29 October 2018
Ross Francis
[FYI request #8660 email]
Dear Ross,
Request for information - IR-01-18-14181
Thank you for your request dated 12/09/2018. You requested:
1. In November 1997, former Detective Colin Eade told reporter Melanie Reid
that there were ”more than ten offenders” in the Christchurch Civic Creche
(Peter Ellis) case. Exactly how many suspected offenders did Police identify
and how many of these were female?
2. Were any of the 20 child complainants given diagnostic interviews? If so, how
many of the child complainants underwent such interviews?
3. How many formal evidential interviews did each of the complainants undergo?
Your request has been considered in accordance with the Official Information Act
1982. We are unable to provide the requested information for the following reasons:
• Section 18(f): The information cannot be made available without substantial
collation or research. It has been estimated that it would take an officer 116
hours to simply locate the information requested in the 29 large boxes that
contain the file. This would be at the expense of the large number of current
investigation files that require attention by Police.
If you have any questions, you may contact
[email address].
You have the right to ask the Ombudsman to review my decision if you are not
satisfied with Police’s response to your request.
Yours sincerely,
R. Milne
Canterbury OIA Team Leader
New Zealand Police