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The Nelson Mail
March 16, 2001
Time to move on
Editorial
The truth has proved elusive in the Peter Ellis saga. After a lengthy High
Court trial, two Appeal Court
proceedings, three failed bids for a pardon and a ministerial inquiry, the
sex abuse case still divides the nation. Ellis remains a convicted paedophile
and, like many people found guilty of heinous crimes, he maintains his
innocence. Two things set him apart: the steadfastness of the campaign to
clear his name and the disturbing possibility that he is a victim of mass
hysteria who was convicted on unreliable evidence from children.
In 1993 Ellis was found guilty on 16 charges of molesting pre-school children
at the Christchurch Civic Crèche where he worked. He received a 10-year jail
sentence but the case refused to slip from the headlines. An aborted attempt
to try four of his female co-workers for similar offences rang alarm bells.
Questions were also raised about some of the children's evidence with concern
focused on a series of bizarre allegations that appeared to have no basis in
reality. These claims were kept from jury members who convicted Ellis after
weighing up more plausible testimony.
Doubts about the case are focused on the techniques used to interview
children and the possible contamination of evidence. If the interviews were
flawed, prompting some witnesses to make up stories of ritual abuse, was it
fair to convict Ellis on the basis of filtered testimony that suppressed
those claims?
A ministerial inquiry, the results of which were released this week,
concludes that the convictions were sound and the children's testimony could
be trusted. The finding prompted the Government to turn down Ellis's latest
pardon bid and seems to signal the end of his chances of ever clearing his
name. In his report, Sir Thomas Eichelbaum said Ellis failed by a
"distinct margin'' to prove the convictions were unsafe.
Ellis and his supporters will no doubt fight on, encouraged by the revelation
today of a secret 1999 report by a senior High Court judge that expressed
serious doubts about the convictions. But at some point the rest of the
country needs to move on. The Ellis case has been scrutinised like no other
and has fundamentally changed attitudes about the gathering of evidence from
children. New Zealand's
top judicial minds have considered the matter and believe justice was done.
It is time to accept that while the case may not have been perfect, it has
hung together for a decade under intense pressure. Children can be trusted to
tell the truth. Ellis's victims should be given the chance to put their
ordeal behind them.
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