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Otago Daily Times
June 3 1998
A number one son who now needs his mother the most
By Susan Pepperell of the Waikato Times
Hamilton: It is a truth universally acknowledged that a mother knows
best.
Lesley Ellis had four children and she knew.
She calls it her "funny feeling". The feeling that told her one day
she would be called on to go that bit extra for her first-born; that of all
her children, Peter would need her most.
He did, at the age of 33 , and he was lucky with his mum.
With her mop of curly grey hair and handbag tucked under her arm, Lesley
Ellis looks like any other grandmother when she takes a break from work at a
debt collection agency and walks down Christchurch's
Riccarton Rd.
But she has been to hell and back in the name of justice. And she still has
not got it.
It has made her tough and resolute, although they are characteristics she
undoubtedly developed bringing up her children after separating from her
husband when Peter was 9.
Peter Ellis has been in prison since 1993, jailed then for 10 years on 13
counts of sexual abuse while he worked at the Christchurch Civic Creche. He
maintains his innocence and so does Mrs Ellis.
This week his lawyer, Judith Ablett-Kerr QC, has a date in the Court of
Appeal in which it is believed she will try to get him released on bail - the
first step in attempts to clear his name. That will be followed by an appeal
hearing later.
Mrs Ellis says the bail application has risks and she is nervous about this
latest step. If her son is released on bail and Ms Ablett-Kerr loses the
Court of Appeal case, he will have to go back to jail.
The jail might be a lot worse than Rolleston, Christchurch, where he is at present.
Ellis has a cell to himself at Rolleston, has been instrumental in setting up
a library for his unit and has also become a prisoner's advocate, helping
fellow inmates who are not as articulate as he is.
When Mrs Ellis visits each Saturday from 1.30pm to 4pm there is privacy for
her to talk and laugh with her son. She ignores the barbed wire and even says
the setting is quite "pleasant-looking. We sit and talk about anything
and everything".
It did not take much for Mrs Ellis to believe nothing bad ever happened at
the creche while her son worked there.
She never saw any evidence: "It wasn't difficult to figure out it hadn't
happened. I told the police: `If you can show me he did it I will be the
first to get him some help.'
"They said he was in denial. Peter told me: `If they are right and I am
in denial, then please get me help'."
In the early days, she almost laughed at the allegations.
She had the utmost belief in the police and the justice system and she just
knew everything would be thrown out the first time her son appeared in the
dock. It was not and Mrs Ellis became scared.
"You have so much faith in the police that you don't dream it won't come
right. You do as you're told, you don't complain . . . well not to start
with."
She talks of selective evidence and claims police manipulation and government
interference and maintains the case should have been thrown out.
"I just didn't believe the justice system could do this to you."
Those were the worst days. Once they were over Mrs Ellis and her son coped.
Ellis told his mother he still had a life and was going to live it, even if
it was inside prison.
Mrs Ellis practised the same kind of practicality. She got on with her life
and began working for her son's freedom.
Now she hopes his convictions will be overturned and his name cleared.
Mrs Ellis does not want her son's name cleared just because it is important
to him, or to her.
What she is concerned about most is the need to clear her son's name for the
sake of the children at the creche when Ellis worked there.
"Clearing his name means clearing all of the creche workers and it means
the children will be able to believe it didn't happen.
"Their happy memories have been besmirched. At the end of the day,
they're the ones that something must be done about. How do you ever, ever
convince them it never happened?"
Mrs Ellis has endured her son's long imprisonment pretty much on her own. She
prefers it that way.
Even her family does not talk about the case much. Support groups help. Among
them in Christchurch
is a strong Casualties of Sexual Allegations group formed to support, educate
and raise awareness of people accused of sexual abuse by way of
uncorroborated evidence.
Mrs Ellis attended one of its meetings recently but came away drained. So
many people, so many problems.
"I felt almost swamped by it. It's better if I don't get too heavily
involved. I find I manage a lot better on my own."
Having said that, she has not lost friends because of the case and if people
she knew well had doubts they kept them to themselves.
Ellis has changed. His mother says he has grown and matured.
"Life was a bit of a breeze for Peter. He led a casual life; in some
ways that allowed him to be stronger."
But she remembers how he did not like to go out much after he was charged and
before he went to prison. She does not think he'd be like that now.
"His head will be up and it will stay up. If that's what you project
then that's what you get back."
She can see a time when he will have a job again and, extraordinarily, she
even says she's not bitter.
Once her son is out of prison and his name cleared, Mrs Ellis would quite
happily walk away never to be heard from again - walk away from a fight for
compensation.
She does not say that because she is tired of fighting, or because she has no
faith left.
She argues that when everything is weighed up, the swings and roundabouts,
there've been some very strange gains.
"We'll go on with our lives. And we'll be better people at having had to
survive it."
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