Manawatu Evening Standard
June 17 2003
Local QC signs petition for inquiry into Ellis case
by John Myers
Three
days from deadline on the petition for a royal commission of inquiry on the
Peter Ellis case, National Party list MP Katherine Rich says the petition has far
more than the 100 "prominent" signatories hoped for.
And one of them is Palmerston North criminal lawyer Mike Behrens, QC.
"I signed the petition at the request of (author) Lynley Hood," Mr
Behrens said yesterday. "I believe the conviction is unsafe."
Peter Ellis was convicted by a jury in 1993 on 16 child sex abuse charges
arising from Mr Ellis's work at the Christchurch Civic Creche.
Released from prison in 2000, he consistently asserts his innocence. The case
went twice to the Court of Appeal and was subject of a ministerial inquiry.
Mr Behrens reviewed the book for the Manawatu
Standard, one of the most biting professional reviews the newspaper has
published.
"This book has devastated me and certainly laid waste lawmakers,
sexual-abuse professionals, child-protection workers, policemen, lawyers,
judges, parents and any image we might have of ourselves as a thinking, caring
culture, immune from nonsense," Mr Behrens wrote.
Mr Ellis had served his sentence, ". . . but still the law writhes and
wrestles with the problem of his innocence."
Ms Hood had shown that an accused had but one chance before the jury. After
that, he said, "the rest of the legal system is devoted to protecting
itself and its own, rather than the individual".
"It is ironic that apparently we are to ditch the Privy Council because
the politicians think we can handle justice ourselves. This book shows we are
very much adolescent in our fumbling with it. Parliament would do much better
to read this book and then move to pardon Peter Ellis."
The petition is South Island-led, but has attracted a raft of nationwide
political, business, legal, academic and media support.
"It's been far more successful that we imagined it would be," Ms Rich
said yesterday.
"Some of these people have said they've never signed a petition in their
lives . . .
"And, importantly, we have cross-party support.".
The petition closes on Friday and is due to be presented in Parliament next
Tuesday.