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The Dominion Post
August 26, 2002
Author steps up call for Ellis pardon
by David McLoughlin
Dunedin
author Lynley Hood is seeking cross-party parliamentary support for her call
for Justice Minister Phil Goff to hold a royal commission of inquiry into the
Christchurch Civic Crèche child abuse case.
Hood said yesterday she was heartened by Mr Goff's description of her
award-winning book on the case as "compelling" despite Justice
Ministry lawyer Val Sim dismissing it as containing little new information.
The book, A City Possessed,
scrutinises the case, in which childcare worker Peter Ellis was sentenced to
10 years' jail in 1993 on 16 counts of sex abuse of pre-schoolers. It says
parental hysteria and a "moral panic" created allegations of abuse
that never happened and that Ellis was wrongly convicted.
Ellis was freed in February 2000 and has always said he was innocent.
While discussing Ms Sim's report on Friday, Mr Goff said he still had an open
mind about the case and would treat any new evidence seriously, but nothing
in the book gave him grounds to override the entire justice system.
Hood said she had been talking to MPs across the political spectrum about the
case and hoped they would support her call for a royal commission, which Mr
Goff had rejected in the past. "It's now clear (from Ms Sim's report)
that he is getting bad advice. Her report is nothing to do with justice but
everything to do with protecting the backs of all the people who were responsible
for this travesty."
Hood said Mr Goff, as justice minister, had the power to instruct the
governor-general to pardon Ellis and call a royal commission. It would be the
hardest decision of his life, she said, but it would get tremendous support
from the legal profession and from the public.
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