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The
Christchurch Civic Creche Case |
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Convicted child abuser
Peter Ellis did not turn up at his parole board hearing for his first chance
of freedom because his innocence meant too much to him, his mother said. Lesley Ellis said her
son's innocence meant too much for him to accept freedom if it meant it was
granted on the basis he was a guilty man. She said: "I
didn't know he wouldn't go in front of the parole board until I got out there
to be his support person. "I could see that
having made that decision he was at peace with it." The parole board
hearing went ahead without him. Ellis will find out late next week if he will
spend his 40th birthday, this month, in Christchurch's Rolleston Prison. Ellis has been in jail
for four years and nine months. He was jailed for 10 years after being found
guilty of sexually abusing children at the Christchurch Civic Creche between
1986 and 1992. Yesterday was the first
time he was eligible for a parole board hearing to obtain a release from
jail. Ellis
has petitioned Governor-General Sir Michael Hardie Boys for a pardon, filed
in December after irregularities in his case were highlighted in the media. |
