UNITED KINGDOM
The Times
Sean O’Neill, Chief Reporter
November 8 2016
The Times
The former head of the public inquiry into child abuse has refused to appear before a Commons select committee in a move described as “astonishing” bythe chairwoman of the committee.
Dame Lowell Goddard, who resigned from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in August and has been accused of serious misconduct during her 18 months in charge, told the home affairs committee she would not give oral evidence in person or via videolink.
The New Zealand judge said she had been subjected to “malicious defamatory attacks” in the British media and did not want to appear before a hearing where some of those “false allegations” could be repeated under parliamentary privilege.
Dame Lowell said she was “disappointed that there has been no government defence of me in England”. She said she had provided detailed written evidence to the committee and she was “not aware of any matter which remains unanswered”.
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