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The Press
March 17 2001
Conflicting Ellis reports 'OK'
by Martin Van Beynen
A judge's report that raises questions about the
safety of the child-sex convictions against Peter Ellis does not concern
Justice Minister Phil Goff.
The report, which was prepared in 1999 by retired High Court judge Sir Thomas
Thorp, agrees that material put forward by the Ellis defence team raises
serious concerns about his convictions.
Its disclosure comes only days after Mr Goff released the results of a
ministerial inquiry into the case.
The $500,000 inquiry by retired Chief Justice Sir Thomas Eichelbaum concluded
that the 13 convictions on child-abuse charges against Ellis were safe but the
Thorp report appears not to be so sure.
Mr Goff said yesterday the two reports were not comparable, as Sir Thomas
Thorp had been asked for his view on material provided only by the defence.
Sir Thomas Eichelbaum had conducted a much broader inquiry and looked at a
larger range of material.
Justice Thorp was commissioned by the Ministry of Justice to help it provide
advice on Ellis' second application for the Royal prerogative of mercy and
resulted in the terms of reference to the Court of Appeal being widened.
The Court of Appeal in 1999 found against Ellis, although it suggested a
wider inquiry would be appropriate.
The Thorp report, which was released yesterday on request, said if two expert
opinions on the case provided by Ellis' defence team 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'
convictions".
His report recommended seeking a formal opinion from one of the experts,
Professor Stephen Ceci, a world authority on children's evidence. However, no
approach was made and Sir Thomas Eichelbaum rejected the professor as an
independent expert.
Mr Goff said the Thorp report did not cast doubt on the convictions and did
not create any unease for him over the new report.
"It was based on untested expert reports commissioned by Ms Judith
Ablett-Kerr, QC, and the experts had only been given selective materials on
which to base their opinions," he said.
The further investigation suggested by Sir Thomas Thorp had been conducted by
Sir Thomas Eichelbaum.
"Sir Thomas Eichelbaum obtained views of pre-eminent international
experts who were entirely independent and based their views on a full
knowledge of the case rather than selected materials."
Mrs Ablett-Kerr said Ellis was of the view that his case would never be
resolved until there was a wider inquiry. In such an inquiry, Professor Ceci
should be asked to give his opinion on all the material available.
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