'90s, the
Christchurch Civic Creche case in which staff member Peter Ellis was
convicted of sexually abusing some of the children in his care, raised huge
and bitter debate. Dunedin author Lynley Hood, not only thought deeply about
the case but went on to devote seven years of her life to delving into it.
"I have always been fascinated by controversial issues," says
Lynley, "and this one was most controversial. "And when opinion is divided, as it was in this case,
it raises the question, where does the truth lie?" Lynley's seven-year quest for the truth culminated in her
just-published book A City Possessed: The Christchurch Civic Creche Case. Her search for answers took her way outside her comfort
zone, she says, as she came across layer upon layer of questionable material.
"I'm not suggesting anyone has a monopoly on the truth but there's a
huge difference between lies and self-deception and verifiable facts,"
says Lynley. At the time the Ellis case came up, Lynley was writing
another book on a similarly controversial case that had taken place in New
Zealand more than 100 years before, the Minnie Deans case, which involved a
woman accused of murdering children in her care. And what Lynley found
fascinating in both these cases, was how otherwise normal, intelligent people
can believe the most bizarre and unlikely suggestions. "The Minnie Deans case showed how unbalanced the
scales of justice can be. A number of urban myths grew up around her (such as
'nothing will grow on her grave') which were also reminiscent of the witch
hunts that took place in the 16th and 17th centuries. "At a conference I attended in Australia in 1990, the
Lindy Chamberlain case was brought up in relation to a child abuse case in
the US where there were suggestions of satanic ritual abuse, then when the
creche case blew up, I thought, 'here we go again,' " she says. Lynley says she was aware of what the reaction would be to
the allegations of child sexual abuse. "People react in an emotional way
to things like that. I'm not suggesting that it's not a normal reaction, but
it creates a domino effect in society and can cause what is called 'moral
panic'. "It sets off a great anxiety, normal people get
caught up in it; this is inherent in all these kinds of cases. It becomes
difficult to be dispassionate about the innocence or guilt of the person
accused." The phenomenon of scapegoating was also probed - "I read a lot about it" - to determine what bearing, if any, that may have had on the creche case. But no matter what paths she went down and how much she looked into the case, Lynley says she couldn't find a shred of evidence that proved Peter |
