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The Press Convicted sex offender Peter Ellis has declared
his innocence before a parole board. The parole hearing at Paparoa
Prison went for more than an hour last night as Ellis and his lawyer, Judith Ablett-Kerr, QC, spoke with the board. Mrs Ablett-Kerr
released details of a statement made by Ellis at the hearing. "I cannot accept any parole that you could
offer me because the board could only release me as a guilty man," he
said. "I'm not a guilty man, I am an innocent
man." Ellis, 40, is serving a 10-year sentence on
charges of abusing children at the Civic Childcare Centre. He did not attend a Parole Board hearing last
year on grounds that to accept any conditions on parole could be seen as an
admission of guilt. Mrs Ablett-Kerr said
Ellis's position had not changed, but he appeared before the board this time
as a courtesy. She said he wanted to make his position clear as far as parole
was concerned. Mrs Ablett-Kerr said
Ellis's release was entirely a matter for the board, but if members required
his consent to conditions it would not happen. The board can release Ellis
without his consent. Its decision should be known in about a week. Ellis's mother, Lesley, said last night she was
drained, but her son was in good spirits. "I think he feels good about having fronted
up," she said. Ellis has twice been refused bail pending a Court
of Appeal hearing in May. The hearing is the result of a petition to the
Governor-General requesting a pardon. His first appeal was dismissed in 1994, but he
gained a rare second appeal after the petition. Former High Court judge Sir Thomas Thorpe has
been asked to investigate the petition on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.
He was also the former head of the Parole Board. The results of his
investigation will go before the Governor-General. |
