Anonymous Host

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' conviction, feelings throughout Christchurch were mixed.

As far as 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 shone a spotlight on topics that were previously hidden behind closed doors – domestic violence, marital rape, incest and sexual assault.

This created space for survivors to speak out and reframed the offences as a societal problem.

This affected the attitude surrounding crimes against children too.

In the mid-20th century, some influential psychiatric theories had minimised or doubted children's reports of sexual abuse.

Between the 1940s and 60s, child sexual abuse wasn't believed to be widespread and 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.

Believe 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 minors.

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 centred around a service that was now being used by more and more families – daycare.