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Stuff
March 14, 2001
Ellis' lawyer vows to continue fight to clear his name
NZPA
Peter Ellis' lawyer, Judith Ablett-Kerr QC, has vowed to battle on to clear
him of his sex offence convictions after the Government's decision to decline
his application for a pardon.
She said possible options now included taking the case to the Privy Council
in London or the Court of Human Rights in New York.
Two earlier appeals to the Court of Appeal have failed.
Ellis was convicted in 1993 of abusing seven children in his care at the
Christchurch Civic Crèche between 1986 and 1991.
He was released last February after serving two-thirds of a 10-year sentence,
having previously refused early parole because that would have required him
to acknowledge guilt.
Police launched their investigation into allegations of sexual abuse at the
creche in 1991. After a four-month inquiry, Ellis and four of his female
co-workers were arrested and charged on March 30, 1992.
Ultimately, Ellis' co-workers were cleared of any involvement. But a jury
found there was enough evidence to convict Ellis of the allegations against
him.
Justice Minister Phil Goff announced yesterday that he had advised the
Governor-General to decline Ellis' application for a pardon after a lengthy
investigation by former Chief Justice Sir Thomas Eichelbaum.
But Mrs Ablett-Kerr has called for Mr Goff to acknowledge the ministerial
inquiry was too narrow.
Mr Goff said the inquiry was comprehensive and detailed and he was confident
that it dealt with all of the issues which warranted further investigation to
protect against the possibility of a miscarriage of justice.
Sir Thomas spent more than 400 hours studying the tapes, trial transcripts,
Court of Appeal decisions and other material relevant to Ellis' conviction,
Mr Goff said.
He was advised by two international experts on child abuse and child
testimony, Professor Graham Davies from Leicester
University in Britain and Dr Louise Sas from Canada.
Mr Goff said Prof Davies, Dr Sas 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 by others.
In a statement, Mr Goff quoted Sir Thomas' conclusion: "The case
advanced on behalf of Mr Ellis fails to meet the test identified earlier, to
satisfy the inquiry that the convictions were unsafe, or that a particular
conviction was unsafe. It fails by a distinct margin, I have not found
anything like a borderline judgement."
At a press conference in Dunedin
yesterday Mrs Ablett Kerr said she would have to think about the next step,
but possible options included taking the case to the Privy Council or the
Court of Human Rights.
"The report is naturally disappointing and to some extent has taken us
by surprise," Mrs Ablett Kerr said.
She said she had explained to Ellis that the inquiry was unlikely to address
the "real issues" that were so troubling in his case, because the
terms of reference were too narrow.
"Although we never felt that the inquiry could provide the answers
because it just didn't have enough material, we tried to assist the inquiry
as much as we could."
That preliminary view was further endorsed when Professor Stephen Ceci,
arguably the world's leading authority on the contamination of evidence of
children, was not appointed to assist the inquiry, she said.
However, Mrs Ablett Kerr said she accepted Prof Davies as an international
expert and in his report, she said he formed the same view as her that there
needed to be a wider inquiry to judge whether the evidence of the children
was contaminated.
Prof Davies appeared to be of the view that a wider inquiry was underway,
which was not the case, she said.
Mrs Ablett Kerr also outlined further specific concerns she had about Mr
Goff's advice to the Governor General.
Children's Commissioner Roger McClay said in a statement he hoped the
children and families involved in the case would now be allowed to get on
with their lives.
"For too long, New
Zealand has witnessed a remarkably
effective media campaign which has poured doubt on the word of the children
abused and molested at the Christchurch Civic Creche by Peter Ellis," Mr
McClay said.
Mr Goff told reporters yesterday Ellis was unlikely to be able to progress
his case much further.
"He could apply for the case to be heard by the Privy Council but that
would need the leave of the Court of Appeal and I don't believe that that
will be a step that Mr Ellis chooses to take."
Asked if he believed Ellis was guilty, Mr Goff said the evidence provided him
could lead him to "no other conclusion" than that the convictions
entered against Ellis were safe.
"That was the point of setting the inquiry up and the evidence and the
conclusions drawn to my attention were quite clear cut in that regard."
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