The Christchurch Civic Creche Case
	News Reports - Main Index 2006 Index
	TVNZ - Closeup February 24 2006 Miscarriages of Justice Arthur Allan Thomas and David Dougherty are two names we all know, falsely imprisoned for crimes they didn't commit. But how many more are there we don't know about? A new report tells us at least 20 prison inmates at any one time in New Zealand shouldn't be there. And according to this new report Peter Ellis was one them. Years after being released from prison, Ellis is still trying to clear his name of multiple child sex abuse charges. Now his case is being taken up in the report written by retired court of appeal judge Sir Thomas Thorp. That report simply entitled "Miscarriages of Justice" was presented to a legal conference a conference at which Peter Ellis actually spoke. Sir Thomas' research is also finding favour with others in the legal fraternity. Last year criminal lawyer Robert Lithgow declared he wouldn't go back to the court of appeal again so frustrated is he with its inability to re-examine these very cases. Susan Wood spoke with Robert Lithgow and asked him if Justice Thorp's report gave him some heart. Transcript Susan Wood Arthur Allan Thomas and David Dougherty are two names we all know falsely imprisoned for crimes they did not commit. How many more are there that we don't know about? A new report tells us at least 20 prison inmates at any one time right now in New Zealand should not be there, and according to this new report, Peter Ellis was one of them. Years after being released from prison Ellis is still trying to clear his name of multiple child sex abuse charges. Now his case is being taken up in this report written by retired Court of Appeal Judge Sir Thomas Thorp. That report simply entitled Miscarriages of justice was presented to a legal conference - a conference at which Peter Ellis actually spoke. Sir Thomas' research is also finding favour with others in the legal fraternity. Last year criminal lawyer Robert Lithgow declared he wouldn't go back to the Court of appeal again, so frustrated is he with it's inability to reexamine these very cases. I spoke to Robert just a short time ago and asked him if Justice Thorp's report gave him some heart. Robert Lithgow Well there's two basic thrusts to his report. One is that you can't wait for the Court of Appeal to sort all this out, and you have to have a separate commission now. You have to have a separate Commission of Inquiry - permanent commission if you like, that can look at these cases and then order them back to the Court of Appeal where they've been put into a legal framework. I mean the strange thing about the Court of Appeal which is hard thing for the public to understand is they actually don't mind criticising other judges in a sense. They don't mind finding legal faults but ask them to look into the facts of the case and they simply will not. Susan Wood They simply say - a jury what twelve men good and true, or women good and true I suppose, that's sort of untouchable? Robert Lithgow Yes. Whereas I say twelve amateurs who are told the rules mainly at the end of the case and then told to remember how the game went that they are infallible. Well that's simply magical thinking isn't it? That's not legal thinking. That's being silly about it Susan Wood Lets talk about a specific case and an important case. The Peter Ellis case. How does his ...or what has happened to him illustrate the issue? Robert Lithgow The Thorp report uses the Ellis case because he is a very good example of a factual clash and then what you call environmental factors. A fashion at that time for a certain type of complaint, the idea that there was systemic sexual abuse occurring and being covered up by important people and that all happened in Christchurch it was said at a certain time. Well, the Court of Appeal just are not equipped to deal with that kind of argument so Justice Thorp reasons from that and all the problems that he identifies which are · Misleading scientific evidence, you know, children don't lie about these things, · Medical evidence which is nonsense - that it's certain physical symptoms of children are not inconsistent with sexual abuse. Well of course nothing is not inconsistent with it · Incomplete crown discovery, · The use of bad attitude evidence which overseas jurisdictions call consciousness of guilt, you know he looks shifty, seems a bad person, didn't cry at his father's funeral. · Tunnel vision on the part of the investigators, the police that then carries the witnesses along because the police somehow exude the feeling that they've got the right person and that you're on a white horse mission to solve something bad and you're doing a good thing, · and then the shortcomings of the appellate system Susan Wood Does this give Peter Ellis hope though - this report? Robert Lithgow Well Peter Ellis can never be given back what he lost. He's been to jail. He's out. His health is poor. He becomes a tool of those seeking reform. He has lost just so much. It can never be put right. It's the kind of case where those views are now pretty hardened. Those who believe he's guilty as will maintain their view. Those who see serious problems with the whole thing are not going to be shifted now but it has got lessons because they are parallel lessons to similar cases in similar jurisdictions with the same whakapapa as ours, namely the English way of doing criminal cases. Susan Wood He of course is looking for a full pardon. That could take forever, couldn't it? Robert Lithgow Well, many cases have taken forever. Many people have waited 40 years. Some people have received pardons after they are dead. So it just shows the way in which a sense of injustice can grab family, a community, a country and it can last for a very very long time.