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The Nelson Mail The lawyers for
convicted childcare worker Peter Ellis are seeking a Royal Commission of
Inquiry into the case. Ellis was convicted in 1993 of
sexually molesting children at the Christchurch Civic Creche where he worked.
One of the seven preschoolers he
was found guilty of abusing later retracted the allegations and three of Ellis'
convictions have since been quashed. Ellis, who has always maintained
his innocence and is fighting to clear his name, served two-thirds of a
10-year jail sentence. His lawyer, Judith Ablett-Kerr,
has sent a letter to Justice Minister Annette King requesting a meeting to
discuss the formation of a royal commission, a spokesman from her office told
NZPA. Ms Ablett-Kerr is also still
working on a petition to take the case to the Privy Council. If Ellis' case does make it to the
Privy Council it may be one of the last New Zealand cases heard there. That
appeal avenue was abolished from January 1, 2004, with the establishment of
the Supreme Court. But appeals can still be made in
cases where the Court of Appeal made its final judgment or decision before that
date. Fresh doubts about the evidential
interviews of children in the case were cast last year in research findings
by Otago University academic Professor Harlene Hayne. She said there was a ``strong
risk'' that the evidence of the children was contaminated by the way the
interviews were carried out. Professor Hayne urged the courts
to consider the case again. After Ellis's High Court trial and
two failed Appeals Court hearings, a ministerial inquiry conducted by former Chief
Justice Sir Thomas Eichelbaum in 2000 found the interviewing of the children
was appropriate and had not been undermined or contaminated by others. But after analysing hundreds of
pages of verbatim transcripts of the pre-trial interviews with the young
children, and comparing them with a similar American case, Professor Haynes
has taken issue with Sir Thomas's conclusions. She found the Christchurch
children were each subjected to an average 400 questions by Social Welfare
Department specialist staff, compared with 200 in the American case. In the American case a daycare
worker was released from prison after an appeal to the Supreme Court, which
found the children's interviews were ``highly improper'', with interviewers
using ``coercive and unduly suggestive methods''. |
