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http://stju.blogspot.com Call for inquiry into justice
system ignored. The Peter Ellis case is typical of the crooked child
molestation accusations of its era -- children being repeatedly badgered by
self-righteous social workers until the children gave the desired answers. There is no prospect that the
Government will set up an independent specialist tribunal to investigate
claims of miscarriage of justice, says the former High Court judge who
estimates as many as 20 people may be wrongly in New Zealand jails. Sir
Thomas Thorp recommended the setting-up of a specialist tribunal two years ago
after making an extensive study of how potential miscarriages were dealt with
elsewhere. He concluded there were significant shortcomings in our review
systems and that the incidence of miscarriages had been underestimated. However, despite a special tribunal
being recommended by Parliament's justice and law reform committee, and Sir
Thomas's proposals receiving support from both practising lawyers and
academics, there has been no official action. The reaction from the Ministry
of Justice, which oversees measures for reassessing convictions, has been
muted. Sir Thomas told the Weekend Herald that the Justice Department seemed
to be "regrettably turf-conscious". The Government said a year ago
that it planned to look at the Thorp proposals in conjunction with its
"overall strategy of reducing the incidence of crime, helping victims
and targeting hardcore criminals and violent criminal activity". But Sir
Thomas said he had heard nothing to indicate progress. "I think myself
now that my proposals will not be adopted or progressed by the present
Government. But [MP Richard] Worth tells me that the National caucus
supported his action last year in filing a private member's bill." Dr Worth's member's bill, which
still awaits a ballot, proposes the setting up of a fully independent and
appropriately staffed and resourced authority which would put before the
courts for reconsideration any claims of miscarriage which its investigations
showed had merit. Deputy Prime Minister Michael
Cullen said in a letter to Dr Worth in November that his member's bill was
too broad and might have unwarranted constitutional and fiscal consequences
and would not be supported by the Government. Dr Cullen said the Government
was reviewing options to improve organisational arrangements, of which an
independent body was one. Sir Thomas noted that new evidence
relating to the Peter Ellis Christchurch creche case produced in articles
recently published in the New Zealand Law Journal "must add to concerns
expressed previously that that case may have gone awry". While he
understood there was still a theoretical possibility of appeal to the Privy
Council, "an investigation by an independent specialist authority would
in my view be the best means of obtaining an effective reconsideration of
those verdicts". Sir Thomas reviewed the case for
the Secretary of Justice in 1999 and concluded that the two petitions for a
pardon raised "a considerable number of issues sufficiently to point to
a need for further investigation". His report identified child evidence
reliability interviewing techniques, potential contamination as central and
said that if concerns expressed by several experts proved to have general
support, "it would in my view be difficult to argue against the
existence of a serious doubt about the safety of the convictions". The
Court of Appeal also indicated a commission of inquiry was best suited to
test expert opinion. |