UNITED KINGDOM
The Guardian
Claire Phipps and Matthew Weaver
Friday 14 October 2016
Dame Lowell Goddard, who resigned as chair of the UK’s public inquiry into institutional child abuse in August, has rejected as “a vicious campaign” reports that she made racist remarks and acted aggressively in the role.
The Times reported on Friday that Goddard, a New Zealand judge who was appointed in February 2015 as the third person to head the troubled independent inquiry into child sexual abuse, was allegedly warned by officials about offensive remarks, including a claim that she had said high rates of child abuse in the UK were “because it has so many Asian men”.
In a statement issued on Friday, Goddard said the accusations were false and malicious. She said she had, through lawyers in London, informed the Times of “the falsity of the matters raised, and the malicious background to them”.
She added: “I await the advice of my London lawyers on these articles, which I have only just seen. I confirm my absolute rejection of this attack. I am confident that in New Zealand my known reputation from my work over many years will provide its own refutation of these falsities.
“I will be making no further statement and will not engage with those conducting this vicious campaign.”
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