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The
Dominion
November 20, 1997
Review of Ellis case labelled too narrow
by Alan Samson
Supporters of convicted child abuser Peter Ellis say the police review
requested by a parliamentary committee yesterday of the police investigation
of the case is pointless because it is too narrow.
A spokesman for the supporters and Ellis, Winston Wealleans, said that such
an inquiry would let other agencies "off the hook".
"It's got to be a full inquiry. They've also got to look at Christchurch
City Council, ACC, the Ministry of Social Welfare, other police investigators
than just (former detective heading the investigation Colin) Eade, and the
crown prosecutor . . . there are many other players," Mr Wealleans said.
Joe Karam, campaigner for convicted murderer David Bain, said that nothing
would be enough short of a royal commission of inquiry into "what is
going wrong" with a justice system that was imprisoning numerous
innocent people.
"The people who fought for Arthur Allan Thomas for nine years won the
battle but they didn't win the war," Mr Karam said.
"If anything the police have become even more entrenched never to be
proven wrong."
The Ellis supporters group issued a summary of what it believed were
fundamental reasons to disbelieve his guilt. They were:
* Ellis worked at the Christchurch Civic Creche for almost six years without
one adult noticing anything suspicious or any child complaining of any
impropriety till a parent "with a psychiatric history and an obsession
with child sexual abuse" accused him of molesting her son.
* The other creche staff consistently complained that Ellis did not pull his
weight with toileting the children -- not the behaviour of a paedophile.
* After Ellis was suspended, creche owners Christchurch City Council twice offered
him $10,000 to go away quietly, but he refused and demanded his job back.
* When the police searched Ellis's home they found no pornography or evidence
of sexual perversion.
* Half of the 16 charges on which Ellis was convicted related to children of
whom one or both parents were social workers, therapists or counsellors.
"It makes no sense to suggest that a paedophile would choose his victims
from such families when he was in daily contact with children from a wide
range of less vigilant family backgrounds," the supporters group said.
Speaking to the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, Mr Karam said there were at
least eight recent criminal cases in which he believed the convicted person
was innocent. He believed police investigations were often defective,
beginning with a conclusion of guilt then attempting to fit the facts around
it.
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