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Sunday Star Times
June 29, 1997
Inquiry for Ellis case
Letter to the Editor
by Frank MacSkasy, Dunedin
It is not often I agree with Frank Haden -- but in the case of Peter Ellis
(June 22) I concur with his view that another miscarriage of justice has
occurred.
My suspicions of the "safeness" of Ellis' conviction is based, in
part, on the fact that his co-workers were also arrested and charged, but
later dismissed. The evidence against them was non-existent.
The trial took part in a climate of sheer hysteria surrounding child abuse.
Allegations of ritual satanic worship and other forms of child abuse were
rampant and being whipped into a frenzy of fear and suspicion.
In this environment, it is hardly surprising Ellis was tried and convicted on
dubious evidence.
And yet, as the case of David Dougherty and Janine Laws clearly demonstrates,
the justice system in this country is subject to human mistakes and flaws,
just like any other aspect of our society.
A commission of inquiry is desperately needed to re-examine this case,
scrutinise the evidence and determine, once and for all, whether or not Ellis
was wrongly convicted of a crime which not only did he not commit -- but
never existed in the first place.
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