One News
June 25 2003
Calls start after Ellis reward offered
An
Auckland businessman offering a reward in the Peter Ellis case says he has
already had half a dozen calls.
NBR Publisher Barry Colman is offering $100,000 to anyone who gives fresh
evidence which leads to a Commission of Inquiry into Peter Ellis' convictions.
Ellis spent seven years behind bars after being found guilty of abusing
children at a
He has always maintained his innocence and says he is moved Colman is putting
so much money into the campaign to prove it.
"To some extent I was quite speechless, it's quite startling. And the fact
that it's independent of myself and Mrs Ablett-Kerr QC..it's just come from out of the
blue...it's humbling."
Barry Colman has been a member of Amnesty International for many years and says
he is a strong believer in civil liberty.
He says he is convinced Ellis is not guilty of any crime.
"Anyone who can come forward as a whistleblower at this stage, who knows
how that case was constructed would be of material new evidence and I think
that might get the whole inquiry opened and going again."
Colman is one of 800 high profile New Zealanders who have signed a petition to
Parliament calling for a Commission of Inquiry.
Justice Minister Phil Goff admits it is only likely if something new does come
out.
"New evidence can be put back before the courts, that is
the appropriate place where justice is done and has always been done in
Colman has read Lynley Hood's book A City Possessed and says he wants to see if
he can do anything to drag out any new evidence from somebody who "may
know how the evidence was manipulated".
He says two former police officers have offered their help and he is confident something
will come to light.
"I'm hoping that the new evidence will come from people who were working
inside the case itself. We believe that there's been a disastrous bias of
evidence against Peter Ellis and that's why he was convicted."