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The Christchurch Civic
Creche Case |
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This week, Inside New Zealand:
What’s Your Verdict? summons 12 people to assess the
guilt or innocence of Peter Ellis, the man accused of sexually abusing
children at the Christchurch Civic Childcare Centre. What’s Your Verdict? Is the
innovative Inside New Zealand documentary series where a hand-picked jury
examines old and new evidence presented in several of the country’s
most notorious and controversial crime cases. The series puts the New Zealand
jury system to the test, as the treatment of an accused person by police, the
media and the courts tells us a great deal about the state of the nation. Our collective honesty, integrity
and prejudices are never more exposed than during a big trial. Following complaints from parents
of children at Christchurch’s Civic Child Care Centre where Ellis worked,
police launched an investigation into allegations of sexual abuse in 1991. Four months later, Peter Ellis and
four of his female co-workers were arrested on multiple charges. The charges against the other
crèche workers were eventually dropped, but despite his strenuous denials and
questions about the reliability of the children’s evidence, Ellis was found
guilty on 16 counts of abuse and sentenced to ten years imprisonment. But with no adult eyewitnesses and
no physical evidence, the convictions relied on the inconsistent and, at
times, bizarre evidence from the children. Was this enough? Ellis, now free, continues his
fight to clear his name. He and his supporters see him as a victim of a
modern day “witch-hunt”. What does our new jury make of the
evidence presented to them? Will their opinions be altered with new evidence
which has come to hand after the court case? Get an inside look at the jury
procession on Inside New Zealand: What’s Your Verdict – Peter Ellis,
screening Thursday, April 5 at 8:30pm. |
