The Christchurch Civic Creche Case

News Reports Index

2003 Oct-Dec



The Dominion Post
December 11, 2003

MPs hear Ellis case arguments
by Leah Haines

MPs began hearing arguments yesterday from high-profile New Zealanders calling for a royal commission of inquiry into the Peter Ellis case.

Parliament's justice and electoral select committee is weighing the need for an inquiry called for in petitions signed by more than 5000 people brought by National leader Don Brash and author Lynley Hood.

Ellis was convicted in 1993 of 16 charges of sexually abusing children at the Christchurch Civic Creche. He has always maintained his innocence but has failed to convince successive reviewers of his case.

Asked by committee chairman Tim Barnett how it was possible that the original jury, courts of appeal and High Court judges had got it so wrong, Ms Hood said that was typical of the "top-to-bottom" failures in gross miscarriages of justice.

"This is about a case about a society poisoned by the toxic delusion that all men, even the most decent of men, even Santa Claus for goodness sake, is at heart a dangerous sexual predator who can't be trusted around children."

Child memory expert Maryanne Garry said the interviewing techniques used on the child complainants were fundamentally flawed.

She said everyone was susceptible to memory distortion, but children were especially vulnerable. Asked whether there were different theories about the reliability of child evidence, Dr Garry said the vulnerability of a child's memory was not a matter of opinion, but of fact. "It's like saying I don't believe in gravity."

However, legal counsel for the Justice Ministry, Val Sim, said there were definite differences of opinion about that area of science.

The children's evidence had been tested by Sir Thomas Eichelbaum in a ministerial inquiry into the case three years ago, she said.

Ms Sim was accused by Ms Hood of toeing the Government line, but Ms Sim said the only interest of the ministry was in upholding justice.

She said the key issue facing the committee was that no new information had been introduced about the case which had not been dealt with in the other trials, appeals and reviews.

But Ms Hood claims new information existed in proof that people who interviewed the children in the 1990s were supposed to have been given special approval under the evidence act. They were not, she said.

The committee has announced it would not re-try Ellis or attempt to figure out whether he is guilty or innocent.

Mr Barnett said it would probably seek further information before deciding whether to conduct hearings and make a recommendation about an inquiry -- probably next year.