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The
Christchurch Civic Creche Case |
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November 18,
1997 Convicted creche worker Peter Ellis' lawyer, Judith Ablett-Kerr
QC, expects her petition for a pardon to be with the governor-general within
a fortnight. It remained to be seen however whether this would lead to an
inquiry into the composition of the jury that convicted Ellis in 1993, she
said from Dunedin yesterday. TV3's 20/20 programme on Sunday night claimed that jurors failed
to reveal relationships with people involved in the case. One juror knew the mother of one child complainant who gave
evidence of child abuse against Ellis in 1993. The juror had contact with the
woman through her live-in partner who shared a small office with the mother,
the programme said. The programme also reported that the jury foreman, a
Christchurch clergyman, had officiated at the wedding of the case's lead prosecutor, Brent
Stanaway. Mrs Ablett-Kerr said matters raised by the programme would be
part of the petition for a pardon which she hoped to have with
Governor-General Sir Michael Hardie Boys within the next two weeks. Solicitor General John McGrath QC said yesterday that he was not
conducting an inquiry into the composition of the jury. "All prosecutors are aware of their responsibility to
ensure the exclusion from juries of those with whom they have personal
contacts of a kind that might appear to create a bias in favour of the
prosecution," Mr McGrath said. "However, that did not mean every person with whom a
prosecutor had a past contact should be excluded or their presence on the
jury reported to the judge." Ellis was controversially found guilty in 1993 of 16 out of 25
charges of abusing children in his care, The Court of Appeal rejected an appeal against the verdicts in
1994, although it dismissed three charges on evidence that the complainant
had recanted. Ellis has served over four years of his 10-year sentence. |
