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The Press
June 25, 2002
Ellis letters pour in but Goff unmoved
by Martin Van Beynen
The
letters keep coming but Justice Minister Phil Goff appears immovable on his
stance on the Christchurch creche case book A City Possessed. The 600-page
book by Dunedin
author Lynley Hood throws the guilt of creche worker Peter Ellis into serious
question and points to flaws in the way the justice system handles complaints
of sexual abuse.
The book has sparked a flood of letters to Mr Goff who has so far not found
the time to read the book himself. In
the latest chapter of the saga the Ministry of Justice has prepared a
briefing paper on the book which Mr Goff has studied but not sufficiently to
expound on it. Yesterday, through a spokesman, he said he had read the
appraisal but wanted to study it further before making any comment.
"The briefing document from Justice was just that and isn't intended to
be the basis for me to commence any new proceedings. "However,
notwithstanding the fact that Mr Ellis has had his case examined by a jury
before the High Court, two Courts of Appeal, and a Ministerial Inquiry headed
by the former Chief Justice, he is still welcome to make a fresh application
for the exercise of the Royal Prerogative of Mercy if he or Mrs Hood believe
there is any fresh evidence not already examined by any of those bodies,"
he said.
Hood said one of the main points of the book was that none of the bodies
referred to by Mr Goff had looked at the case properly. "One of the
important points is that the Court of Appeal is set up so it cannot correct
its own mistakes." Its requirement
for fresh evidence before a case could be reopened gave it a good excuse not
to look at a matter again, she said. Mr Goff did not need the permission of
the judiciary to pardon Peter Ellis and could do so if he had the political
will and the moral courage. "The whole point is to override the
judiciary when it has gone off the rails," she said.
Apart from the issue of Peter Ellis' guilt or innocence, Mr Goff still had to
address the shortcomings in the justice system the book had exposed. "Mr
Goff has been seriously misled if he believes my book is just about the guilt
or innocence of Peter Ellis. People have been writing to them about this.
"If these problems are not addressed we will all continue to be at risk
of having lives and our families and our communities ripped apart by false allegations
of sexual abuse."
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