Louise realised that her integrity was an important part of who she was, and that thought brought her to the chapter involving Julian Ricciardello, the charming ever smiling Ricky. Julian was another chapter that brought despair. He was a man with rich talent and weak morals. Louise began to compare Ricky with herself. He was casual with the truth but deeply loving. He had high intelligence but no wisdom. He wanted the world to reward him without making any effort to gain that reward. He had no concept of Louise’s intolerance towards broken trust, believing he could talk his way around her at any time he wanted.
Frank was also history, unwanted baggage that she was carrying like she carried Bannister and Ricky. He was a big and handsome man in a fair haired red faced way. Alexander took after him, in contrast to Kezia’s looks. Frank she had trusted, as she had trusted Ricky, but like Ricky, Frank had betrayed that trust. Again, Louise could not tolerate broken trust. To her it was simply a matter of black or white.
It still hurt, like when you read a book and in it someone dies and you go back to that part and re-read it again to make sure it really happened. But it had and it was in previous chapter of her book.
In this new chapter she had Father Larkin, of course, his presence had run throughout the book since he had become the parish priest. She had Nigel, her best friend. She had the investigation group, Calling Out Monsters, with a new friend Mary McMillan, and Jayne the detective. She could trust all of them.
She was not so sure about Charlotte Hoar. She had been in every chapter. In fact, she was the only remaining link that ran continuously throughout her story. They had always been friends but never close. Unlike most girls they had shared few secrets and confidences. What bound them was the unspoken shared experience with Bannister. Louise realised that after Bannister, she and Charlotte had developed totally different strategies for coping with the damage he had created. She still enjoyed Charlotte’s presence, her good humour and her at times outrageous stories, but in return Louise gave little to Charlotte, so why did she keep coming back? Like Bannister and Ricky and Frank, she was now clutter to be cleaned out and not brought forward to the next chapter of her life.
At the custody hearing, Charlotte had told a lie about Louise sleeping with Nigel and that had counted heavily against Louise who had lost custody of Alexander as a result. Louise had not thought of that as a betrayal, but surely it was? Charlotte had supported Frank instead of Louise in a matter that was none of her business, except to take Alexander from Louise so the boy could join Charlotte and Frank.
Charlotte had also sent a nasty post on Messenger. It showed Charlotte and Frank, who was wearing only a towel. It was an HHG post, ‘Ha! Ha! Gotcha’. Although Charlotte might call in at some time, Louise was through with her. Like Frank, and Ricky, and Mr Bannister, Charlotte’s part in her story was over.
Bannister and Ricky then Frank. Louise could now see her idea for calling out the perpetrators of sexual abuse was in fact a remedy for repairing the damage done by her own experiences with Bannister, experiences of guilt and shame that had led her to be seduced by Ricky’s charms and later by Frank’s apparent strength. She needed none of these men.
With Mary, Nigel, Father Larkin, Kezia and Youssef, Louise now had a clear view of the road ahead. She needed to quit her current life and start a brand new chapter.
CHAPTER 56.
That new chapter began by treating COM as a full time job. Louise became the Managing Director of Calling Out Monsters. The small office she rented was operated by a clerical assistant, Susan Holst, who managed the paperwork and filing, and made a database of the contacts they needed to function effectively. Mary still worked full-time at the High School and came in daily to catch up on events. Susan was a creative person who was full of ideas. She handled the clerical workload easily and was obviously becoming bored with her job. Louise asked her to organise publicity, starting with a series of television documentaries.
The first programme Susan organised was filmed around their first prosecution, a legal assistant charging her manager with sexual abuse. Susan set to work and produced scripts for the case where the woman was in a most uncomfortable situation with her boss. She was being told that if she did not play the sex game he would replace her with someone more amenable. After all, the previous holders of her job had been compliant, so why wouldn’t she. Using her script as a guide to what might happen, Susan sold the rights to the story to a television company. The actual drama had to filmed as the case progressed.
COM was underway and gathering momentum. Mary and Louise used the Arbitration Court for their challenge on behalf of the young law graduate because it was a workplace matter: ‘you want to work here, be nice to me’, a cry that brought in six new complainants after the programme had aired. The story was told in a matter of fact way, something that Louise insisted upon. First, the leaders of COM were introduced. Louise had no problem with this; she did not feel nervous at all because it was something that she knew had to be done. Mary stayed more in the background because she was still working for the Wahanui High School Board, who had handled Louise’s failed complaint about Bannister.
The complainant had name suppression throughout and following the hearing. She was known simply as Miss M. At first it was a classic case of ‘she says he says’. She was just starting out in the practice of law, he was a fifty year old solicitor with a large practice and four other staff. He was happily married to a socialite, went to church regularly, played golf with professional associates, and had engaged an investigator who claimed to have a witness who was present when Miss M used cocaine. Another witness said that like many students with huge Student Loans, Miss M regularly walked the streets.
Miss M’s barrister used the report commissioned by COM that showed the investigators had faked the evidence and had paid witnesses to lie. Unlike Harris’s report, Miss M’s investigator was present in Court and could be cross-examined.
As a result of the investigator’s disclosure, Harris was charged with perjury and subsequently barred from practice by the Law Society. The detective agency closed down but that did not stop the Court charging the principals with perverting the course of justice. As a result of that investigation, the private investigator and Harris faced further charges of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and went to prison. The Law Society called for an investigation of such practices throughout the Hamilton region. Right through New Zealand fear of denunciation rippled through law offices and many women suddenly found they were no longer under threat. It was a complete and utter victory for Calling Out Monsters.
Following her performance in the first programme, Louise was asked to front the rest of the series Susan had planned, a series of documentaries about the problems women faced to gain justice for sexual abuse. She used an actress to replace the fifty two year old woman to tell her story of a male family friend who came to visit regularly over a period of seven years. While staying in the family home, the man sexually abused the woman, who was then a girl of fourteen. He even managed to have sex with her while the family was camping. As the woman detailed the long term effects on her ability to sustain relationships later in life she broke down and cried. The audiences on all media found the programme very moving. A roll up at the end of the documentary stated that although actors had been used to portray the events, the victim was satisfied that the portrayal was accurate in every way.
The third story was of a man who at the age of nine was taken into care by a church orphanage. He was abused so often by priests that he needed hospitalization. When released from hospital the welfare authorities managed to place him on a farm in Earnscleugh in Central Otago. His voice was disguised and he was shown only in silhouette but the emotion in his voice as he told his story brought many to tears.
For many years after his ordeal the authorities would not accept his story. Louise and Mary’s team found survivors from the same Dunedin orphanage and children’s home who had similar stories to tell. COM traced the priests that t
hese men named and challenged the church concerned. One priest in particular had risen in the Church to become a Bishop.
The release of this documentary caused an uproar. The Government ordered an investigation into the orphanage and the treatment by church authorities of complaints of sexual abuse. The bishop resigned and fled to Ireland. The School Board of a Catholic high school named in his honour was forced to consider renaming the school. Throughout New Zealand, victims of institutional abuse began to rise up and to seek help.
Louise expected Father Larkin to turn against her as a result but he said that she had found her pathway. Her courage was exemplary and would lead other women to be brave enough to expose the truth. He said to follow God’s will as she understood it, but to be aware of vanity posing as a false voice.
After the showing of the story of abuse of the boy in a church orphanage, Kezia rang.
“Mum, that programme was amazing!” she said as soon as Louise answered her call.
Louise was very embarrassed. She did not quite know what to say to Kezia. She had thought that she would remain a quiet figure, that those around her would not be affected. How wrong she was. Instead she had become the leader of a crusade, an internationally recognised figure with calls to visit other countries to call out their monsters.
Kezia broke Louise’s silence, with “Mum, you were absolutely brilliant. All my friends were in tears. They all know I’m your daughter, and you know what? I’m proud of it.”
“I’m sorry, Kezia,” said Louise. “It wasn’t meant to spread to you.”
“Mum! It’s great. It’s what the country needed. There’s awful stuff everywhere, and those guys just get away with it. Can I do Mr Bannister?”
Louise did not want Kezia involved. As she now felt strong enough, empowered in a way she had never been empowered before, she said, “I’ll do it Kezia. I’ll do it for you.”
David Bannister was a worried man. Nobody had stepped forward to make allegations against him but he knew he was on borrowed time. He did not know it but the next television documentary would be about him. He decided that the Labour Day holiday would be a good time. It was also the time of a new moon. Bannister was a groomer who loved to stalk his prey to find out about his target and her family. He was used to moving about in the dark. If he was challenged, he would say that he wanted to ensure Louise, a woman who would probably be alone on a three day public holiday, was all right. He knew he would be believed. He still had credibility.
He did not realise how quickly that credibility could disappear.
CHAPTER 57.
Susan’s fourth television documentary recounted Louise’s own story. The preamble said how difficult it was for women to access the Court, and how a ruthless man could make a good woman look bad. In matters of credibility, men had more cultural capital with which to influence proceedings.
The voice over said that Louise was portraying Mrs X, a person well known to her. The interviewer started the programme with the date rape. Mrs X said that because police were investigating she could not give details but it was real, it had happened, she was humiliated and shamed, devastated in fact. Jayne Hyslop got permission from Inspector Chadwick to appear on the programme to verify that Mrs X had indeed been drugged at a party, among friends and the investigation was on-going.
Louise, as Mrs X, then described her two children who she called Sally and Sam. She explained that they had different fathers because she had divorced Sally’s father. She described the poisoning of her dog Butch with Pindone, and Mr X’s subsequent reaction. She described the fight and Mr X’s departure with Sally. Sam being sixteen stayed with her. She told the story lightly but with conviction, having no problem with the renaming of characters.
Louise said how much counselling had helped but how it was turned against her at the Family Court. Her voice got softer as she described the private investigator’s false evidence regarding being unfaithful under the influence of drugs, the aggression of Mr X’s lawyer, the misuse of her attendance at the counselling service, and her resignation from the hospital.
She then said that Mr X and his new partner had deliberately lied about having sex with her then partner, and Mr X lying about her mental state. She did not mention Frank’s bet with Larcombe as she decided earlier that her credibility would suffer.
Louise finished talking about the Court by saying how important it was to be clear on what one said, because when she said she would be happy living on her own with the children she did not mention that she could afford to live independently. The Judge obviously thought she meant that she would be dependent on Welfare and a burden on the State.
While on the subject of the Judge, Louise departed from the agreed coverage. This almost canned the live broadcast and led to unprecedented action from the Chief Justice of New Zealand. She said that the Judge had said the process was about the husband and wife, and yet Mr X’s lawyer had dominated proceedings and had used evidence that had not been disclosed to her lawyer.
She finished quietly, saying that through lying and a skillful lawyer Mr X had won custody of Sam, with limited access for Mrs X. He could continue blocking access as he had done before. Her trust and naivety had cost her dearly.
The airing of the programme brought a huge wave of support and an outcry at Louise’s loss of Alexander as the result of Frank’s lies. The Law Society asked Judge Daniels to explain, and Brett Shaw was asked if Louise wanted to hold another hearing, an unprecedented situation. There was no word from Frank, who must have realised who Mrs X was. Kezia certainly did.
Inspector Chadwick called at the television station and was told Louise’s identity on his assurance that there would only be benefit. He called on Louise with a transcript of the programme prepared by a clerk. He went through the transcript and asked Louise for names. She declined to bring charges at that stage. Inspector Chadwick said that he had a communication from the Chief Justice of New Zealand asking Louise to fly to Wellington to see her.
Inspector Chadwick gave Louise a copy of his transcript. His office made all the arrangements to fly Louise to Wellington. When Louise got to Wellington a limousine took her to see the Right Honorable Justice Dame Margaret Blaize, the Chief Justice of New Zealand.
“My dear, I am most concerned with what happened to you in one of my Courts,” she said. “I want to ensure that it never happens again. It would appear that the particular Judge handling your hearing did not follow procedure. I have brought you to Wellington to apologise to you personally and to give you an assurance that all Family Court Judges have been made aware of the injustice that can occur if procedure is ignored.”
“Thank you Dame Blaize,” said Louise.
“Please, Chief Justice Blaize or Dame Margaret,” said the Chief Justice in a kind voice. “Shall we chat over a cup of tea?”
Off the record, Dame Margaret suggested that Louise talk to Frank to try to come to an amicable settlement that they could take to the Mediation Officer. A Family Court is not a Criminal Court, although Frank would be charged with perjury and that carried a severe penalty. However, co-operation with Louise would be to his benefit. Dame Margaret would inform the Mediation Officer in Wahanui.
Louise returned to Wahanui the same day. She contacted Frank to arrange a discussion that might benefit them both. Mary McMillan continued her job at Wahanui High School because she felt it was important to protect the girls there. As a school secretary with a low public profile she would be able to talk to complainants who were more like to approach her in the first instance.
CHAPTER 58.
True to her word, Louise’s fifth documentary, the last of the current series, was about Bannister. All over New Zealand people stopped what they were doing to watch, or recorded the programme for later viewing. Under an assumed name, and using the same format to mask Louise’s identity, Alice Brown, a pretty actress who looked like Louise, took Louise’s role. Alice told how at High School the phys ed and maths teacher had sexually abused her. She recalle
d the way he had groomed her and led her into his trap. She described in detail how he had led from handling his penis to being forced to have sex or be publicly shamed.
“Is that man still teaching?’ asked the interviewer, who already knew the answer.
“Oh, yes,” said Alice. “He is now the Deputy Principal in the same school. He teaches mathematics and is likely to be the new Principal when the present man retires. My daughter mentioned his name to me. I told her what had happened to me. That was really hard. One of the hardest things I have ever done. I had not mentioned being abused to anyone until then. I asked if he was interfering with her. I will call her Sally. ‘Yes, she said’.”
Alice paused to wipe away tears and to regain her composure.
“Sally told me how she had been blackmailed by the Deputy Principal who said he had witnessed her boyfriend, an Afghani refugee, attack a local student. He was supported by a teaching colleague. Neither man had seen any such thing. The local boy who made the accusation was a racist liar and so were the two teachers.”
Bernard Smith appeared on the programme in a cameo appearance. His features were blurred by a mosaic overlay. He said that he was a policeman who had been called to attend an incident in a school playground where a youth made racist remarks to a refugee. When Sally jumped to the defence of the refugee the youth went to strike her. The refugee blocked the blow, breaking the youth’s arm as the blow hit him.
The Stalking of Louise Copperfield Page 21
