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The
Christchurch Civic Creche Case |
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Convicted paedophile
Peter Ellis is pressing ahead with an appeal to the Privy Council over his
1993 convictions for abusing children. Ellis' lawyer, Judith
Ablett Kerr, QC, of Dunedin, told NZPA today she would apply for special
leave to appeal to the Privy Council immediately despite having had no
response from the Attorney-General yet on whether such an appeal should
proceed. The justice and
electoral select committee recommended last August that the Attorney-General
not oppose a bid by Ellis, who was convicted of sexually abusing children at
the Christchurch Civic Childcare Centre where he worked. He served two-thirds
of a 10-year jail sentence but has always maintained his innocence. The committee also
recommended legal aid be provided for the appeal. Last September, Mrs
Ablett Kerr said it appeared the Solicitor-General intended to ignore the
committee's recommendations. She said it was the Solicitor-General's role to
advise the Attorney-General whether a case should proceed. Solicitor-General
Terence Arnold had taken a "narrow and most disturbing" approach by
requiring Ellis to satisfy him that his grounds for appeal involved a point
of law of "exceptional public importance", Mrs Ablett Kerr said
then. Today, she acknowledged
there had been "a lot of to-ing and fro-ing" between her and the
Solicitor-General and the Attorney-General. "But rather than
delay matters any further, the decision has been taken to draft his petition
and file it in London and get on with it," she said. "We'll deal with
the issue of whether the Solicitor-General wishes to follow the
recommendation of the select committee at a later stage." Delays in applying for
leave to petition the Privy Council had been "incredibly
debilitating" for Ellis, who was looking forward to progressing his
appeal. "We really do have
to move it along," Mrs Ablett Kerr said. "We can't get held up by
bureaucracy any longer. We just have to press on." Mrs Ablett Kerr said
Privy Council appeals took a "two-stage process" with the first
part involving applying for special leave to appeal. She hoped this would be
completed by July or October. The Privy Council did
not sit in August or September - its vacation period. "If we get through
that part of the process they will put it off to hear the appeal
proper," she said. "I would like to
think that would be before the end of this year." Mrs Ablett Kerr said
she imagined Ellis' petition might be the last appeal the Privy Council heard
from New Zealand. |
