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The Press
December 2 1997
Ellis petition sent to Crown
NZPA
A petition seeking a pardon for former childcare
worker Peter Ellis was delivered to Governor-General Sir Michael Hardie Boys
yesterday.
Ellis was found guilty of sexually abusing children at the Christchurch
Childcare Centre between 1986 and 1992. He has served four years of a 10-year
jail sentence.
A recent TV3 report highlighted possible irregularities in the Ellis case.
The petition, delivered by two barristers on behalf of Ellis's counsel,
Judith Ablett-Kerr, was later couriered to Justice Minister Doug Graham.
There was no indication of what the ministerial response would be.
A spokeswoman for Mr Graham said the petition would be given to officials to
examine in what was likely to be ``an intensive, time-consuming process''.
``It could take months,'' she said.
Senior Wellington barrister Gary Turkington said there was no time limit on
deciding whether a free pardon -- where a conviction is deemed not to have
occurred -- should be granted.
Such petitions were ``very rare'', but would be referred to the Court of
Appeal by the Governor-General ``on the advice of the Minister of Justice
with a view to getting the court to rule whether the conviction should
remain''.
The court would then, ``if it so sees'', make a ruling that could lead to the
Governor-General granting a free pardon, but again on the advice of the
justice minister.
The court could also order a retrial, Mr Turkington said. It could also find
the original conviction ``safe'', ``which would probably be the end of the
matter''.
Counsel for Ellis would still have the option of referring the matter to the
Privy Council, ``but I think it would be a forlorn hope''.
``The Court of Appeal has looked at such cases, but they're quite rare,'' Mr
Turkington said.
In the case of Dean Wickliffe, a conviction for murder had in 1986 been
overturned for one of manslaughter, but the sentence had remained the same.
In the case of convicted murderer Ross Appelgren, in 1994 a new trial had
been ordered, but that trial had again convicted him. Last century Italian
migrant Louis Chemis, convicted for the brutal "Kaiwharawhara murder''
was the subject of a petition for free pardon. He was granted amnesty on the
60th anniversary of Queen Victoria's
reign. The only full pardon believed to have been granted was to Arthur Allan
Thomas, in 1979, but that pardon was the result of the recommendations of a
separate commission of inquiry being recognised by the government of the day.
Ellis supporter Winston Wealleans said yesterday it was imperative the matter
be dealt with quickly.--NZPA
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