New Zealand Herald, 
Friday 15 October 1999, 
Page A8.

"Rare second appeal fails in Ellis case"
by Alison Horwood

WELLINGTON - Convicted child abuser Peter Ellis will continue a fight to prove his innocence, despite a second rejection by the Court of Appeal.

"The battle to clear Peter Ellis' name goes on. The Ellis files are still open, the truth is still out there," his lawyer, Judith Ablett-Kerr QC, said yesterday outside the Court of Appeal in Wellington.

Mrs Ablett-Kerr said that while the outcome was disappointing the fight was not over. She would go back to the Governor-General, Sir Michael Hardy Boys, to ask for a free pardon and support a royal commission of inquiry into the case, requested last month by Ellis' mother, Lesley Ellis.

The Court of Appeal yesterday dismissed a rare second appeal against Ellis' 1993 conviction. In its judgement, the Bench of five judges said that throughout the appeal references were made to material that was not properly before the court - all unproven and untested as to reliability. The court said that no individual ground of appeal succeeded, and the cumulative matters raised did not amount to a miscarriage of justice.

Ellis and four female workers were arrested in 1992 and charged with child abuse. The women were later discharged, but a jury convicted Ellis of 10 charges against young children attending the Christchurch Civic Childcare Centre. Convictions relating to one child were overturned in 1994 at his first appeal, although the substance of the case against him was upheld. [Note : That child recanted her stories of abuse]

He has continued to protest his innocence - twice turning down parole opportunities and declining home leave. Ellis received a rare opportunity for a second appeal after a petition to Sir Michael requesting a pardon.

He is due to be released from prison in February [2000], when he will have served two-thirds of his 10-year sentence. However, he and his supporters still want his name cleared. Mrs Ellis said from Christchurch yesterday that she was angry about the decision. "What another waste of money and a waste of time and effort. We've got no further forward."

A request from the Court of Appeal that Mrs Ablett-Kerr reduce her submission from 500 pages to 40 - compiled from 150 pages of evidence - had Mrs Ellis doubting the appeal would work. "When you think of it like that it's just a long letter."

Mrs Ellis said the last hope was for a royal commission of inquiry. "We're hoping that everybody will support that this time, that people will write…and put their weight behind it, because clearly the Judiciary aren't going to do anything." She had not spoken to her son following the appeal rejection and was unlikely to today.