The appeal into sexual abuse convictions arising from the Christchurch Creche case has begun in the Supreme Court. The defence will focus on four issues:

1. the children’s evidence was contaminated, and obtained using improper techniques.
2. expert testimony by psychiatrists mislead the jury.
3. an expert witness gave evidence about symptoms of sexual abuse which had no scientific validity.
4. the prosecution failed to “tell the whole truth”. The evidence was cherry-picked then ‘sanitised’.

The actual, real psychological abuse of these children by over-zealous and ideologically driven interviewers was all recorded on video. Most of this material has never been presented to a jury. If the Supreme Court decides to finally address what is arguably New Zealand’s worst miscarriage of justice, there will need to be a proper investigation which includes examining ALL the evidence. Unless, of course, it turns out that the videos have been ‘lost’ during the many years that justice has been delayed.

Some links to recent news items:

Interview with law professor Bill Hodge

Ellis’ historic child sex abuse appeal begins in Supreme Court report by Emma Hatton.

First day focuses on child’s evidence – report by Jake McKee.