|
Transcripts of Interviews with
child witnesses
Eli
Laurel aged 6, 3rd interview recorded 28
Oct 1992
(Names as used
in the book "A City Possessed"
)
A Um, he had a, he had a ladder
and he brought it up to the middle window in the crèche and, um, up the
stairs and through the middle window and then he opened the window and put
the ladder in and go to the other window, um, of the Cranmer
Centre and then got in and then creeped into a
room, um, to do the mean things.
Q What did he do, what were the
mean things that he did in the room?
A Lots of things.
Q Mm what’s, tell me some, tell
me a mean thing that he did in the room?
A Um
poked sticks up some of the kids’ bottoms.
Q And how do you know he did
that?
A Because
I saw him.
Q Who did you see him do it to?
A Me.
Q What did your bottom feel
like?
A Um,
scary.
Q Mm and would, so your bottom,
which is your bottom, which?
A There.
Q The bit that you sit on?
A Yep.
Q And it felt pretty ss, it felt scary on your bottom?
A Yes.
Q Mm, where did he get,
whereabouts were your clothes when he did that?
A Um
he just pulled our pants down.
Q And who was there when he did
that?
A Um,
all of the men.
Q What did the men look like?
A Um, they all had funny
haircuts.
…
Q Okay, can you tell me the
men’s names?
A Spike, Boulderhead,
Yuckhead and, um, and Stupidhead.
Q Stupidhead?
A Yep.
Q Are those, are those, how did
you know those were their names?
A Um,
because they told us their names.
Q So they were Spike, Boulder, Yuck and Stupidhead.
A Yeah, no Yuckhead
and Stupidhead.
Q Yuckhead
and Stupidhead and Boulderhead
and Spike.
A They all had head at the end
of their name.
Q And did, who was the one who
hurt you bottom with a stick?
A Um, Peter.
Q Peter and what, what did,
what did these ones do while he was doing that?
A Um, they just did it to other
kids.
Q They did it to other kids?
A Yep.
Q And what were the women doing
while the men were doing that?
A They were doing it to other
kids too except they were all doing different things at a time.
Q Right, what were the
different things that they did these people?
A Um I
didn’t see because Peter was too busy doing it to me.
Q Right. Could you describe to
me when Peter made your bum scared, bottom scared with the stick?
A When he poked it up my
bottom?
Q Yeah. How, where,
whereabouts, how were you, were you sitting?
A Standing.
Q Standing up, yeah, yeah, so
you were standing up?
A Yes.
Q And you were standing up
straight?
A Yes, straight.
Q Mm and he put the stick in
your bu, bottom.
A Yep.
Q And what did he do when it,
the stick, was it in your bottom or on your bottom?
A In it.
Q And it felt scared?
A Yep.
Q And what did he do with the
stick when it was in your bottom?
A Um, he just kept it in there.
Q Mm, how long for?
A A
long time.
Q And then what did he?
A Most of the day at crèche.
Q He kept it in there most of
the day?
A Yep.
Q So what happened after he put
the stick in?
A Um, I cried.
Q Mm mmm,
who saw you crying?
A Um,
Peter and lots of other people.
Q Mm. What did the other crèche
teachers do?
A They, they were hiding so
they didn’t see us.
Q They didn’t see.
A Us.
Q So the other crèche teachers
didn’t see?
A No.
Q Okay, they didn’t see. Oh,
you said that they didn’t see us, okay. So I wonder who the women were then,
what were their names?
A I can’t remember.
Q Mm, have you seen them
before?
A No.
Q Have you seen any?
A Oh
yes I saw Boulderhead, Yuckhead
and Spikehead. That’s all the people that we, um,
um, that we.
…
Q So before you said no one
else hurt your bottom.
A Yep.
Q And now you said that all of
them did.
A Yep, I forgot.
Q Yeah, so how, what, all of
those four ones there?
A Yep.
Q Any others or not?
A No.
Q What about the other men that
you don’t know their names of? Did they or not?
A Just the one.
Q Okay, so how many times has
your bottom been hurt with a stick?
A Ah,
lots of times. One time for each person.
Q And, and when, when they were
doing.
A Six times.
Q Six times altogether?
A Yep.
Q Okay and, [E], when people
hurt bottoms with sticks, what do the other people do?
A They just did it back.
Q But.
A … kids.
Q I see and what do, what do
the people who aren’t touching the children do, what do they do?
A They … everybody did it but
it does it.
Q Okay, and, um, what do they
do that for?
A I don’t know.
Q Do you know what makes them
do that?
A No.
Q Do you know anyone else who
does that stuff?
A No.
Q Mm, come up here, you’ve
disappeared. Now I’m asking a lot of questions aren’t I.
A Yesa.
Q Noa,
yesa, okay.
A No, no, no, no, yes.
Q Yes, yes, yes, yes, no, no,
no. Now, [E], can I just take you back? You know how Peter took the stick and
then poo, he did wiped the poos, put poos on you?
A Yep.
Q Now what happened to your
clothes after he took the stick away?
A Um,
nothing.
Q So what about your pants
then?
A Nothing.
Q So how, did they stay down or
did they come up or?
A They came up.
Q Who pulled them up?
A The
kids did.
Q Mm, what about you, how did
your pants get back up?
A I pulled them up.
Q Mm mmm
and how many times did he put poo on you?
A Um,
one time.
Q One time. Done anything else?
Oh, we’ve talked about some other things he’s put on you, haven’t we?
A Yes.
Q In the other interviews we
talked about, we didn’t talk about poos. did?
A That’s all I’ve got to say.
Q Right, okay, can I just a few
other questions about this building?
A Mm.
Q Oh, oh, and I just need to
say, did Peter put anything else on your bottom?
A No
Q Just a stick?
A Yes.
Q Right, has anything else ever
gone on your bottom? There’s been a stick.
A No.
Q Right, I heard there might
have been some other things that went on your bottom.
A [Indicates no.]
Q Okay. You know this, this is out of a window across a ladder and into
another window.
A Mm.
Q Have you ever been up here on
these buildings?
A Yep, we’ve been on the roofs.
Q Who have you been on the
roofs with?
A Um,
Peter and the men. We’ve been on the Cranmer Centre
ro, roof.
Q How, what colour is the roof
up there, what’s it made of?
A Some of it’s grey, some of
it’s brown.
Q Yeah.
A We’ve been on two parts.
Q Have you?
A And also [male name] took me
up there.
Q Did he?
A Up on the roof.
A And
[female name].
Q Who took you up first?
A Um, nobody took me up. Just
[male name] and also we, we went on a really secret roof and climbed down a
chimney.
Q Who, who did you do that
with?
A [Male name].
Q Did you go with [male name]
or [male name].
A Um,
[male name] and [male name] and Daddy.
Q Oh, okay.
A And
[female name] and [female name] my sister cos they
were too scared to go down the chimney that would be into a burning fire.
Q Mm.
A And …
Q And, [E], you know when you
said, I said have you been up here and you said Peter and the men took you up
there?
A Yeah.
Q Tell me, tell me how they
took you up there.
A Well there was just, there
was just windows and when you got out of the windows, the windows, um, it
was, you were just on the roof.
Q Right.
A And then the window, that one
opens on the roof, then you climb down a lad, ladder through the bit and then
you climb down a chimney and it’s, and then you climb down some stairs and it
lead to the room.
Q What, which room, the room
where the mean things were?
A Yeah.
Q Is that right? And, um, which
men took you up there?
A … of them.
Q Mm mmm
and how many times did you go up there, up this part?
A Um,
every day.
Q Did any women go with you or
not?
A Ah,
all the time. All the women came up all the time and then the men came with
me all the time.
Q And which women were they?
Tell me the names of the women who were.
A I can’t remember.
Q Were they crèche teachers or
not?
A No.
Q Right were they, were they
old women or were they young women?
A Ah.
Q Were they women? How were
they? Do you think they were like Mum’s age or Grandma’s age or?
A Mum’s.
Q Your mum’s age.
|
