Lowell Goddard

Lowell Goddard is going to run the 2014 Child Sexual Abuse Inquiry. Lowell Goddard is a very wonderful human being who cannot be accused of involvement in Paedophile abuse in England because she was in New Zealand at the time. Our beloved Home Secretary, Theresa May tells us that she is highly respected and an "outstanding candidate with experience in challenging authority in this field". That is one point of view. The Main Stream Media in England are going along with Mrs. May. So is the Wikipedia but Vince Siemer, an American businessman disagrees big time. He was put in prison for his pains.

 Kiwis First, an outfit in New Zealand, where she is much better known does not agree, not even slightly. Justice Lowell Goddard New Zealand’s Latest Export  is admired more for her dress sense than her integrity; that is pretty much non-existent. Perhaps that is why she got the job. But it seems that MPs do know that she has been accused of Perverting The Course Of Justice or something very like it. See Did Judge Lowell Goddard Lie to Parliament?  for more and better details.

She is going to take years on this one at a very adequate rate of pay. It will not be a mere salary, more a remuneration package, the sort that the rest of us can only dream of.

Justice Lowell Goddard New Zealand’s Latest Export
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Official comments from the United Kingdom lauding the appointment of New Zealand High Court Justice Lowell Goddard to head an Inquiry into child sexual abuse have legal doyens in New Zealand privately scratching their heads.
 
Goddard J scored dead last in the 2014 Judge Survey Results in New Zealand, with many lawyers extremely critical of Lowell’s opportunistic public stances, liberties with the truth and contrarian judgments.

But let us not be burdened by the empirical evidence when we should celebrate Home Secretary Theresa May appointing any Kiwi after the first two appointees (Fiona Woolf and Elizabeth Butler-Sloss) crashed and burned.  Labour MP Simon Danczuk also released a statement saying, “It is obvious that the home secretary has cast the net far and wide in order to find an appropriate person and I applaud her for doing so.”

‘Far and wide’?  Certainly ‘far’.  But let the Brits learn first-hand the hazards of deep sea fishing.  Too often you risk pulling up useless debris from the bottom because you capriciously cast your net in shallow waters.

The big question in the U.K. must be why Home Secretary Theresa May picked Goddard when her due diligence determined lawyers in New Zealand broadly consider Ms Goddard a political puppet.  Question asked and answered?

One can only hope no prohibition on investigative reporting of Goddard J exists in the U.K. as there is at home where the honourable judge writes her own press and zealously orchestrates her public image.   Her resume says she is at the forefront of human rights and women’s rights and Maori rights.  A more impeccably manicured person you will likely never see.  Busy lady.

Contrast Goddard J’s facade with her legacy.  She was appointed to the Independent Police Conduct Authority after she complained sitting on long cases in the High Court was too stressful on her back.  Her days on the IPCA were mired in secrecy, political manoeuvring and tardy rulings.  She routinely sided with Crown immunity, suppression of information and against human rights.  Even where public pressure was so great as to force a ruling police had acted oppressively, as in police restraints on peaceful protests during the 1999 visit of the Chinese President, her finding was released 8 years after the fact.

Ever the equal opportunity disheveller, Lowell Goddard had a hand in derailing at least one police investigation into criminal judicial conduct, in 1994, when she was deputy solicitor general.   In 2007 she helped appoint the alleged criminal offender (Michael Lance) as her deputy at the IPCA (refer to story on Judge Michael Lance in Goddard J’s bio).  Her deputy was soon forced to resign after being criminally charged by police for keying cars in front of his apartment.  The Hansard (Parliamentary) record recorded at the time Goddard and the Chief Justice “recommend (Michael Lance) as a sound appointment choice”.

So what did the Home Secretary mean when she assured MPs this week that Goddard’s Inquiry will not be thwarted by the Official Secrets Act in an investigation which will delve into governmental department files in circumstances where there appears to be complicity by officials in the scandal?  A hint might lie in comments of the ‘fixer’ Home Secretary May has appointed.  “The inquiry will be long, challenging and complex,” forewarned Goddard J.

Experience tells us you can take Goddard J’s assessment to the bank.  Hopefully the British prefer an exhaustive and complex inquiry to an accurate and transparent outcome.

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People in New Zealand know each other. Kiwis First tells it like it is - or not as the case may be. The web master, Vince Siemer gets sued for libel, bankrupted & put in prison but the site stays on line.

 

Lowell Goddard ex Wiki
Dame Lowell Patria Goddard, DNZM, QC (born 25 November 1948) is a New Zealand judge. In 1988, she was one of the first two women to be appointed Queen's Counsel in New Zealand. She is thought to be the first person of Māori ancestry to become a High Court judge. Currently, she is the longest-serving New Zealand High Court judge still in office. In February 2015, she was appointed to head the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in England and Wales............

She was the first woman to serve as chair of New Zealand's Independent Police Conduct Authority, from 2007 to 2012.[2] In that capacity she served as an expert to the United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture. She was appointed a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in June 2014, for her work on human rights.[5]<]

In February 2015, she was appointed to head the statutory public inquiry that will replace the Independent Panel Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in England and Wales.[2][10] British Home Secretary, Theresa May, described her as highly respected and an "outstanding candidate with experience in challenging authority in this field". Justice Goddard said she was honoured to lead the inquiry and was aware of the scale of the undertaking, saying that "the many, many survivors of child sexual abuse, committed over decades, deserve a robust and thorough investigation of the appalling crimes perpetrated upon them."[11]

 

Home Secretary Alleges That Goddard J Is Not Bent [ 4 February 2015 ]
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But the appointment immediately faced controversy as Ms May had to dismiss an accusation that the judge had been involved in a cover-up, telling MPs there was “absolutely no truth” in the allegation.

Ms May told MPs she had spoken to Justice Goddard, as well as New Zealand’s Attorney General, about the claim in a blog and had been assured it was false.
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Somebody is telling fibs but the Indy is not telling us the source of the allegations, the alleger or the denier.

 

Paedophile Inquiry Might Question Politicians  [ 27 November 2015 ]
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The judge leading the investigation announced that politicians still active in Westminster will form part of its scope.

Justice Lowell Goddard, who was appointed earlier this year to run the massive inquiry, said: "The investigation will focus on high profile allegations of child sexual abuse involving current and former MPs, senior civil servants and government advisers, and members of the intelligence and security agencies." [ So the 1,400 English girls raped by Pakistani Perverts in Rotherham  qualify as an afterthought if that, because they didn't go to Roedean - Editor ]

She announced the first 12 strands of the inquiry will include institutions in Westminster, the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches and a number of local councils.

Former Liberal MP Sir Cyril Smith w was one of two individuals named by Justice Goddard as a person whose activities will be scrutinised, along with Peter Ball, the former Bishop of Gloucester, who was jailed for two years and eight months in October for abusing 18 aspiring young priests over a period spanning 15 years...........

The chairwoman said the inquiry into Westminster institutions will "consider allegations of cover-up and conspiracy and will review the adequacy of law enforcement responses to these allegations".........

In July it was disclosed that Justice Goddard will be paid £360,000 a year with a further £122,000 in allowances.
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Mrs Justice Goddard talks the talk. Will she walk the walk? Vince Siemer, who lives in New Zealand thinks not. He said so then got put in prison for his pains. This does not mean he wrong.