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The Government is considering a
request by the lawyers of convicted childcare worker Peter Ellis for a royal
commission of inquiry into his case. Ellis was convicted in 1993 of
sexually molesting seven children at the Christchurch Civic Childcare Centre
in a case that gripped the nation. One of the preschoolers later
retracted the allegations and three of the convictions were later quashed.
Ellis has always maintained his innocence and is fighting to clear his name. He served two-thirds of a 10-year
jail sentence. Justice Minister Annette King's
office yesterday said it had received a letter from Ellis's lawyer, Judith
Ablett-Kerr, QC, requesting a meeting to discuss the formation of a royal
commission of inquiry. A spokesman for King said she
would delegate the decision to an associate because she is also Police
Minister. "The Government will
obviously give due consideration to the letter," the spokesman said. "One of Mrs King's associates
will be given that delegation and that person will respond." He said no decision had been made
on who would get the task. The situation was complicated by
the fact that two of the associate justice ministers, Lianne Dalziel and
Clayton Cosgrove, were Christchurch MPs. That could leave the task to Labour
list MP and Associate Justice Minister Rick Barker. United Future leader Peter Dunne
yesterday supported the call for an inquiry. "There is a serious risk that
a grave injustice has been done to Mr Ellis and there is enough doubt over
the investigation and conviction that a royal commission to examine his case
is appropriate and necessary," said Dunne, who is also Revenue Minister. "This case is in danger of
being forgotten now that Mr Ellis has been released, but nevertheless he
deserves the chance to clear his name, if indeed he has been wrongly
convicted." Ablett-Kerr has said she is
working on a petition to take the case to the Privy Council. The right for New Zealanders to
appeal to the Privy Council was abolished in 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 Ellis case were cast last year in research
findings by Otago University academic Professor Harlene Hayne. Hayne said there was a
"strong risk" that the evidence of children who told of sexual
abuse by Ellis was contaminated by the way the interviews were carried out. She urged the courts to consider
the case again. After Ellis's High Court trial and
two failed Appeals Court hearings, a 2000 inquiry by former chief justice Sir
Thomas Eichelbaum found the interviewing was appropriate.
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