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The
Christchurch Civic Creche Case |
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Peter Ellis is a
"mean man, a perverted user of children," Crown counsel Brent
Stanaway told the High Court at Christchurch yesterday. Mr Stanaway was making
submissions for the Crown in the sentencing of Ellis, aged 35, on 16 counts
of child abuse. Mr Justice Williamson
sentenced Ellis to jail for 10 years on the charges.
Ellis showed a public
side to his personality as a caring childcare worker, but his private side
showed a mean and perverted man, Mr Stanaway said. The judge said the
jury, which heard six weeks of evidence on the 28 charges Ellis faced, had
been in a unique position to view the evidence, "unlike those who had
publicly feasted off the case." The jury's verdict of
guilty were the result of careful consideration of the evidence, he said. "I believe them to
be correct."
The judge said there
were four aggravating features to Ellis's offending: the victims were small
children, the offending took place over a long period, between December 1986
and May 1991, Ellis was in a position of special trust, and the crimes were
prevalent. In itigation, there was
no evidence of overt violence, Ellis had no previous record of sexual
offending, imprisonment would be difficult for him and many of his fellow crèche
workers and parents were attracted to his personality, he said. "In view of the
evidence there are grave suspicions you committed other acts of child
abuse," Mr Justice Williamson said. "I disregard these
suspicions in sentencing you," he told Ellis.
Ellis counsel, Robert
Harrison, said the offending was at the lower end of the scale for the
severity of the charges, that Ellis was a good childcare worker and creative
in his job. Mr Harrison said
earlier he intended to appeal Ellis's conviction. |
