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NZ Herald
March 17 2001
Report noted need for further look at Ellis case
by Alison Horwood
A retired High Court judge called for further
investigation into the case of convicted paedophile Peter Ellis in a report
written for the Ministry of Justice in 1999.
Sir Thomas Thorp's report, released by Justice Minister Phil Goff yesterday,
said the two petitions filed on behalf of Ellis raised a "considerable
number of issues sufficiently to point to a need for further
investigation."
But it was inappropriate to express any firm view on whether Ellis should be
pardoned at that time, nor should a pardon be considered while his case was
before the Appeal Court,
Sir Thomas said.
Mr Goff said yesterday that despite media claims that Sir Thomas' 40-page
report was "secret," it had been made available to Ellis' lawyers,
the Court of Appeal, Crown Law and former Chief Justice Sir Thomas Eichelbaum
before Ellis' second Court of Appeal bid in 1999.
However it was not made public because the case was the subject of a judicial
inquiry.
In 1993, Ellis was found guilty of 16 charges of sexual abuse against
children at the Christchurch Civic Crèche.
He was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment and after serving two-thirds of
his sentence was released in February last year.
His bid to prove his innocence has seen him go through two petitions for a
pardon and two hearings before the Court of Appeal.
The Court of Appeal said last time some matters placed before it were better
suited to a commission of inquiry.
Mr Goff said Sir Thomas was not asked to report on the matters of a pardon
and did not do so.
In his report he points out his work is an opinion and not an investigation.
Sir Thomas also says in regard to a pardon: "I do not believe it would
be appropriate to express any firm view at this time."
His advice was on process matters relating to the pardon application and
reference to the Court of Appeal.
Mr Goff said it was important to note the Thorp report was based on different
and more limited material than the Eichelbaum report released this week.
It was based on untested expert reports commissioned by Ellis' lawyer, Judith
Ablett Kerr, QC.
Mr Goff said the Thorp report recognised the limitations of the reports but
nevertheless considered they gave rise to serious concerns which warranted
further consideration.
Mrs Ablett Kerr said yesterday she was aware the Thorp report expressed real
concerns about the safety of Ellis' convictions. She said Sir Thomas Thorp
recommended that a formal opinion be obtained from Professor Stephen Ceci,
which she endorsed. However, that request was rejected by Crown Law and again
by Sir Thomas Eichelbaum in his report.
"Mr Ellis is of the view that his case will not be resolved until there
is a wider inquiry and Professor Ceci is asked to give his opinion on all the
material that is available."
In his report, Sir Thomas Thorp outlines the interview techniques of the
children, contamination and assessment of the children's reliability as
central.
In discussing these he said if the opinions of several of the experts proved
to have general support, "it would in my view be difficult to argue
against the existence of a serious doubt about the safety of [Ellis']
convictions."
His report resulted in the terms of reference to the second Court of Appeal
case being widened.
A ministerial report by Sir Thomas Eichelbaum this week said the Ellis case
failed by a "distinct margin" to prove the convictions were unsafe.
Ellis' second bid for a pardon was turned down by the Governor-General.
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