NZ GENERAL 24 PETER ELLIS LISTENER EDITORIAL

NZ GENERAL 24 PETER ELLIS LISTENER EDITORIAL

From: Brian (brianr@no-spam)

Subject: Peter ELLIS : Listener Editorial

Date: Sun, 06 Jul 2003 18:50:16 +1200

The Listener Vol 189 No 3296 (July 12 2003)

That petition Editorial, Finlay MacDonald
The absence of shocking stories about satanic ritual abuse (SRA) in the past decade is an interesting aspect of the Peter Ellis case.
Unless you've been kidnapped and brainwashed by Satanists yourself,
you must recall that the Christchurch Civic Creche was believed by some to have been a den of evil, with Ellis its monstrous ringleader.
It followed a pattern set in the United States, where the "study" and prosecution of alleged SRA had become a psychiatric industry in its own right.

Since then, however, this phenomenon, which spawned its own literature, conferences, support groups and countless court cases,
appears to have disappeared. How could that be? One wouldn't normally assume that Satan's slaves were quite so sensitive to our temporal laws as to be deterred by a mere prison sentence. Or is this, in fact,
evidence of one small victory in the eternal war between good and evil? There must be some explanation for the disappearance of shocking headlines and terrifying tales of dungeons, tunnels, cages, blood and beatings.

There are those, of course, who put this down to satanic ritual abuse,
or just plain ritual abuse, having been figments of collective hysteria in the first place. They are supported in this belief by the general debunking and discrediting of such claims and cases overseas.
And, among many other things, the link between foreign ritual abuse panics and the case of Peter Ellis is made by the organisers of a petition recently presented to Parliament, which asks for a royal commission into all aspects of his conviction.

Along with several other practitioners of my trade, and a large number of far more eminent personages, I signed the petition. There are those who believe that this compromises some notion of editorial independence, but I would argue that the only bias it betrays is one in favour of examining all the facts pertaining to the Ellis case and clearing up once and for all a festering legal and moral sore.
Obviously this is motivated by a deep suspicion that something has gone wrong; the petition is about Ellis's conviction being beyond reasonable doubt, and its signatories harbour very reasonable doubts that it was.

What makes Peter Ellis's journey through the justice system doubly remarkable is that he is, still, a convicted child abuser. It would be hard to think of another class of criminal less likely to inspire sympathy or support in their quest for vindication. So there has to be something else working in his favour. And, as this petition and the various appeals before it have suggested, it is the clear impression left by an examination of the events surrounding the creche case that such a conviction would be virtually impossible to secure now. Not least, perhaps, because of the aforementioned calm that has since mysteriously descended on the devil's playground
There are those, I suspect, who see in the tenacious pursuit of the case some other kinds of conspiracy; an anti-feminist agenda, perhaps,
or a disregard for the rights of children. The first accusation probably stems from author Lynley Hood's examination of extreme doctrinaire feminism as contextual background in her book A City Possessed, but it would be a long bow indeed to equate that with her campaign's actual motivation. As for the children, a respect for their rights cuts both ways, and it certainly doesn't extend to believing that they never lie or are mistaken or suggestible (except,
conveniently, when they recant damning testimony).
The Justice Minister has long refused to accept the need for a new inquiry, pointing to a supposed lack of new evidence. But that is to argue that the case was built on proper evidence in the first place,
when we all know there was none, only the uncorroborated, videotaped testimony of poorly interviewed young children. Are those QCs;
barristers, law professors and former prime ministers on the petition wrong to be concerned, Mr Goff?

But let's not turn our scepticism into any lack of sympathy for those who continue to think that justice was done. Four years ago, in an interview in this magazine, Ellis's mother Lesley said this: "It must be a nightmare for the ones who really believe. They must say, 'Won't it ever go away, so we can get on with our lives?' " Honestly, they are not alone.

From: "Roger Dewhurst" (dewhurst@no-spam)