The Christchurch Civic Creche Case
	News Reports Index
	1999 July-Dec
	The Press October 14 1999 Ellis appeal decision due today The Court of Appeal is expected to release its decision today on the appeal against conviction of former creche worker Peter Ellis. Ellis is serving a 10-year jail sentence for sex offences against children at the Civic Childcare Centre. He has continued to protest his innocence, has twice turned down parole opportunities, and declined home leave. His lawyer, Judith Ablett Kerr, QC, has flown to Wellington to receive the Court of Appeal decision today. Ellis's first appeal was turned down in 1994, but he received a rare opportunity for a second appeal after a petition to the Governor-General requesting a pardon. His mother, Lesley Ellis, said she had received a good response from MPs on her request for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the creche case. Mrs Ellis said yesterday she had received 40 replies, of which only one was a flat "no". Minister of Justice Tony Ryall said he would wait for the outcome of the Appeal Court hearing, but Mrs Ellis said her son felt the letter was positive. Mrs Ellis made her request last month and said the appeal decision was irrelevant to an inquiry, because the controversy surrounding the investigation into her son's case left too many unanswered questions.