Ellis lawyer wants full Commission of Inquiry

The lawyer for convicted sex offender Peter Ellis says any inquiry into the Civic Creche case must take the form of a full Commission of Inquiry.

National leader Don Brash made the promise of an inquiry last week in an email to Christchurch-based Ellis supporter, music tutor Richard Christie.

However he did not specify what kind of inquiry National would support and then the party's justice spokesman Richard Worth suggested it could be one undertaken by an overseas judge.

But Ellis' lawyer Judith Ablett-Kerr today said that would not be enough.

She said she had petitioned the Governor-General on three occasions since 1997 for a Commission of Inquiry and the 1999 decision of the Court of Appeal suggested such a course.

The power to summons witnesses and compel evidence would be a vital part of any satisfactory inquiry into the Ellis case, she said.

"Any inquiry must have the powers of a Commission of Inquiry otherwise such an exercise is likely to be a waste of public money."

The Ministerial Inquiry ordered by Justice Minister Phil Goff in 2000 did not have those powers and failed to address the issues that caused concern for the public, she said.

Two years ago the National Party leader and Dunedin MP Katherine Rich started a petition calling for a Commission of Inquiry into the child-abuse convictions of creche worker Ellis.

A justice select committee is considering what kind of inquiry should be held into Ellis's case and is expected to announce its findings before the election.

Ellis was controversially convicted in the 1990s, partly on the basis of several contested testimonies from very young children.

- NZPA