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By Martin Van Beynen The lawyer for Peter Ellis wants
the Ministry of Justice to obtain an audiotape that allegedly throws further
doubt on the jury in Ellis's trial. Judith Ablett-Kerr, QC, is
pressing Ministry of Justice legal counsel, who are
examining the Ellis case, to use various means to obtain the tape. The tape contains an interview
with a juror whom Mrs Ablett-Kerr now argues was
unfit to be on the case. The interview was conducted by She is refusing to release the
tape on the grounds the juror spoke to her on the condition the material
would be used only in her book. Neither Mrs
Ablett-Kerr nor Ms Hood would comment on the tape yesterday. In a leaked letter to the
ministry, Mrs Ablett-Kerr suggests the ministry
could appoint an urgent Commission of Inquiry to investigate the issue or
that Sir Thomas Thorp interview the juror himself. Sir Thomas has been asked to
investigate on behalf of the ministry a petition to the Governor-General
requesting a pardon for Ellis. Mrs Ablett-Kerr also recommends
referring the issue back to the Court of Appeal so it can direct that the
juror be interviewed or order Ms Hood to produce the tape. In her
correspondence she raises doubts about a second juror and refers to a third
juror whose lesbian relationship with a woman who worked with the mother of
one of the complainants in Ellis's trial has already been made public. "It would be farcical for an
appellate court to be deprived of the knowledge that a quarter of the jury were unfit," she writes. Another letter, apparently from
the ministry, reveals the Christchurch Crown Solicitor and the Deputy
Solicitor-General will not consent to the grant of any order authorising officials to question any of the jurors in
the case. The official recommends the matter
be considered by the Court of Appeal when it sits to hear Ellis's application
to have his convictions overturned next month. In further leaked correspondence
it is revealed that the lesbian juror and the mother she knew made their
relationship known to various people in authority during the trial. They were reportedly told at the time
of the case that the relationship was not sufficiently close to raise an
issue. Ellis is serving a 10-year jail
sentence after being convicted for abusing children in his care at the
Christchurch Civic Childcare Centre. |
