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The Christchurch Civic Crèche Case |
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A City Possessed: Author Lynley Hood describes writing this investigation
into the conviction of childcare worker Peter Ellis as the literary
equivalent of a solo crossing of Proclaiming the
innocence of a man that has been convicted in a jury trial, been rejected by
the Court of Appeal twice and been the subject of three judicial petitions,
one would need to have the facts clear. But Hood's claim
that the justice system has failed to act thoroughly and dispassionately is
quite ringing. Not only judges but police, social workers, psychologists - in
other words the professionals that stand between us and anarchy - all have
their motives and abilities examined and are found wanting. Hood compares the
conviction of Peter Ellis and the subsequent arrest of his four women
colleagues (who were later discharged) to the Witch-hunts that swept through
Europe and While careful to
point out that child sexual abuse does occur and that it is damaging, Hood
argues that it has never been as prevalent as those in the 'sexual abuse
industry' would have us believe. ACC, for example, routinely awarded lump sum
payments to alleged victims of abuse - claims that only had to be made, never
proven. In the Creche case, although 18 families laid complaints, forty
received payments of $10,000. Hood examines the
qualifications, personalities and experience of all those involved in the
case. As for Ellis himself, he is portrayed as a flamboyant, creative,
enthusiastic child-care worker who, because he was eccentric, made himself
vulnerable to accusations. It took just one
comment from a small child to set off the episode of mass hysteria that was
the Christchurch Civic Creche Case. As Hood explains, "The first
complaint had only just been laid, but, like a careless match tossed into the
tinder-dry landscape of a Of the 118 children
who were interviewed by sexual abuse experts only six children have
complaints that still remain in support of a conviction. This seems a small
number in what was alleged at the time to be a huge conspiracy of child sexual
abuse and satanic ritual. Hood backgrounds
the Creche case by documenting the rise in moral panic around child sexual
abuse in the 1980's and early 1990s. She then charts the major events that
led to the conviction of Ellis and the subsequent failure to prove his
innocence. A City Possessed is a brave book, a wise book and while it should be required reading for police, lawyers and social workers, it is important for ordinary, everyday citizens too. It makes for fascinating, if somewhat disquieting, reading |
