Case 341: The Christchurch Civic Creche

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The names of several witnesses have been changed. In November of 1976, the Christ Church Civic Crase on the South Island of New Zealand

“opened its doors for the first time, and welcomed in children aged from 18 months to five years old.”

As an increasing number of women in New Zealand were returning to work after having children, there was a growing demand for early childhood education centers like the Civic Crase. Located in the heart of the city, the Crase was a collaborative undertaking by the City Council

and the Christ Church Technical Institute.

Over the next decade and a half, the Crase became so popular that parents would add their babies' names to a waiting list upon birth in the hopes they would be accepted when they were old enough to attend. It was particularly popular with parents who worked in the many non-profit organisations

“that were based nearby, and the Crase attracted families who tended to be middle-class professionals”

with politically liberal attitudes. It was opened between 7.30am and 5pm Monday to Friday, and could take children on either a part or full day basis. A brochure published in 1989 described the Civic Crase as providing quality child care for children from many different racial, cultural, social and economic backgrounds. A full range of stimulating and creative activities are offered with a special extension program for the four-year-olds.

The Crase's central location meant that educators could take children on excursions to the botanical gardens, the Avon River, a local wildlife park, the town hall, and other crust church attractions. Children participated in both free play and more structured activities, and they had a Taha Marry program to teach the children about New Zealand's indigenous culture. Every week, the Crase highlighted a different theme, which was determined by the staff members at their monthly meetings.

By 1991, there were 11 permanent staff that ranged in age from 20 to 53. All had at least one qualification that enabled them to work there. The Crase's supervisor was Gay Davidson, who had a reputation for being kind and approachable. On Wednesday, November 20, 1991, Gay was contacted by the mother of a three-year-old who attended the Crase. The mother said that she suspected her son had been sexually abused by the Crase's only male child care worker.

The mother, who would have later become known by the pseudonym of Ms. Magnolia, informed Gay Davidson, that she would be keeping her son Jeffrey, not his real name, home from the Crase, until the male employee was removed. Gay Davidson immediately leapt into action. She sought advice from the city council administration and paid a visit to the Magnolia family home, alongside a council personnel officer, that same day. Speaking to Ms. Magnolia and her husband, Gay received a clear report of what had unfolded.

Their three-year-old son, Jeffrey, had been exhibiting troubling behaviour for some time. He could be prone to tantrums, sometimes woke with pain in his legs, and could be fussy about his clothes. Sometimes he didn't want to go to Crase. He used the words penis and vagina as insults.

About a month earlier, Jeffrey had said to his father, "I don't like penis."

“Peter seemed to refer to Peter Ellis, the male child care worker at Jeffrey's Crase, but 33-year-old Peter wasn't black.”

Jeffrey's father asked if he'd seen Peter's penis or was he just telling a story. Jeffrey answered the latter, so his father dropped at the subject. But Jeffrey made a similar remark to his mother on Sunday November 17 while having a bath. Like her husband, Ms. Magnolia probed to Jeffrey with follow-up questions. Again, Jeffrey said he hadn't seen Peter's penis.

On Tuesday, November 19, Jeffrey told his grandmother that he didn't want to go to Crase that day because he didn't like Peter's black penis.

By now, Ms. Magnolia was highly concerned. She herself was a survivor of sexual abuse and was now a social worker who had written a handbook on the subject. Her sons repeated comments, combined with these sometimes troubling behaviour, suggested he may have been the victim of abuse. That night, she questioned Jeffrey again.

“Will you tell me what happened with Peter and his penis she asked?”

No, I won't, said Jeffrey. Did Peter hurt you? No, did Peter scare you? Yes.

Jeffrey told his mother he didn't want to go to Crase anymore, but he'd go with Peter was no longer there.

Then his mother asked, "Was Peter's penis scary?" It was darky, scary, Jeffrey said.

“If Peter came to this house, he would be a monster.”

If he was a monster and he was here, you'd be a sleep mom in your bed and you'd wake up and see the monster and you'd be surprised. The Magnolia's were asked to submit their complaint in writing so that the council could initiate proper proceedings. Once they had the written complaint, they would pass it on to Peter Ellis and his union and hold a hearing within four days. In the meantime, Peter would be suspended on Peter leave. The couple submitted their written complaint that same day, concluding it by adding that they were worried for the safety of other children at the Crase as well.

Gay Davidson was shocked and confused by the allegations. She couldn't believe Peter Ellis could be capable of harming a child, but at the same time she wondered, had something happened. Peter had worked at the Crust Church Civic Crase since 1986 when he was 28 years old. His career in early childhood education had come about in an unorthodox way. Peter had previously been employed at a bakery and was also receiving dull payments from the government.

When the New Zealand authorities realised Peter had received more money than he was entitled to, he was charged with misleading a social welfare officer and sentenced to 80 hours community service. Peter was given the option of completing his community service at an animal shelter or a crash. He chose the latter. Peter soon began his service at the Crase Church Civic Crase, which was just a 20-minute walk from the large morning house where he lived. Because the Crase had a philosophy of giving everyone a fair go, there was no stigma associated with Peter's sentence.

He hadn't committed a violent crime and his offending wasn't of a serious nature. There were no barriers to him working with children. But there had still been some initial concerns that Peter might not fit in or be accepted at the Crase. Peter was bisexual during a time when it had recently been legal to discriminate against people based on their sexuality. He also expressed himself in an open way where others might have opted to be more muted. When described as flamboyant, Peter had a long hair or brightly colored clothes and applied makeup. He's fingers had long nails and were adorned with rings, and he was loud with a biting sense of humour.

But the Crase is accepting community welcomed Peter and he became a favorite of some parents and children alike. Peter loved kids and they returned that affection, often begging him to play their favorite games. One mother was so impressed with Peter that she employed him to babysit her three and a half year old daughter as well.

However, there had been some issues that Gay had to pull Peter up on.

“Although he was renowned for his sharp wit, sometimes he's jokes diverged on mean, particularly when directed at his colleagues.”

He was fond of a drink and had been known to sometimes drink too much. He loved his job but had trouble with authority sometimes. And while he enjoyed playing games with the kids, he had a tendency to overdo it at times. Peter became known for the mattress game, an activity where he laid a mattress on the floor and lined children up in front of it. Then he'd hurl another mattress at them, tossing them backwards to be sandwiched between the two mattresses.

The kids loved it and begged Peter to play the game, but after a couple of children knocked heads, Gay Davidson told Peter to stop.

“That wasn't the only boisterous game Peter initiated.”

Another time, he'd hung a little boy off the cratious picket fence by his overalls while a group of other kids clamoured for him to hang them up too. Again, Gay told him that such activities weren't appropriate.

He was great with kids and knew how to make them laugh, but he didn't always have the most sensitive approach.

In February 1989, Peter had been issued a warning for not consoling a child who was crying for using excessive physical force and for being overly sarcastic in a way that confused children. Peter disputed the details of this warning and there were no further issues after that. Overall, Gay had been very happy with Peter as a colleague.

“Now, she found herself torn between wanting to support him and wondering whether there might be a reason she shouldn't.”

Peter Ellis was notified of the allegations and put on leave while a hearing was scheduled for the following Monday, November 25.

There was a strict protocol that had to be followed, which meant that no one who knew about the complaint was permitted to say anything about it to anyone else, including crash staff or parents.

Peter Ellis adamantly denied any wrongdoing. He told others he couldn't understand why Jeffrey Magnolia would make such a strange remark, and wondered if it had something to do with a puppy Peter had recently sold to the family. Peter loved animals and sometimes bread them. Two months earlier in September, Miss Magnolia had visited Peter Ellis's home with the Jeffrey to buy a black puppy he was selling. Jeffrey mentioned that he wanted to name the puppy blossom, so Peter turned the puppy over to show Jeffrey that it was male.

Pointing to the dogs of genitalia, he said, "Look, it's a boy." Others speculated that Jeffrey might have overheard something he shouldn't have, as Peter was known for making crude jokes about his private life to his colleagues. He liked to shock the women he worked with by telling them outrageous things like how he participated in golden showers, a sexual practice where one would urinate on one's partner. A couple of crash workers remembered that a few months earlier in August, Peter had told them how he had used a black marker to colouring his boyfriend's penis after his boyfriend came home drunk one night.

They suspected the little boy had overheard this conversation, and not understanding it was troubled. Peter retained a lawyer and met with a union representative who advised Peter not to attend the hearing. The allegations of possible sexual abuse was a matter for the police to investigate, not the council. Meanwhile, a two-person team from the Education Review Office visited the crash every day to closely monitor the goings on. They also interviewed between 20 to 30 parents and city council officials.

They found nothing untoward and gave the crash a positive review, noting that the children appeared happy, inquisitive and sociable, and had high self-esteem. On Monday, November 25, Jeffrey Magnolia was interviewed as part of the council's investigation. The little boy made no disclosures about sexual abuse or Peter Ellis. The lack of evidence against Peter meant the council was leaning towards reinstating him.

One council official warned Ms Magnolia that spreading word of the allegation at this stage would be both defamatory and inflammatory, but suggested she could file a police report.

“Ms Magnolia replied that she already had.”

Her phone crossed the church's child abuse unit on the same day as Jeffrey's interview, and spoken to a detective named Colin Eade. She had also spoken to other crash parents about the matter, despite being told not to, later explaining, quote, "I intentionally didn't listen to that because I have a strong belief that secrecy in sexual abuse cases keeps it happening, and I felt it needed to be talked about. I rang the parents of friends that Jeff played with because I was concerned for those kids." In response to Ms Magnolia's report, detective Colin Eade began looking into the accusations.

Soon, he'd received complaints from three further parents.

The detective didn't like the sound of Peter Ellis, and he was particularly suspicious of the way he'd obtained a position at the crash in the first place.

By all reports, Peter Ellis loved animals and owned many pets.

“Why then, when given the option of completing his community service at an animal shelter, had he opted to volunteer at a crash instead?”

It sounded like the action of a potential predator seeking easy access to vulnerable children. The week of obtaining the complaint, detective Eade advised the city council that he believed he was onto something big. On detective Eade's advice, an urgent meeting was planned to alert all crash parents that a staff member was under suspicion,

despite the council's stance that the allegations should be withheld, pending a full investigation.

As it was, word had already gotten out to some parents who had been calling social welfare agencies for answers. Detective Eade attended the meeting, which was held at the crash on Monday December 2.

“Word of the meeting was somehow leaked to cross church newspaper The Press, which ran a story that same day about Ellis's suspension with the headline, allegations of abuse.”

Roughly 100 parents attended the meeting, most of whom had been completely oblivious as to the allegations. When Ms Magnolia arrived, she paused in the doorway and burst into tears. A couple of other parents rushed over to support her, escorting her to a seat. Concerned spread amongst the other's present upon witnessing this scene. Detective Eade addressed the group, assuring them there was no need for alarm, but there were some concerns.

A staff member had been suspended. Based on Peter Ellis' absence from the meeting, everyone quickly deduced that he was the staff member in question. An employee of the Department of Social Welfare, or DSW, also spoke at the meeting. While she wouldn't discuss the allegations that had been made, she told parents about warning signs they should watch out for in their children. Nightmares, tantrums, cleaners, and bed wedding.

Physical symptoms to monitor included rashes and abrasions. They should also pay attention if their child was starting to exhibit any general behavioral changes, especially behavior that seemed sexual in nature. She recommended books parents could read to their children that addressed sexual abuse in an age-appropriate manner, such as the 1983 publication, a very touching book by therapist Jan Hyntman. But parents were not to question their children themselves. Interviewing children about sexual abuse required the expertise of trained specialists.

Over the course of the meeting, the mood became more volatile, with some parents shouting that the council would have to pay for what had happened. Other parents took the opposite stance, with one father remarking, "There's an assumption of guilt here that I find very disturbing." A few people abruptly stood and left, describing the situation as a witch heart. At that moment on, the community was split into two camps, those who were certain that abuse had taken place, and those who weren't. Supporters of the crash suspected that Peter Ellis was being unfairly targeted due to homophobia and was being scapegoated.

Upon seeing them, some parents couldn't resist asking more direct questions.

“None of the children made any disclosures about sexual abuse, though some complained about Peter's rough-housing.”

Suicidey and employee with the DSW conducted formal interviews with a number of the children as well. None of them disclosed any inappropriate touching from any crased staff members, those who felt caused for concern for six of the children. Detective Colin Eid had provided parents with his contact details, so they could reach out with any questions or concerns. He was only called by one parent after the meeting. On Friday, December 20, exactly one month after Ms. Magnolia had first raised the alarm about Peter Ellis.

Detective Eid closed the investigation, noting in his report.

“It is unlikely that these children will disclose sexual abuse.”

The investigation is complete as far as the police are concerned. If anything further develops in 1992, I will advise you. Police file will be back shortly. Thank you for supporting us by listening to this episode's sponsors. Thank you for listening to this episode's ads. By supporting our sponsors, you support Case File to continue to deliver quality content.

Despite the closure of the investigation, Peter Ellis was not reinstated at the crash.

Although Detective Colin Eid never met with Peter Ellis, or interviewed him, he had notified the council that he was concerned by reports of Peter's rough behaviour with the children.

It is clear to me that Peter Ellis should not be involved in any way in the supervision or care of children.

“I believe that we were very lucky to have this brought to our attention at this stage.”

If we had continued on at the centre, things could have got worse. Moreover, rumors were persisting, and two parents had unenrolled their children from the civic crash, including Ms Magnolia. She and a number of other parents had formed a support group and continued to worry about children who had been in Peter's care, including four children whom he was known to have babysat outside of the crash. They kept questioning their own children about Peter, and encouraged other parents to do the same. They read aloud from the books that the DSW worker had suggested.

At least one mother told her daughter that Peter had been very naughty and was probably going to jail. On Thursday, January 30, a little over a month after the police investigation into the allegations against Peter Ellis was closed, one child disclosed to something to her mother.

Seven-year-old Mandy, not her real name, had never attended the crash, but her youngest siblings had.

Her mother referred to by the pseudonym of Ms Abutus, was a social worker. She'd been an early supporter of Ms Magnolia, and had helped organize the parents meeting two months earlier. Sometimes, Mandy visited the crash with her mother to collect her siblings. Her mother, that Peter Ellis, had abused her during some of these five to ten minute windows. An interview with the DSW worker, Suciety, was arranged.

Mandy told Suciety that she'd been in the area of the crash for older children, playing a zylophone, when Peter Ellis approached her on stilts. When Su interrupted to clarify if Peter was really on stilts, Mandy amended her description and said he wasn't. Continuing, he came along, and he touched, touched, touched, touched me, touched, touched.

Then I said no, and then I ran away, and so did him, because he didn't want to be caught, because I always knew what was him.

Mandy's disclosure had an immediate effect and resulted in detective Colonyd launching a second investigation.

More disclosures soon followed.

“By late February, more and more children were making allegations, which grew increasingly shocking in nature.”

Some alleged that Peter Ellis had shown them his penis and forced them to perform oral sex. Peter said he had touched their genitals. He had poured water from a hose into a cup before ejaculating into it and making the children drink it. He also forced them to drink his urine and eat his feces. One girl said the reason she hadn't reported the abuse until now was because he just said don't tell your parents or else you'll turn into a gurkin and get eaten up. It seemed Peter ate gurkins before, once she'd had won in her lunchbox and Peter had come along and stolen it.

As the children disclosed that these alleged abuses, some were referred for specialist pediatric examinations.

“None of these medical examinations resulted in definitive evidence of sexual abuse and none of the children were found to have any sexually transmitted illnesses.”

The child reportedly had possible scarring around her anus, which the examiner said was supportive of the allegation of sexual abuse. A few children were described as having redness, inflammation and minor irritation. By the end of March, five children had made formal allegations of sexual abuse by Peter Ellis. The three magnolia, the child whose comments had sparked the initial investigation, was not one of them.

Despite never obtaining a disclosure from the original complainant, detective Coleneid was ready to make an arrest.

Monday, March 30, 1992 was Peter Ellis's 34th birthday.

“Morning, detective Ed and four other officers from the child abuse unit arrived on his doorstep armed with the search warrant.”

Peter was arrested while officers began searching his home for documents, photographs or videos relating to the sexual abuse of children. They recovered nothing, despite returning again on another occasion to rip up the floorboards. Peter's home was being searched for evidence, he was transferred to the police station for questioning. Peter informed the police that he couldn't help them before calling his lawyer. In the presence of his attorney, he answered more questions and listened as details of the allegations were put before him.

Peter pointed out Samaris in the children's claims, such as one girl describing him as wearing pairs of striped and spotted shorts, which he didn't own. Detective Coleneid disregarded this, stating, "So she hasn't got the clothes completely right. That still takes us to the statements about the touching of her vagina. Did you ever do that?" No, Peter replied, "How long do you think it might take to touch a child's vaginal area that Detective continued?"

I wouldn't know because I have never done anything like that, Peter retorted.

Despite his denials, Peter Ellis was charged with sexually abusing the five separate complainants. He was granted bail the following day while being ordered to stay away from children and away from the crash, as well as to observe a strict 7pm to 7am a curfew. That same evening of Tuesday March 31, roughly 250 current and former crushed church civic-crasse parents crowded into a church hall for another meeting about the case. There was a heavy police presence outside the building, and the city's entire child abuse unit inside, including Detective Coleneid.

Hanging over everybody present was a heavy sense of anxiety and fear. Parents were updated about the arrest of Peter Ellis, though investigators were cagey when asked what had actually happened, simply stating that the matter was now before the courts and couldn't be discussed. But they assured parents that counselling was available for anyone who required it and recommended that they have their children formally interviewed. Parents were also encouraged to go home and ask their children questions about possible abuse, while not being too specific.

Suicidey again listed symptoms of abuse that parents should watch out for, and spoke in a very emotional fashion. This added to the overall atmosphere of anger and panic.

“Some parents began to ask questions that suggested they felt they were being lied to by the council.”

One parent demanded to know if other staff members had been involved. A full page booklet was passed out to attendees as they left, providing them with information about child sexual abuse, as well as information about counselling, medical examinations, and possible compensation. In the days that followed this meeting, roughly 60 parents found a specially coordinated police hotline to request the video's 18 interviews for their children.

To take a DSW employees and detectives several months to conduct them all, with up to five children being interviewed each day.

By the end of May 1992, police had uncovered eight new complainants, bringing the total number to 13. One new complainant was a former student called Eli Lorel, not his real name, who'd left the crash to attend school that year after turning five in 1991.

“He started out by talking about Peter Ellis as being sometimes bad and sometimes good.”

When asked what Peter did that was bad, Eli said he'd dipped people in the ponds.

Peter was known for sometimes dipping the children's hair in paddling pools and water troughs on a hot day.

Gradually, Eli disclosed more, saying that Peter did weas in people's faces and placed his penis in Eli's mouth. Another new complainant was Zelda Cyprus, not her real name, who was also a former student and the oldest of the complainants at nine years old. Zelda had attended the crash church civic crash for two years, and had also been babysat by Peter Ellis around Christmas of 1986, shortly after he'd started working there. Zelda gradually revealed that Peter had abused her while babysitting her at his home.

“He'd exposed himself, and Zelda later said he'd touched her inappropriately as well.”

More children made additional disclosures about Peter making them consume urine and feces and touching their genitalia. One girl said Peter had raped her. The 13th complainant was a little boy who would become known by the pseudonym of Bart Dogwood, who started attending the crash in 1989 when he was almost three. Initially, when his mother had asked if Peter had ever touched him inappropriately, Bart had replied, "Peter wouldn't do that to me. He's my friend."

But over the coming weeks after he was questioned again, Bart said Peter had touched his penis while cleaning him up after he went to the toilet. More social workers and experts had been added to the case as a group. In May of 1992, a DSW social worker named Jan Galandez was tasked with supporting the families who had been involved in court proceedings. Jan Krossen, a nurse with social work experience, was appointed to support past and present-crash families who were not going to court. The two women would spend much of the next year visiting families,

liaising with investigators and therapists, and attending the meetings of various support groups that had sprung up around the case. They also provided families with information about child sexual abuse, pulling together a range of helpful books on the subject. The presence of Jan Galandez and to Jan Krossen led to some families who initially refused the offer of interviews to change their minds. The case had also become a big news story. An initial suppression order that had kept Peter Ellis's name out of the media had been dropped and a story is regularly ran about him.

Throughout winter, the number of complainants continued to grow until there were 20. Roughly 8,000 pages of evidence had been received with more to come. Jeffrey Magnolia, the child whose initial comments sparked the case, had clamped up about the subject when interviewed by police, so he wasn't a complainant.

One day, in late June, he was walking with his parents when they passed the Masonic lodge.

“Jeffrey pointed at the building and said that Peter had taken him there.”

Shortly while later, he pointed at a manhole cover on the road, remarking that Peter had pushed children inside to where there were caged to gorillas underground. Ms Magnolia was concerned about these remarks. She began to keep a list of things such as this that Jeffrey said and notified detectives. At the end of July, she walked Jeffrey past the Masonic lodge again. As more, Jeffrey said he'd been there, along with a number of other places.

The botanic gardens, car parks, some hotels, hospitals and bridges, amongst many more.

Ms Magnolia noted all of these places on her lists as well as something else.

“Descriptions of other people who had supposedly participated in the abuse.”

These included, bad men, some women, Maori men, and men with a ponytail, and Peter Rellis' mother. Now, fear was starting to spread that Peter Rellis hadn't acted alone. Another meeting was held where detective Coleneid and a colleague spoke to parents about these new allegations. They would need more information before they could identify any other possible perpetrators.

Copies of Ms Magnolia's lists were distributed so that parents could ask their children about the places and people described.

By early August 1992, another child was making disclosures in line with the Jeffrey Magnolia's. But dogwood had previously stated that Peter had molested him while tidying him up after he went to the toilet.

“He'd disclosed to this almost 15 months after he'd stopped attending the crash after his concert mother began questioning him.”

When she received the list of possible other locations where abuse had taken place, she took part to the large boarding house that had previously been Peter Elis' home and parked outside. Observing her son as he looked at the building, she was certain that he recognised it and took him back for another DSW interview. There, Bart said that he'd taken a bath with Peter in a house. Peter had sworn at him threatened his family, raped him, made Bart masturbate him, and forced to the boy to weed his feces.

There had been some other men present, but Bart didn't know who they were. Bart's parents were sure that more had happened. Over the past few months, Bart had been experiencing behavioral issues. He was refusing to use the toilet instead soiling himself and had mood swings. Certain he'd experienced more than he'd revealed, they continued to question their son at home.

Two days later, on Thursday, August 6, they took him back for another interview where he spoke in more detail about abuses he'd experienced in Peter Elis' flat. 20 adults had been present, including Peter and his mother. There were also 15 men that Bart described as Asian in appearance. They were dressed in black and white costumes and danced in a circle around several naked children in some kind of ritual act. There were also three other women present who participated in the abuse.

Two of the women undressed and pretended to have sex while Peter and his mother took photos. Unlike the Asian men, Bart knew who these women were. They were rather child care workers from the crash. Their names were gay Davidson, Marie Keys, and to Jenna's Buckingham. Bart had also named some of the children present at this bizarre scene.

As word of his disclosures spread, these children were questioned. Worryed parents grilled their kids and took them on field trips to the same locations, trying to prompt any recollections. Some of the other complainants began making similar reports to Bart. They agreed that they had been harmed at Peter Elis' home and the Masonic lodge other victims had identified. And they also echoed Bart's description of the Asian men who had danced around naked children, which became known as the circle incident.

Adults had taken photographs, picked them with needles, and to drug them with pills.

“Fingers, food, and sticks were inserted into the children's offices.”

Once Peter had swung a child around a prickle bush by his penis. Animals featured heavily in some disclosures. There were descriptions of Peter killing and cooking kittens, then feeding them to their children. He kept a pet giraffe at his house, and sometimes he would tie up the children and can find them in cages alongside lions. Once he turned a child into a frog and a cat.

This reference to a supposed spell wasn't the only allegation of a cult like behavior.

“Children said they had to chant, perform mock marriages, and were buried in graveyards.”

They had blood poured over their heads, and were forced to consume what they thought was human flesh. Bart would later say that he had also been forced to kill another little boy named Andrew. The adults and other children had to look down as Bart used a knife to stab Andrew, who'd been placed inside a coffin. No trace of Andrew was ever found. More complainants named Gaye and Marie as perpetrators, and said they'd seen them at the Masonic lodge, where there were truck doors, underground tunnels, and cameras.

Another staff member named Debbie Gillespie was also accused.

“The naming of the female crash workers didn't come as a surprise to police. There had been suspicions about some of the women who worked at the crash from early in the investigation,”

but these were initially dismissed after the women presented well in interviews. However, a recent report had caused detectives to rethink things.

After the allegations against Peter Ellis were first made, Christ Church City Council had commissioned a review of management practices at the crash.

The review would be undertaken by Rosemary Smart, a registered psychologist who trained in education and social work, and was assigned as an independent outsider. Smart's role wasn't to determine whether there had been any abuse. Instead, she was looking at the crash's management and policies. The Council hoped the report would restore the crash's excellent reputation. Smart first met with Christ staff in March of 1992, and spent time observing them at work on a number of occasions. She interviewed each of them one-on-one, and was given access to statements they'd provided to the police.

She never met with Peter Ellis or observed him working with children.

By the end of August 1992, Smart was ready to deliver her completed report. Although Peter Ellis was yet to stand trial, the report spoke of the abuse and his guilt as though both had been confirmed. It also contained a detailed account of his deviant lifestyle, which she had allegedly been told about by his colleague. Smart was also critical of the crash's female childcare workers, writing. On the one hand, all but one staff member was struggling to believe Ellis had abused anyone, and frankly could not accept such abuse could have happened at the crash.

And eventually, each one carried information about his behavior that would send alarm bells screaming in the head of anyone with the slightest clue about child sex abuse. Some of the remarks divulged by Peter's colleagues included concerns about Peter's drinking and his ability to babysit children outside of work. He had reportedly mentioned that an uncle had abused him when he was a years old, but it was okay because he knew what he was doing. There were reports that Peter had made inappropriate comments about children's bodies and the size of the boy's penises.

I thought he was perverted, one employee said. He told me explicit details of the men and women he slept with. He likes to flaunt his sex life. Smart suggested, because he behaved and spoke somewhat outrageously and possibly because he was bisexual, he was seen as different. Therefore, for both staff and parents, the usual boundaries did not seem to apply.

Smart was critical of the staff for what she believed was their total lack of training in sexual abuse prevention and detection.

Finkelhor's book deals with the issue of child sexual abuse within daycare centres with the particular emphasis on ritual abuse and abuse by female workers.

“It had become something of a go-to manual on the topic for social workers and sexual abuse experts.”

Christchurch police had received a copy of Smart's report at around the same time that children started naming the female creation employees as perpetrators alongside Peter Rellis. Investigators had looked into Peter's mother Leslie Ellis after some of the children included her in their accusations.

But they ultimately concluded that there wasn't enough evidence to implicate her.

It showed their focus to the other crash workers instead, with Smart's work going some way to convincing the child abuse unit detectives that they needed to investigate the women there. They also needed to take action to prevent the abuse of any more children. Four women's names had come up during disclosures and all four still worked at the crash.

“They September 3, 1992, the Christchurch civic crash was abruptly and permanently closed by the Ministry of Education.”

All 13 of its staff members were made redundant.

By now, the case had become a media circus.

Rumors about what had been going on at the crash were running rampant. But as heard that Christchurch employees had been importing live snakes from Australia for using rituals and stealing terminated fetuses from an abortion clinic, they're needing them. It was said that children were being trafficked for, quote, "Asian sex rings." Peter Rellis, and now his female colleagues, became the targets of public rage.

“One crash employee who was in her early 20s was told of the supermarket that she and everyone else who'd worked at the crash should have the words "child molester" tattooed across their foreheads.”

Police from the child abuse unit obtained search warrants for the homes of the four female crash workers who had been implicated in the abuse, as well as another employee who hadn't been. Rather than go to the district court nearby, they opted to travel to the Christchurch suburbs to obtain permission from an elderly judge. He signed their warrants, which indicated that they would be looking for address books, pornography, and the remains of human babies amongst other things. Nothing of significance was found, though at Debbie Gillespie's house, police recovered a handwritten note that joked about children watching through a home's window at a couple having sex.

In gay Davidson's office at the crash, police found two letters, both of which were declining job applications. One of the letters joked that, as the crash already employed one pedophile, they didn't need another. Despite the lack of physical evidence, all four female suspects were arrested on Thursday October 1 in publicly televised events. Not wanting any of their former colleagues to fall under suspicion, the four female suspects opted against having their names suppressed. Their faces were splashed across newspapers and the daily news, revealing that they all looked very different from one another.

39-year-old gay Davidson was a mother of two with street care who'd worked at the crash for eight years and had been at supervisor for the last four. Marie Keys, 44 years old, was the assistant supervisor and had two teenage daughters. She was petite, described as kindly, and addressed the conservatively. Her affair, Janice Buckingham, was also 44 with a tall, strong build. Debbie Gillespie was 29 years old and wore long-flowing dresses.

She had been at the crash for four years and was the head of its nursery looking after the youngest children.

Although three of these women were mothers, they were never investigated for possible abuse against their own children,

nor deemed unsafe for their children to be around. On Monday, November 2, 1992, one month after the women's arrest, a deposition hearing for all five defendants began. Both sides would make their cases before a judge who would determine if there was enough evidence to proceed to the high court.

Peter Ellis had been charged with 26 counts of indecent assault, 12 counts of sexual violation, six counts of inducing an indecent act, and one counts of performing an indecent act in a public place.

“Gay Davidson, Marie Keys, and Janice Buckingham, were each facing three counts of indecent assault and one count of sexual violation for assaulting children during the circle incident.”

Debbie Colesby was charged with one count of indecent assault, one of sexual violation and one of public indecency. It had been alleged by a child that she and Peter Ellis had had sex on the crashes bathroom floor. An angry crowd had gathered outside the court to make their feelings about the defendants known. There was no doubt in their minds that all five were guilty of unspeakable acts.

But inside the court, very few people were present.

There were so many potential witnesses in the case that most people even tangentially connected to it were expecting to be called as witnesses. They wouldn't be able to sit in the public gallery until they had given their evidence. But the media was allowed to stay. In the end, only 47 out of 92 potential crown witnesses were called to give evidence, meaning almost half wouldn't be testifying. Nevertheless, it took 11 weeks to complete the deposition hearing, which was a slow and arduous process.

It began with roughly 40 hours of videotaped interviews of the children being screened in court. Then the DSW interviewers were called upon to give evidence. All medical practitioners testified about examinations they'd performed on the children, stating that they hadn't found anything that definitively proved or ruled out sexual abuse. They testified to identifying symptoms consistent with abuse, though their findings were inconclusive and sometimes contradictory. During one examination, a doctor found that a female complainants' highman appeared to have been penetrated.

In a follow-up appointment, she later found that the child's highman showed no such thing. Police officers also testified about their investigations. They addressed something that people had long speculated about.

“How was Peter Ellis supposed to have abused these children in a busy crash where people were always coming and going without anyone ever seeing anything?”

More than 70 families used to the crash each week, and parents were known to show up at random throughout the day. No adults, no colleagues or parents had ever seen Peter abuse a child. The police testified that there were areas Peter had access to where he could abuse children uninterrupted, like the toilets and in a kitchen area that required a key to access. They saw so alleged that he had taken children out on walks to his home. Peter vehemently denied this allegation.

Two staff members were almost always present on walks outside of the crash.

In addition to being questioned by the crown attorneys, was cross-examined by Peter Ellis's defense team and the four women's lawyers, who were established that no physical evidence had been found to support any of the allegations. Following up on children's claims, investigators had searched the crash and other identified buildings for trapped doors, secret tunnels, cages, and child abuse material. They found nothing. Nor had any graveyards been disturbed, or links being uncovered to any other suspects such as a group of Asian men.

All four female defendants dressed conservatively for the hearing, while Peter Ellis wore his usual casual clothes, which made him look somewhat eccentric. The group passed the notes between themselves throughout the hearing. He made jokes, and Peter drew comical cartoons about the proceedings. One messier to red.

“I think we should publish a civic recipe book, Needle, Tomato, and Poison Soup, Kiddens, Jew, Eurion, Sorbet.”

The possibilities are endless. The sound of muffled giggling that sometimes emanated from the defense table angered others present.

On Thursday, February 11, 1993, the judge delivered his ruling.

“All five defendants would be committed to trial.”

The judge dismissed four of the charges, including the one of public indecency that related to Peter Ellis and Debica Lesby allegedly having sex at the crash. But Peter and his four colleagues would have to answer for all the other charges in front of a jury. From the back of the courtroom, someone was heard remarking, "Hang the bitches."

As the crown began to prepare for trial, they had to decide exactly what evidence would be presented before a jury.

That job fell to crown solicitor Brent Stannoy. He began going over the evidence, assessing what was reliable and admissible, as well as likely to result in a conviction.

“Stannoy ultimately decided against calling upon sex of the 20 complainant children whose claims had either been dismissed at the deposition hearing or were determined to be too weak.”

A couple of the complainants were also withdrawn from the case by their mothers. This led to no charges remaining against Debica Lesby as her two remaining charges related to one of these children. The case against Debica was dropped and on Friday March 5, 1993, she was officially discharged. Brent Stannoy also reduced the number of charges remaining that related to other complainants. Some multiple charges were blended into a single charge.

This led to the three equal charges against the gay Davidson Marie Keys and a generous Buckingham being reduced into just one charge.

“With his clients now facing a single charge, the women's defense attorney applied to have their case dismissed, arguing that no jury properly directed could find them guilty.”

Justice Neil Williamson, who was presiding over the trial, accepted this submission. On Tuesday April 6, the charge against the three women was dropped with the Justice Williamson finding the evidence against them, "of insufficient weight to justify their trial." That left just Peter Ellis to stand trial alone. His charges had been significantly reduced during the preliminary trial process as well. The 45 charges he'd originally faced were would all down to 28, and the number of complainants had dropped from 20 to 13.

He was accused of having abused these children over five years from 1986 to 1991. The Crown Cilicida had offered to cancel all of the sexual violation charges if Peter agreed to plead guilty to one or two representational charges per complainant. But Peter had refused. His trial began on Monday April 26, 1993. Some of the most bizarre accusations made by the complainants had not been included in the charges, such as the claims of animal torture, murder, and satanic style rituals.

With no corroborating or material evidence to support these claims, the prosecution concluded that airing them might undermine their case or prove off-putting to the jury. However, the circle incident would still be included, with the Crown alleging that Peter Ellis had abused children at an unknown location in the presence of others, and had provided other adults with children to abuse. This is the defense barrister, Rob Harrison, wanted the children's video-taked interviews played in full. He hoped that if the jury heard their wilder allegations, then it would cast a reasonable doubt on their testimony and the case.

To Harrison's disappointment, the judge ruled that the tapes were not relevant and were therefore innit-missible.

The Crown would first be calling on the 13 complainants, all of whom were aged between three and a half to nine years old, and their parents.

They would be followed by other witnesses, including police officers, DWS interviewers, and experts. The first witness was nine-year-old Azelda, the oldest of the complainants.

The following two witnesses were girls who alleged that Peter had touched their genitals at the crash while they were fully dressed.

“The complainants who followed made increasingly violent allegations.”

He said that Peter had urinated on them. One said he had touched her bottom with a needle. There were accusations that Peter had made children bathed with him, had hit and kicked them, attempted oral and penetrative rape, placed food against the child's anus, and forced them to drink urine. The prosecution shared these allegations with the court by airing excerpts of the children's taped interviews, then questioning the children briefly via video link.

After this, Peter Ellis's defense barrister cross-examined them.

Rob Harrison asked about positive memories the children had of Peter, and tried to expose ways that their evidence might have been contaminated by outside sources, such as the abuse-themed books provided to parents, or conversations they might have overheard in the community. When Harrison told the children that Peter denied ever harming them, their responses were mixed. "That's not true," one said. He did, said another.

“But one responded, "It's very hard to remember. I know very well summer true, and then I think, is that one true or what?"”

While questioning the eighth complainant, Harrison asked her, "Can you remember the first two tapes you made with DWS interviewer Kathy Crawford?"

We first learned about all the things Peter did, and then we came on screen, and it did it, the girl replied. "You learned at all before you came on the screen," Harrison clarified. "Yes." "Who taught it to you before you came on the screen?" The girl answered, "Cathy," and she told me what Peter did.

Following this, the judge discharged Ellis of the counts relating to this particular child. The prosecution's expert witness was a child's psychiatrist named Karen Zellis, who would supervise the social workers responsible for the children's interviews. She provided the court with a list of behaviours that were characteristic of child sexual abuse, including sleep disturbances, nightmares, toileting issues, mood changes, headaches, stomach aches, sadness, crying, separation anxiety, sexualised play, and others.

She explained that most children who had been sexually abused failed to disclose at the time the abuse was happening, and would initially deny when later questioned about it. According to Dr. Zellis, the complainants in this case were credible, and their behaviour was consistent with having been sexually abused. Under cross-examination, Rob Harrison asked the Dr. Zellis about a television interview she'd done about the case a year earlier, in which she'd been asked if there was a danger appearance might start imagining behavioural changes in their child after fear of sexual abuse spread.

Dr. Zellis had answered, "Yes, there is."

“She questioned in the court room, she claimed not to remember this interview.”

To counter Dr. Zellis, the defense court Australian psychiatrist Keith Lapage, who said the behavioural changes described weren't exclusive to suffering sexual abuse and could be all part of normal child development. Some colleagues testified for the defense as did seven crash parents who still supported him. More had wanted to, but felt unable to do so given the heated nature of the case. Some had felt pressure from that community to have their children interviewed, and later regretted giving in, feeling that the interviews themselves were the only trauma their children experienced related to the crash.

Peter Ellis also sat in the witness box to answer the charges laid against him. He spoke at length about his work at the crash and the children there. Under an extensive cross-examination, the crown attacked his credibility by pointing out apparent inconsistencies in his testimony and drew the jury's attention to opportunities he'd had to be alone with the children. They queered Peter about conversations he'd had with colleagues relating to sexual matters, such as him once telling Jenna's Buckingham that he used the polaroid camera to make pornography.

His defense barrister pointed out that not one of the children in the case had made a spontaneous disclosure of abuse. They had only said they were abused after repeated questioning by authority figures.

“Nor had any parents noticed any signs of trauma or evidence of abuse, such as blood or injuries.”

The jury retired to consider their verdict on Thursday, June 3, and spent almost three days deliberating.

They returned with the decision at 3.30 pm on Saturday, June 5. They had found Peter Ellis guilty on 16 out of 25 counts and accepted that he had sexually abused seven children, including those known by the pseudonyms of Zelda Cyprus and by Dogwood. This abuse was sometimes committed in the presence of others at locations outside of the crash, and Peter had also provided children for abuse by others.

“In sentencing, Justice Williamson described the jury's verdict as "obviously correct" before informing Peter Ellis that he would be going to prison for 10 years.”

Casefile will be back shortly. Thank you for supporting us by listening to this episode's sponsors. Thank you for listening to this episode's ads. By supporting our sponsors, you support Casefile to continue to deliver quality content. In the wake of Peter Ellis's conviction, feelings throughout Christchurch were mixed. Some were concerned, a huge miscarriage of justice had just taken place, and it was the result of a dangerous trend occurring both at home and more broadly around the world.

“Thanks to a number of social shifts that had been taking place from the 1970s onwards, the issue of child sexual abuse was being addressed and acknowledged more than it ever had been before.”

The activism of second wave feminists had shown a spotlight on topics that were previously hidden behind closed doors, domestic violence, marital rape, insist and sexual assault.

This created space for survivors to speak out and reframe to the offenses as a societal problem. This affected the attitude surrounding crimes against children too. In the mid-20th century, some influential psychiatric theories had minimized or doubted children's reports of sexual abuse. Between the 1940s and 60s, child sexual abuse wasn't believed to be widespread, and it was thought to only affect certain social groups. Some people even believed that abuse caused no lasting harm.

But by the 1970s and 1980s, attitudes were changing. Believed the children became a rallying cry for child advocates around the world, and it was becoming widely accepted and understood that there were predators out there who specifically targeted miners. Legal reforms started to strengthen child protection agencies, and more professionals were trained to detect abuse indicators and interview child victims. At the same time that social progress was bringing these issues to light and granting more rights to women and children, a cultural anxiety kicked in during the 1980s.

With more women returning to work after having children, fears spread about what that meant for changing family structures. Some of these fears centered around a service that was now being used by more and more families.

For the first time, many children were being cared for by relative strangers outside of the home.

As awareness grew around child sexual abuse, suspicion began to land on those tasks with providing child care. Over time, this anxiety resulted in a moral panic that became known as daycare-sex abuse hysteria.

These cases often began with one parent's concerns, and grew as a kind of contagion swept through a community.

“A fear that abuse might be missed led to child protection workers and law enforcement officers treating initial suspicions as potentially massive conspiracies.”

Although there have been cases of child care workers sexually abusing children, cases that fell under the umbrella of daycare-sex abuse hysteria were often marked by a lack of physical evidence. Incredibly large number of victims that only began to disclose under repeated questioning and pressure, and typically featured bizarre implausible scenarios.

Because child abuse was still becoming understood, investigators hadn't honed their interview techniques when it came to potential victims.

In several cases, children were interviewed many times over months, with interviewers sometimes asking leading or forced answer questions.

“Children who eventually confirmed abuse were rewarded with praise and attention, while those who said nothing had happened often weren't believed.”

Instead, they were questioned over and over, being pressured to disclose. Moreover, the panic that spread through a community when rumors of abuse took hold was known to cause what was called contamination in interviews. Children's answers could be influenced by conversations they'd had with their parents, friends, or that they'd overheard. Research later showed that the interviewing styles used in many of the daycare-sex abuse hysteria cases could increase false reports to distort memory, encourage children to guess, and create narrative escalations, where a story grew increasingly wild.

Developmental psychologists have found that young children are highly suggestible, especially under repeated questioning by authority figures.

Cambridge University professor Michael Lam, an expert on interviewing child abuse victims, has said that while children can be competent witnesses, they are susceptible to making errors during interviews when they infer that an interviewer is looking for a particular answer.

“Sometimes they want to help, but can't understand the questions they are being asked.”

They can also become confused about the source of their memories for particular events. Interviewers during the 1980s and early 1990s also made use of anatomically corrected dolls, which children could use to demonstrate abuse that they might struggle to describe verbally. These dolls were used in the Christchurch Civic Crasch case. They later became controversial for several reasons. Anatomically corrected dolls could increase suggestability, leading children to guess at what an interviewer wanted when they handed them a doll that had genitals and asked them to describe touching.

They can also lead to an interview at guessing at a child's demonstrations, which may merely be a form of play or an ambiguous action. They care sex abuse hysteria also intersected with another moral anxiety taking place at the same time, the satanic panic. Beginning in the USA in the 1980s, the satanic panic originated with the publication of a book titled "Mashall Remembers". The third by a Canadian psychiatrist, Tanties Patient Michelle, whom he later married, the book detailed how Michelle recovered memories of extreme physical and sexual abuse at the hands of her mother, who worshiped Satan.

Much of these claims were later debunked, but the book had united a spark throughout the US and the world. The conspiracy theory spread about so-called satanic cults abusing and murdering children on mass, with daycare centers seen as the base for many such groups. Social workers, police investigators, child advocates and therapists, began attending seminars by experts who taught them how to identify cases of a cult and ritual abuse. The children they questioned began to reflect what these professionals had been taught, describing outlandish and extreme events that couldn't be substantiated, were often impossible and had no basis in reality.

Many trials resulted in convictions that were later overturned or not guilty verdicts due to a lack of evidence.

Leading questions were avoided as were repeat interviews and praise for giving particular answers was dropped.

“When Peter Ellis was arrested, New Zealand and especially Christchurch had been experiencing a kind of satanic panic for a while.”

Christchurch was a conservative city known for its grand cathedral, English-style gardens and Edwardian architecture. Religious groups such as the Christian Heritage Party were vocal in their opposition to social change. But new influences were slowly changing the face of Christchurch, including a strong counterculture and artistic scene.

At the same time, fear that it cropped up overseas about satanic cults was spreading throughout New Zealand.

Books, magazines and other media shared stories about a cult abuse and individuals working in relevant fields began hearing more about the topic from overseas colleagues.

“American therapists named Pamela Klein, who was a witness in a number of ritual abuse cases in the US, spoke at a conference in Wellington about diagnosing ritual abuse.”

She was later found to have exaggerated and even falsified her qualifications. In September 1991, 11 weeks before Ms. Magnolia called the "crage to report a possible case of abuse", Christchurch was hosting a family violence conference. Included in the schedule were some workshops about ritual abuse. Two councillors from the city of Wellington told attendees that there were middle-class pedophile rings operating throughout the country. Even though no actual cases had been uncovered, they had interviewed three victims since 20 others had sought help.

“They pointed to similar cases in the United States, where there was talk of satanic ritual abuse taking place on a grand scale.”

On the same night that the conference began, New Zealand's 60-minutes program ran a story about a pedophile ring that was rumored to be present in Christchurch.

The rumours dated back to 1988, when a doctor first reported that child patients were telling horrific stories about sexual abuse perpetrated by multiple offenders against groups of victims.

After repeated interviews with police, the children began to report being taken to private homes and gay bars, where they were abused, filmed and threatened. Lots of adults were present, as well as lots of other children. They described vehicles driven by the offenders and gave physical descriptions of their abuses. The principles of schools throughout the city were warned that their students were possibly being recruited for a "chart pornography ring." In August, to 1988, 30 police officers executed simultaneous search warrant at six different properties.

An elderly man at one residence was found to possess naked photos of underage girls and was subsequently arrested. None of the other searches produced results. Although police were tired, they couldn't find any evidence of the pedophile ring everyone was talking about. But rumours of the ring continued to circulate, with some Christchurch residents certain that there was an underground community of gay men who were producing and distributing child abuse material. This persisted despite the police reassuring them that they had investigated the case extensively and had even looked into a number of high profile businessmen whose names had been reported.

The case was still sending fear through the community in 1991 prompting 60 minutes to cover the story in September of that year. The journalist, the Melanie Reed, spoke to various experts who assured her there was a serious problem, though they were unable to provide evidence of the pedophile ring in question. The episode added to the climate of fear that had parents convinced that there was a well-organized, well-hidden group of child molesters operating with impunity throughout their city. Less than three months later, the Christchurch civic crash would be investigated for crimes that sounded a lot like these.

The subject of ritual abuse was one that a number of parents in the civic crash case were familiar with. Quite a few of the complainant parents worked in child abuse-related professions such as social work therapy and counselling.

In a climate of heightened awareness, parents with these backgrounds may have been more inclined to interpret certain child behaviors through an abuse lens.

“Moreover, in these circles there was the possibility of a professional consensus developing that abuse was definitely happening.”

Ms. Magnolia, the mother who initially alleged that Peter Ellis had molested her son, Jeffrey, was seen by son to have a fixation with sexual abuse. She had recovered memories of her own childhood abuse and went on to write a pamphlet that warned about the epidemic of child abuse.

Because Jeffrey never made any allegations of abuse by Peter to the police, he wasn't one of the complainants at Peter's trial.

But his mother had made sure to get Jeffrey far away from Peter and the other creation employees, with the drawing him from the Christchurch civic crash at the end of 1991. She subsequently enrolled Jeffrey at another crash with workers there noting Ms. Magnolia's extreme fear and paranoia. She would ask the child care workers there not to let Jeffrey play near the fence, because there's a pedophile ring and they're out to get us.

“The employees took her concerns seriously, listening to her and reassuring her.”

But then, in September 1992, she accused a male worker of sexually abusing Jeffrey. This complaint was handled very differently to the Christchurch civic crash case, with detectives and crash administrators keeping the matter tightly under wraps while it was investigated. There were no public meetings or calls from Ms. Magnolia to other parents. After detectives looked into the case, they found no evidence to support the complaint and it was dropped. Detectives colonied was not involved in that case.

A closer examination of his involvement with the Christchurch civic crash case led to a number of concerns.

“His first notes written when he took down Ms. Magnolia's complaint featured a comment about Peter Rellis, quote, "He is apparently homosexual."”

From the outset, he appeared to consider Peter Rellis a dangerous man, despite no physical evidence that he had harmed any children. Although Ms. Magnolia's complaint didn't lead anywhere, the case was reopened after a second child known as Mandy Abutus made a disclosure. Although Mandy hadn't attended the crash, she said she was abused when she and her mother went to pick up her younger siblings. Detectived found this allegation particularly alarming and thought it looked really serious.

But Mandy's claims never resulted in any charges against Peter Rellis.

Her mother withdrew Mandy from the case and made a complaint to the police at the same time. She reported that Detectived had propositioned her. He later admitted to this, saying that he'd returned home after drinking heavily and received a phone call from Ms. Abutus. During that call, he, quote, "stupidly propositioned her." The next day, he'd tried to pass it off as a joke, but he had mentored.

Detectived, later, went on to have romantic relationships with two other mothers involved in the case, though he said that these occurred well after Peter Rellis's trial and incarceration.

Peter Rellis had faced a lot of harassment and intimidation ever since the allegations against him first aired.

His life was repeatedly threatened and a bullet was even mailed to him. On one occasion, he was physically jumped and beaten up by four men who broke into his home. After he was incarcerated, it was expected that the danger would only increase. For the first month that he was incarcerated in Christchurch, Men's Prison, commonly referred to as Poverua, Peter received constant abuse from other inmates.

They taunted him to hang himself 24 hours a day. But by the end of August, the situation had calmed somewhat as the other men at Poverua got to no Peter. A number of them were familiar with the case, and it didn't think Peter was guilty. One notorious individual who'd watched the trial coverage on the news was overheard remarking, "That poor fucker's being set up." One day, a fellow inmate approached Peter and said, "My mum thinks you're innocent."

One in particular told Peter, "He didn't belong in Poverua before letting him out of his cell to do some odd jobs on the fly."

“Peter had never doubted that the entire matter would eventually be resolved in his favor.”

From the moment he'd learnt that a child had made a comment about not liking his black penis. He assumed everyone would have to see that there was no case at all. Even when he found himself on trial in the high court, Peter was certain his name would be cleared.

He never could have imagined that the end result would be a decade in prison,

and still couldn't believe anyone would think him capable of molesting children. Although some had thought it suspicious that he'd opted to work in a crash over an animal shelter when he was a known animal lover, Peter had chosen the crash because it was an easy walk from his house. The animal shelter would require him to catch a bus every day, which he couldn't afford at the time.

“It was true that he sometimes had inappropriate conversations with colleagues at work,”

and occasionally faced a reprimand for being too boisterous with the children.

But overall, Peter had been a popular and beloved member of the crash community.

Some of the accusations made against him, that he had locked children in cages with lions, and killed a boy named Andrew, were so patently false that they weren't mentioned at trial. But even less outlandish claims could be refuted by basic facts. Several children had identified an old boarding house where Peter had lived as a place where he'd abused them after parents had taken them there. But Peter had moved out of that house years earlier. In some cases, years before the complainant children were even born.

In fact, only one complainant had attended the crash when Peter had lived there.

“Four of the complainants said Peter had driven them in his car to various locations where they were abused.”

But Peter didn't own a car and couldn't drive. And although police had pointed to areas inside the crash where he could have abused children out of the side, the actual layout of those locations made such abuse highly unlikely. The toilets where he was alleged to have abused kids were tiny, child-sized spaces. Although the adult crash workers would go in there to assist small children in using the toilet,

there was no room for them to hide, and they could be easily seen by other employees inside the crash. A kitchen where he was thought to have committed crimes was equally difficult to access without witnesses. Plus, the seven complainants whose accusations resulted in his conviction had named 21 other children as either observers or participants. Yet none of those 21 children ever confirmed any of the allegations. Peter Ellis and his supporters were hoping that these facts and others would help him find a way out of prison.

In late July 1994, Peter appealed his conviction on the basis that none of the 21 children cited by complainants as witnesses ever verified the allegations. Representing Peter was barristhe Graham Pankhurst QC, who argued that the guilty verdicts were unreasonable because the complainants' evidence wasn't credible. He pointed out all of the inconsistencies in the children's testimony and allegations. Pankhurst also argued that there had been a general miscarriage of justice. The trial judge had eliminated the videotape evidence and allowed the jury to keep transcripts of the children's interviews that had been edited by the Crown.

But shortly after the appeal began, it was abruptly paused due to a bombshell revelation. Zelda Cyprus, the oldest of the complainants and widely seen as the most credible, had retracted her allegations. After learning that Peter was appealing his conviction, Zelda's mother had told her daughter that Peter was saying that the children had lied. To miscipress his mind, it was further evidence that Peter Ellis was a bad person. But she noticed that when she told Zelda this, her daughter was silent.

Zelda, who was now a preteen, said that she'd wanted to tell her mother the truth for a while. She was just waiting for the right opportunity.

She finally presented itself after Zelda got into an argument with a friend at school, which led to the two girls' mother's having a heated phone conversation.

The other girls' mother called Zelda a liar. After Miss Cyprus hung up the phone, she had a heart to heart conversation with Zelda about the importance of telling the truth.

According to Zelda during her interviews, she had said the things she thought her mother had wanted to hear.

“The lies had started out small, but grew progressively bigger.”

Zelda wanted to share her attraction with the court to help Peter. Upon learning this news, Peter asked his lawyers, "Is she alright? A her parent supporting her?" Although Zelda's new testimony was entered into evidence, the appellate judges rejected her new statements. Such retractions were common in child abuse cases, they said. Zelda was most likely in denial and had convinced herself that she'd lied during the interviews as a way to remove the traumatic case from her life.

Still, they quashed Peter Ellis' three convictions that related to Zelda.

“They upheld all 13 of his remaining convictions, and he's ten-year prison sentence.”

Since this date, Zelda Cyprus has always maintained that she lied about Peter abusing her due to feeling pressure.

She and her family say they were pressured by the police and the crown prosecutor in an unprofessional way, and said New Zealand's Ministry of Justice has never contacted them about Zelda's retraction. In February 1999, almost six years into his sentence, Peter Ellis became eligible for parole. Appearing before the parole board, Peter stated, "I would like to thank the board for the opportunity to appear here today. I cannot accept any parole that you could offer me, because the board can only release me as a guilty man.

I am a human being, and of course, I very much want my freedom, but I simply cannot accept it if it is to be given on the basis that I am a guilty man. I am not a guilty man. I am an innocent man. In light of this statement, the parole board had no choice but to refuse parole.

Five months later, Peter Ellis tried for a second appeal.

The court found that while there was no certainty that a miscarriage of justice had taken place, some of the issues raised, such as the reliability of the children's interviews, and whether they might have been contaminated by parents' questions, might benefit from a royal commission into the matter. A royal commission wasn't called, but in March 2000, New Zealand's then Minister of Justice established a ministerial inquiry into the conduct of the children's interviews. This was somewhat more limited in scope than a royal commission, and wouldn't allow for witnesses to be compelled to testify or cross-examined a new.

The inquiry would be led by Sir Thomas Ickelbaum, a judge who'd previously served as the Chief Justice of New Zealand. One year later, the Ickelbaum report was delivered. Sir Ickelbaum found that while the children's interviews hadn't been perfect, they were generally of good quality, especially for the time. In fact, New Zealand's interviewing approach for child victims in 1991 was sometimes ahead of overseas practices. While there were some weaknesses in the investigation, particularly regarding the way some parents had questioned their children too much,

Sir Ickelbaum concluded this hadn't significantly affected the case's outcome.

“One international expert who assisted with a report found that the key complainants hadn't been seriously affected by contamination.”

That is, by hearing other children's stories via parents, or general conversations that might have influenced their own statements. In conclusion, the inquiry did not find grounds to believe that Peter Ellis's convictions were unsafe, and did not recommend a pardon. By this stage, Peter Ellis had completed his sentence. He was released from prison on Wednesday, February 2, 2000, and moved to a small beach community where his mother and sister resided. Although he had his freedom, he hadn't managed to clear his name, and that was something that he desperately wanted.

He now had a number of high profile supporters who were eager to help in his quest. In 2001, author Linley Hood published a book about the moral panic regarding ritual abuse in New Zealand, and Peter Ellis's case in particular.

Titled a city possessed, it was a comprehensive examination of the circumstances leading up to and including Peter's trial, as well as the events that followed.

“As Hood described it, Christchurch was a city on the edge, primed for a case such as the Christchurch Civic Crase, with rumours of ritual abuse having steadily built throughout the city during the 1980s.”

A city possessed became highly acclaimed, winning the top prize for nonfiction and the reader's choice award at the 2002 New Zealand Book Awards. It won over new supporters for Peter Ellis, including the former leader of the New Zealand National Party, the country's senate riot political party. A number of prominent journalists also spoke out in their support of Peter Ellis, including print journalist Martin Van Bainin, who sat through the entire trial, and Melanie Reed, the reporter who had put together the 60-minute story about a pedophile Reen Christchurch,

weeks before allegations against Peter were first made.

“During the 2000s, the fight to a quit Peter Ellis continued.”

Between 2003 and 2014, there were three petitions for a royal commission into the case, though no royal commission was ever established. On Thursday, July 25, 2019, Peter Ellis lodged an appeal to New Zealand's Supreme Court. He was now 61 years old and battling bladder cancer. His lawyers argued that evidence in the 1993 case was flawed, especially testimony from experts regarding children's behaviour indicating abuse.

“Much about interviewing children that had emerged in the intervening years also raised concerns about the evidence used by the Crown.”

More than three years later, the Supreme Court reached a decision. It highlighted two main problems in the original trial. The testimony of Crown Witness Dr. Karen Zellis had gone beyond what the law allowed when giving evidence that the children's behaviours were consistent with sexual abuse. The evidence was deemed to be unbalanced, lacking alternative explanations for the children's behaviour. The other issue was that the jury had not been properly informed of the risk of children's memories or accounts having been contaminated by multiple interviews, questioning by parents and discussions between the children.

What found that a miscarriage of justice had taken place, while emphasizing that its judgment was not to be read as a criticism of the complainants, their parents, or those involved in the investigation and trial.

On Friday, October 7, 2022, more than 30 years after Peter Ellis was first arrested, the court quashed all of his remaining convictions, clearing his name.

Peter was not present for this long awaited result. He had died three years earlier from terminal bladder cancer, less than two months after he'd filed his final bid for appeal. Ordinaryly in New Zealand, courts have ruled that an individual's interest in a judicial hearing ends if they die, putting a stop to any hearings in process. Given the exceptional nature of Peter Ellis's case, the Supreme Court granted relief that he's appeal to be heard despite his death, marking the first time that a New Zealand court had overturned a conviction posthumously.

Peter's mother, who had been his strongest and most steadfast supporter, did not live to see her son exonerated either. Leslie Ellis had died approximately one month before the Supreme Court delivered its ruling. Peter's brother, Mark, and sister Tanya welcomed the news on their behalf, with Mark telling reporters outside the court. We're just proud of him. We're just proud of the person he was. We never doubted he was innocent, and that was it. The parents of the complainants had a very different reaction, releasing a statement to share their disappointment in the court's decision. It read in part.

Peter have not been believed over the years, takes its toll. The court of public opinion is often ill informed, and the facts are lost. Our children deserved to be safe in the care of adults. They were not.

In May 2022, as Peter Ellis's appeal was underway before the Supreme Court, a female complainant now aged in her 30s spoke to journalists to Joe Malcolm about her suffering.

“She attended the crash from 18 months to five years old and said she still had many clear memories of Peter and how he made her feel.”

"Not being believed is very difficult, and I lean on the fact the courts have believed me, and I get some reassurance from that." Being was a scary and a vulnerable thing that I did somewhat reluctantly. It certainly not my experience that I was led by my parents. We never ever discussed it, and it certainly wasn't discussed with each other as children, as has been claimed. It was like an unwritten agreement. We didn't talk about it. This complainant told Joe Malcolm that the abuse continued to impact her as an adult, affecting her relationships and making her feel voiceless.

In 2003, the complainant known as Bart Dogwood told the Dominion Post, "We were there, we know it happened. It's not easy to live with, but I could live with it if everyone didn't keep bringing it up all the time."

“Who's your eye-want is for Peter Ellis to admit he did it?”

Some people close to the case have wondered if some children who did disclose abuse had been sexually assaulted, but by a person other than Peter Ellis. In the podcast series 'Dell' by journalist Melanie Reed, Gay Davidson, the cratious supervisor, spoke of something troubling she saw while reviewing the children's videotape interviews. One girl who took part in six hour-long interviews and disclosed abuse by Peter seemed relaxed and disinterested when asked about the crash.

The interviewers then questioned her older brother, who had never attended the crash, and he disclosed that he had been abused by an uncle.

The interviewers brought the girl back in for a final 10 minute interview where they asked about her uncle.

“The girl sat frozen and spoke in a low voice as she disclosed that her uncle had abused her too.”

To Gay Davidson there was a stark difference between her relaxed demeanor in the creation of use and her scared one in this final conversation. According to Gay's recollection, the girl's family opted against charging the uncle with anything as they didn't want their child to be a multi-abuse victim. Those the focus on the charges relating to abuse at the crash instead. This complaint and allegations against Peter Ellis were discharged at the trial. The four women who were charged alongside Peter had their lives permanently affected also, despite not being convicted.

They had to leave careers they loved and give up working with children. Based discrimination from members of the public, finding themselves shunned and judged despite having their charges dropped. The closure of the crash impacted other employees too, as well as an entire community that depended on it.

In March 1995, the four women and six other colleagues who also lost their jobs were awarded $1 million by the Employment Court for unjustified dismissal.

This was later reduced to $80,000, which in some cases wasn't enough to cover legal costs. Carol Evans was a Christchurch City Councilor from 1986 until 2007, and was serving on the Council at the time of Peter Ellis's trial. In 2015, as debate was raging about the case once more, Carol called a local talk-back radio show to share her personal regrets. At times I was the City Council representative on the crash committee, and I just believed that he was innocent all the time.

I met him, I knew him, I'd seen him in action. He was flamboyant, he was colorful, but I always believed he was innocent.

When the radio host asked why she hadn't spoken up at the time if she believed in Peter's innocence, Carol replied, "Because we were told not to. I just felt, if I don't ring now, I'm going to wear this guilt for the rest of my life."

"I guess I'd say that I'm sorry on behalf of the City. It's a pity that some of us didn't speak out. I just have always felt sorry every time it raises a tad.

“And I guess, the more you'd look at the case, it was just pure panic, pure conjecture, and people consolidated themselves one way or the other into two groups. Those who believed, into those who didn't."”

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