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Otago Daily Times
March 9 1999
Ellis yet to decide on being at parole hearing
NZPA
Christchurch: Convicted paedophile Peter Ellis
has yet to decide if he will appear at a Parole Board hearing on Thursday, a
spokeswoman for his lawyer, Judith Ablett-Kerr,
said yesterday.
The spokeswoman said the hearing would be held at Paparua
Prison, near Christchurch,
late on Thursday afternoon.
Ellis (40) has served nearly six years of a 10-year sentence on charges of
abusing children at the Christchurch
civic creche.
He has maintained his innocence throughout.
He refused to attend last year's parole hearing, believing that if he
accepted parole conditions, he was admitting guilt.
The spokeswoman said a decision on whether he would attend this hearing had
yet to be released.
Mrs Ablett-Kerr recently said Ellis would not do
anything that implied guilt.
"Any parole that requires an acknowledgement by him that conditions of
release are necessary for the safety of any sector of society could not be
accepted by him," she said.
Mrs Ablett-Kerr has also petitioned the
Governor-General for a pardon for Ellis. A decision on that is expected
before the Court of Appeal hears his case in May.
The Parole Board has agreed to requests that both Mrs Ablett-Kerr
and Ellis' mother Lesley attend the hearing. Mrs Ellis was allowed to attend
last year as well, but Mrs Ablett-Kerr was not.
Mrs Ellis said the hearing would be held whether or not her son attended.
Mrs Ellis believed the board could give her son parole, even if he did not
attend the hearing.
"They've got immense discretion to do whatever they wish to do,"
she said.
Mrs Ellis said Ellis had been living in Paparua
Prison's "Leimon Villas" for the past
month - units prisoners lived in while they prepared for life on the outside
again.
"You do all your own cooking and washing and cleaning, just as you would
if you were back in the community," she said.
"It has compensations and detractions - it's still a prison."
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