The Christchurch Civic
Creche Case |
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A high-profile group of Christchurch lawyers has
slammed parliamentary findings into the Peter Ellis civic creche case. Christchurch
lawyer David Ruth, spokesman for legal advocacy group Just Cause, said the
response of the justice and electoral select committee to a petition calling
for an inquiry into the sexual-abuse case was a "cop-out". The long-awaited committee report, released this
week, rejected requests for a royal commission of inquiry into the case. However, it paved the way for Ellis to appeal his
1993 conviction on 16 sexual-abuse charges to the Privy Council. Ellis and his supporters were disappointed there
would be no inquiry and remained sceptical about recommendations for dealing with
future cases. Responding yesterday to the report, Ruth and his colleagues
said the recommended actions were a case of "shutting the door after the
horse has bolted". He said the select committee was asked to address
questions over the legal process by which Ellis was convicted, but had dodged
the fundamental issue by suggesting a Privy Council appeal. "It had nothing to do with whether he was
innocent or guilty," Ruth said. Ellis was convicted of the sexual-abuse charges
based on the testimony of seven children who attended the Christchurch Civic Childcare
Centre One of the children later withdrew her complaint during an appeal
against his High Court conditions. "None of us here at Just Cause have any real
belief whether Peter Ellis is guilty or not guilty, but I think the findings
are a cop-out," Ruth said. He said past actions to the Privy Council suggested
Ellis's case would not succeed. By referring on responsibility, the committee
was not doing its job properly. Releasing the findings on Monday, committee
chairman Tim Barnett said a royal commission of inquiry was rejected because
tweaking current laws would "do much more to improve the standards of
justice in our community". |