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Stuff
May 18 1999
Delay possible in Ellis Appeal
NZPA
Wellington, May 18 - Convicted paedophile Peter Ellis was reportedly
distraught today after news that the Court of Appeal had met in chambers to
consider a postponement to his appeal hearing.
The Court of Appeal confirmed that the judicial conference took place at
9.30am today.
A decision was expected "within the next few days".
The Crown Law Office, understood to be seeking the postponement to have more
time to prepare for the widened terms of Ellis' appeal, currently set down
for May 31, refused to comment.
Ellis' mother, Lesley Ellis, said he was "keyed up and quite upset"
at what he believed would probably result in a delayed appeal hearing.
If the trial was postponed, it could be a couple of months.
When someone had said to her son, "What's a couple of months?", he had replied: "Why don't you come in here
and spend it for me?"
"It seems they're fighting this every inch of the way," Mrs Ellis
said. "You feel so helpless."
The scope of Ellis' appeal hearing was widened last week by Governor-General
Sir Michael Hardie Boys on advice from retired High
Court judge Sir Thomas Thorp.
Ellis, convicted in 1993 on 13 child abuse charges is, if the appeal fails,
due to leave prison next February when he finishes serving two-thirds of a
10-year sentence.
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