The Christchurch Civic Creche Case
	News Reports
	2001 Jan-June
	The Dominion March 14 2001 Ellis, denied pardon, vows to fight on by Alan Samson Convicted child abuser Peter Ellis maintained his innocence and vowed to keep fighting yesterday after his application for a pardon was declined. The rejection by Governor-General Sir Michael Hardie Boys, on the advice of Justice Minister Phil Goff, followed findings by former chief justice Sir Thomas Eichelbaum in a ministerial inquiry that contamination of evidence had not been sufficient to put Ellis's convictions into question. Mr Goff said yesterday that his decision had been based on the report findings, which he agreed with. "Sir Thomas . . . was advised by two international experts on child abuse and child testimony, Professor Graham Davies from Leicester University and Dr Louise Sas from Canada. "(They) and Sir Thomas all independently reached the same conclusion, that interviewing of the children who gave evidence was appropriate and that the reliability of the evidence on which the convictions were based was not undermined by contamination of others." Ellis, who served seven years in jail on 13 charges of indecency, said from the Dunedin offices of his counsel, Judith Ablett Kerr, QC, that he was not surprised by the decision, because of the narrowness of the inquiry's scope. He was going to keep fighting, he said: "Putting the Civic Crèche case back into the too hard basket because it is politically inconvenient is not what true justice is about. "The Civic (crèche) is part of a worldwide phenomenon (of ritual child abuse allegations) and New Zealand has not addressed the phenomenon by having a wide-ranging inquiry as Britain, Canada, American and Australia have done, where similar mass abuse allegations have arisen and have been dealt with." His mother, Lesley Ellis, said: "What else could the result have been? They set it up to fail . . . though I did have hope in a tiny, tiny corner of my heart." Mrs Ablett Kerr noted that Professor Davies, though upholding the trials' validity, had indicated the need for a wider inquiry. She called on Mr Goff to acknowledge that the inquiry had been too narrow and to "accept the advice of Professor Davies". Kristy McDonald, QC, who represented the children, said the parents were pleased with the findings, saying that the "repeated raising of these matters has been of great concern to them". Commissioner for Children Roger McClay said it was his "absolute hope" that the children and families who had for so long been the victims of the case would now be allowed to get on with their lives.