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Lesley Ellis, mother of convicted
child abuser Peter Ellis, was "angry but unsurprised" yesterday
that her son was to stay behind bars. The Court of Appeal's decision to
uphold Ellis's convictions for child abuse had not been unexpected, Mrs Ellis said. The defence team and her son's
supporters were angry that the ruling had been based on a contraction of the
evidence. "The court was offered
150,000 pages of evidence presented as 500 pages, but then Judith (defence
counsel Judith Ablett-Kerr, QC,) was told to
present that in 40. "That's less than the (48
pages) they've taken to give the judgment. They've used up more paper to say
`no'." Inquiries in "The best we can do now is ask the public to write to their MPs asking for a
commission of inquiry . . . I'm certain there are enough people to push to
find another way of getting justice, other than through the judiciary." Representing Ellis's supporters
yesterday, his friend Barry Doyle said he felt helpless and disappointed. "I feel that they're still
dealing with the judicial process rather than justice," he said. "We've been through another
door but there will be other doors to be knocked on . . . this can't be
allowed to end because Peter is innocent and innocence has its own
voice." Mrs Ablett-Kerr
said the decision made it clear that the issues were more fitting for a
commission of inquiry. "The appellate structure is
not designed to cope with this case. The appellate structure is designed to
look at process and procedure. "A commission of inquiry goes
beyond that." Asked if she was disappointed that
the court had not looked beyond questions of law and processes, she said:
"The court felt that it couldn't. That's why I've asked the
governor-general for a free pardon and to have a royal commission of
inquiry." The battle to clear Ellis's name
would go on, she said. "The Ellis files are still open,
the truth is still out there." * Push for pardon p3 |
