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Convicted paedophile
Peter Ellis, whose plea for a free pardon was turned down by Governor-General
Sir Michael Hardie Boys yesterday, could still be
pardoned, the office of Justice Minister Tony Ryall
said. Turning down Ellis's pardon, Sir
Michael agreed to a second request -- on advice from retired High Court judge
Sir Thomas Thorp -- to widen the terms under which his case to the Court of
Appeal later this month can be heard. Announcing the decisions, Mr Ryall said he had been
advised that it was not appropriate to consider the pardon application
"at this stage". "There would need to be
cogent and compelling grounds to grant a free pardon in circumstances where
the Court of Appeal was about to hear a case," he said. Should the appeal be rejected, a
pardon could, however, be reconsidered, a spokesman for his office said
later. Mr Ryall said
Sir Michael had not decided Ellis's guilt or innocence, but that there were
"some additional issues" that might be relevant to the Court of
Appeal's deliberations. Ellis petitioned Sir Michael for
the exercise of the royal prerogative of mercy for a second time in November
last year. His first petition, in December 1997, resulted in the case being
referred back to the Court of Appeal. The second petition sought a free
pardon for Ellis or, alternatively, for his case to be considered by the
Court of Appeal on broader grounds than previously referred. At last year's appeal hearing,
Ellis's lawyer, Judith Ablett Kerr unsuccessfully sought rulings on new
arguments for a possible miscarriage of justice. These included allegedly flawed
techniques used to get evidence from the children, the discovered connection
between one child's mother and a juror's partner, and the prosecution's
failure to disclose important photographs to the defence. Court of Appeal president Sir Ivor Richardson said then that Mrs
Ablett Kerr had sought to widen the appeal but needed to go back to the
governor-general to get permission. Ellis's mother, Lesley, said she
was thrilled that the appeal grounds had been widened. "This is the best
we could have hoped for," she said. "We didn't expect them to
open the gates and say goodbye. That wasn't on." Mrs Ellis said her son had been aware
of the decisions when she visited him on Sunday. "He knew a wee bit but not
very much, but nobody seemed to know if it had been made public," she said.
"He knew he wasn't getting
out, but we never expected that." |
