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Associate Justice Minister Rick
Barker has shown that he is unprepared to take the hard decisions demanded of
his position by declining a royal commission of inquiry into Peter Ellis's
unjust conviction for paedophilia (March 28). Like former justice minister Phil
Goff, he had obviously not taken time to read Lynley Hood's book, A City Possessed, or even study the
history of this gross miscarriage of justice. I hope that Judith Ablett-Kerr's
petition to the Privy Council proceeds. Should it do so, there is no doubt
that New Zealand's justice system will again be shown to be lacking. The
Privy Council has already overturned five New Zealand court decisions in
recent times, which does not indicate confidence in our justice system is
warranted. Margaret Wilson's legacy of a New
Zealand Supreme Court does not bode well for the future either, particularly
when two of our Court of Appeal judges also sit on the Supreme Court. In the
David Bain case last year, the Privy Council loudly criticised our Court of
Appeal judges, and I have no doubt that if Peter Ellis's appeal proceeds a
similar situation will apply. I think that the children involved
in this sad case were brainwashed, and already one, who is now able to recall
her early childhood, has recanted her evidence. |
