|
The Dominion
March 16 2001
Secret report: Ellis guilt doubt
by David McLoughlin
A secret report by a retired senior High Court judge
casts "serious doubt" on the convictions of Peter Ellis for
sexually abusing children at the Christchurch Civic Creche.
The report, by Sir Thomas Thorp, canvasses the views of experts on
mass-allegation child abuse cases, including the Civic Creche affair, and
says that if those views proved to have substantial support, "it would
in my view be difficult to argue against the existence of a serious doubt
about the safety of (Ellis's) convictions".
His report is in sharp contrast to the one written by former chief justice
Sir Thomas Eichelbaum and issued this week. He canvassed much the same
evidence as Sir Thomas Thorp but concluded that Ellis had failed "by a
distinct margin" to prove his convictions were unsafe.
Sir Thomas Thorp's report was prepared for the secretary of justice in March
1999 in response to a petition for a pardon and a new Court of Appeal hearing
filed by Ellis's lawyer, Judith Ablett Kerr, QC. It has never been made
public.
Ellis, who has always maintained his innocence, was convicted in 1993 on 16
charges of abusing children at the creche and sentenced to 10 years' jail. He
was freed in February last year.
The Court of Appeal rejected his first appeal in 1994. After the Thorp
report, the court heard a second appeal in 1999. It rejected this also, but
said some matters placed before it were better suited for a commission of
inquiry.
Mrs Ablett Kerr asked Justice Minister Phil Goff for a royal commission, but
he opted to have Sir Thomas Eichelbaum conduct a narrow inquiry into whether
the techniques used by Social Welfare to interview creche children in 1991
and 1992 were reliable. The Eichelbaum report found that they were.
Much of the Thorp report is about the same issue. Sir Thomas Thorp considered
reports from Hamilton psychologist Barry
Parsonson and Cornell
University psychology
professor Stephen Ceci on the creche interviews.
He quotes Professor Ceci as saying in a report prepared in 1995 for an
Assignment documentary on the creche affair: "This case entailed an
array of factors that give me cause for concern. Children frequently reported
highly implausible events that were never checked - the presence of (Ellis's)
mother during baths, repeated sodomy occurring only minutes apart with other
children who were said to be present - and they were never reined into
reality.
"That some of their claims were plausible is no assurance that they did
not emanate from the same sources as the implausible claims."
The Thorp report urges the Justice Ministry or Crown Law to seek a formal
opinion from Professor Ceci, because his studies of American mass-allegation
creche cases could be of particular value. But no approach was made to
Professor Ceci. Sir Thomas Eichelbaum rejected a plea from Mrs Ablett Kerr
for him to consult the professor.
The Thorp report says: ". . . if the opinions of Dr Parsonson as to
interviewing techniques, or the views of Professor Ceci ... as to the special
hazards arising from the kindergarten or creche environment, prove to have
substantial support, it would in my view be difficult to argue against the
existence of a serious doubt about the safety of (Ellis's) convictions."
|
