Fresh petition for pardon in abuse case

Peter Ellis' petition is to be lodged late next month. Photo / Christchurch Star

Convicted child abuser Peter Ellis plans to lodge a fresh petition to the Governor-General for a full pardon, supported by recent research.

Mr Ellis served almost seven years in prison after being found guilty of 16 charges of sexual abuse of children at a civic creche in Christchurch in the early 1990s.

Mr Ellis, 51, has always denied the allegations and has already had three petitions for a pardon and two appeals against his conviction turned down.

An application for a royal commission of inquiry into his case was also rejected.

A long-time supporter of Mr Ellis, Dunedin author and researcher Dr Lynley Hood, said fresh research on child interviewing in the case was of high standard and had been conducted independently.

Full details of the fresh research were not available yesterday, but a leading Otago University researcher, Professor Harlene Hayne, who is an authority on childhood memory-related issues, has studied transcripts of child-witness interviews in the case.

Mr Ellis' lawyer, Judith Ablett Kerr, QC, of Dunedin, said the new petition rested on fresh Otago University research indicating that the questioning of the children was below a legally acceptable standard.

It was crucial to Mr Ellis and his mother that his name was cleared and the petition would be lodged at the end of next month, the Queen's Counsel told Radio New Zealand yesterday.

Dr Hood said Mr Ellis had long ago received what she termed a "people's pardon" in the court of public opinion.

"He's had a people's pardon.

"The system has great difficulty in undoing its own mistakes."

Most New Zealanders and most Christchurch residents clearly believed that Mr Ellis had been wrongly convicted, she said.

The "overwhelming question" was how could so many other people "have got it so wrong".

"Most New Zealanders and most people within the justice system believed the Ellis case involved a terrible miscarriage of justice", Dr Hood said.

When Mr Ellis went into Christchurch, people shook him by the hand and "patted him on the back and wished him well".

He had been well treated by fellow inmates in prison and was greeted warmly in his community, Dr Hood said.

"There will always be a few who won't budge but they're very much in the minority.

"Unfortunately they're in positions of power."

Some people had been "covering their backs" and were reluctant to admit that mistakes had been made.

- Otago Daily Times