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NZ Herald
February 4 2000
No Ellis inquiry until Justice report: Goff
NZPA
Justice Minister Phil Goff yesterday heard the views
of Peter Ellis' lawyers but said he would wait for officials' advice before
deciding whether an inquiry into the child abuse case should be held.
Mr Goff said he found it useful to hear the views of QC Judith Ablett-Kerr,
who had asked for the meeting.
"Those views are taken on board, just as the views of other people who
have written to me about this matter [have been]," Mr Goff said.
Mrs Ablett-Kerr, accompanied by junior counsel Greg King, said she was happy
with the meeting and wanted to see what options the Ministry of Justice
suggested regarding an inquiry into the case.
Earlier yesterday she had been certain an inquiry would be held.
"Naturally we hope for a full inquiry such as the royal commission
[requested by Ellis] would bring," she said on National Radio.
Ellis, aged 41, was freed from prison on Wednesday after serving two-thirds
of a 10-year sentence on 16 charges of sexually abusing seven children in his
care at the Christchurch Civic Creche.
He was confident he would be freed from his conviction.
"I do believe, despite all that has happened, that in the end justice will
win and my name will be cleared, because there was no abuse of children at
the Civic Creche," he said.
Ellis and his supporters have always protested his innocence. Doubts have
emerged about the way allegations against him arose, the way young children
were interviewed, and the impartiality of his trial jury.
Mr Goff said on Wednesday that the Governor-General had sought his advice on
an application for a pardon and a royal commission of inquiry on behalf of
Ellis.
Mr Goff said he had concerns about the case stemming from his reading of the
Thorp report, following an inquiry conducted by former High Court judge Sir
Thomas Thorp, and last year's Court of Appeal judgment.
The Court of Appeal had recommended that a commission of inquiry investigate aspects
of the case outside its competence, he said.
Concerns about the case centred on the way evidence had been presented, the
contamination of children's evidence and the way interviews of the children
had been conducted, Mr Goff said.
Those aspects merited further work and could not be "let to lie."
He has asked the ministry to prepare an options paper and said yesterday that
he would wait for that before deciding what to do.
"As I indicated [on Wednesday], I have made no decision as to the nature
of the inquiry that might follow ... However, there are matters of concern
about the Ellis case that I think the wider New Zealand public would like to
see addressed."
He expected to receive the report from officials in the next couple of weeks.
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