A City Possessed: The Christchurch Civic Creche Case [Hardcover]

Lynley Hood (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2001

"Researching and writing this book often felt like the literary equivalent of a solo crossing of Antarctica." Lynley Hood

A City Possessed is a strong, compelling and shocking story about one of New Zealand's most high-profile criminal cases - a story of child abuse allegations, gender politics and the law. In detailing the events and debates leading up to and surrounding the Christchurch Civic Creche case, Lynley Hood shows how such a case could happen, and why. Her penetrating analysis of the social and legal processes by which the conviction of Peter Ellis was obtained, and has been repeatedly upheld, has far-reaching implications - not only for our justice system, but for the way in which we see ourselves.

Ms Hood is clearly interested in the truth, and in careful research, rather than holding a view and sticking with it through thick and thin. This is an important book - clearly written, well-researched, assiduously referenced, and a compelling read. Dr Alison Jones, Director of the Institute for Research on Gender, University of Auckland

Hood says that when it comes to the Ellis case, and the manner in which those accused of sexual abuse of children are dealt with generally, grave injustices are and have been perpetrated. Much in this case went haywire. The result is a book that will elicit strong responses; outrage and bewilderment among them. Brian Turner, poet and publishing consultant

This book is a work of scholarship of the highest academic standard. The interpretation is a very important one, and one that is clearly supported by the evidence. Professor Mark Henaghan, Dean of Law, University of Otago.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Researching and writing A City Possessed began with the question: "What did or didn't happen at the Christchurch Civic Creche?' My seven-year search for answers took me far beyond the creche case and far beyond my personal comfort zone. I found myself digging through layer upon layer of unsuspected cover-up and unimagined scandal.

Lynley Hood's previous books are Sylvia! The Biography of Sylvia Ashton-Warner, winner of the 1989 Wattie Book of the Year and the PEN Best First Book of Prose; Who is Sylvia? The Diary of a Biography; and Minnie Dean: Her Life and Crimes, a finalist in the New Zealand Book Awards. Lynley Hood held the Robert Burns Fellowship at the University of Otago in 1991.

She is a parent of three adult children and grandparent of one. She holds a MSc in Physiology, has been active in several voluntary organizations concerned with parenting and early childhood issues, and has written many articles and delivered numerous lectures to scientific, medical and lay audiences on various health issues.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 672 pages
• Publisher: Clearway Logistics Remainders (October 2001)
• ISBN-10: 1877135623
• ISBN-13: 978-1877135620
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 5.9 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,797,474 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Letter to the New Zealand Minister of Justice, May 19, 2002

By 

Graham J. Wright "Shiner" (Pleasant Point, South Canterbury New Zealand) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A City Possessed: The Christchurch Civic Creche Case (Hardcover)

After reading "A City Posessed" I wrote the following to the New Zealand Minister of Justice, Phil Goff, which also sums up my feelings about Lynley Hoods book. A masterpiece of patient and objective research.

The Hon Phil Goff
Parleimant House
Wellington.

I have just put down Lynley Hood's book, "A City Possessed", all 672 pages of it, and if I had any doubts about a miscarriage of justice, then such doubts are now completely dispelled. I cannot see how any reasonable person reading this book could harbour doubt on the innocence of Peter Ellis.

It has been reported that you have not, indeed will not, read "A City Possessed" because you have faith in the justice system; in the original verdict, the appeal court decisions and the subsequent enquiry. I urge you to read the book.

Lynley Hood was able to impartially and objectively examine every facet of the case, whereas all stages of the several judicial proceedings were narrowly focused and circumscribed by rigid procedures that, under the amended rules of evidence relating to children, inexorably tilted the case in favour of the prosecution.

In her enquiries, Hood was not bound or beholden to anyone, was not subject to professional pressures, pride or prejudice, the need to achieve a certain result, or to jealously defend an `expert' position. Nor was she swayed by emotive and uneducated public opinion or the baying of a sensation seeking media. She bases her conclusions on a comprehensive analysis of a set of persuasive facts and on what, to any reasonable person, must be compelling and logical inferences.

On the other hand, from the outset there is evidence of prejudice, hysteria and contamination of evidence, coupled with a clear case of tunnel vision on the part of police, `experts', social workers and the interviewers - in other words, they were so determined to believe the worst, that ultimately they could not see the wood for the trees. Although not heard by the court, the extra-curricular activities and utterances of constables Eade and Legat, especially to the parents on the guilt of Ellis, were reprehensible.

Lest you may feel that I am yet another lay observer, I was formerly an Inspector of Police (not in this country) with CID experience and frankly, I would not have entertained a case built upon such weak, tainted, often contradictory and demonstrably prejudiced evidence.

Please read the book, initiate a fresh enquiry if necessary, but above all, without delay, ensure that Peter Ellis receives justice.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read, June 12, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: A City Possessed: The Christchurch Civic Creche Case (Hardcover)

Hood has taken on a massive project - to not only explain the obvious flaws in the prosecution of creche staff, but to base the entire sordid mess in the social and political context of the time. The analysis of how sex abuse "experts" were able to change the political and legal basis for prosecutions (while "learning on the job"!) is a disgrace to the NZ justice system and parliament. That disgrace is completed by the current Minister of justice refusing to read this meticulously researched, brilliantly told, and lion-hearted work. What are you scared of Mr Goff?

I frequently read the book into the small hours, and re-read many sections. I recommend it as a rivetting experience. It certainly has global sifnificance because several overseas cases are also examined in some detail.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Masterpiece, June 24, 2008

By 

Richard Christie (NZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A City Possessed: The Christchurch Civic Creche Case (Hardcover)

A masterpiece of research and analysis.
This work earned the author a doctorate from the University of Otago in New Zealand.
Reading this book changed my view of how our society operates.
Those interested in similar subject matter (social moral-panics, modern witch-hunts, in particular those concerning child sexual abuse) may be interested in Richard Webster's analysis of the same in the UK "The Secret of Bryn Estyn" and more recently the Jersey Island scandal (2007).