Otago Daily Times
Ellis rapt at inquiry push:
Petition calls for Royal Commission
NZPA
"I believe the Royal Commission of Inquiry has to come," he said last
night after what he described was an "emotionally exhausting" day.
"I feel like a piece of polished brass, having been patted and stroked all
day."
National MPs Don Brash and Katherine Rich have begun a petition calling for a
Royal Commission of Inquiry into the
Shopping at Hornby Mall yesterday, Mr Ellis said
people kept coming up to him asking where they could sign the petition.
"I told them: `I expect you're not famous enough'," he said.
"I was overwhelmed. What's happening is, for me, heart moving."
Among the 75 who have already signed are former prime ministers David Lange and
Mike Moore, Queen's Counsels Nigel Hampton and Stuart Grieve, law professors
John Burrows, John Prebble, and Mark Henaghan, writers Keri Hulme,
Maurice Gee, and Witi Ihimaera,
Dunedin Mayor Sukhi Turner, and media personalities
including Listener editor Finlay Macdonald,
columnists Chris Trotter and Frank Haden, Metro founder Warwick Roger, and National
Business Review publisher Barry Colman.
The petition has been sparked by
"It is a pretty disturbing piece of work. At more than 600 pages long it
is a serious work of scholarship. It is hard to read it and not be persuaded
that some serious wrong happened here."
Mr Ellis was sentenced to 10 years' jail in 1993 on 16 counts of sexual abuse
of pre-schoolers. Ms Hood's book says hysteria and moral panic created
allegations of crimes which never happened.
Mr Ellis was freed in 2000, and has always maintained his innocence.
For the past two weeks Dr Brash, Ms Rich, and Ms Hood have targeted those in
the legal profession, members of Parliament, the media, and academia whose
signatures they felt "would carry weight and the Government would take
seriously", Dr Brash said.
Ms Hood expects to present the petition to Parliament late this month. - NZPA