Convicted Christchurch paedophile Peter Ellis and his Dunedin lawyer will push on with an appeal to the Privy Council in London after Associate Justice Minister Rick Barker yesterday rejected a call for a full royal commission of inquiry into the controversial case.
Mr Ellis, who was convicted in 1993 for sexually abusing children at the Christchurch Civic Creche and served two-thirds of a 10-year prison sentence, has always maintained his innocence.
He described Mr Barker's decision as ‘‘a slap in the face'', while his lawyer Judith Ablett-Kerr, QC, labelled it ‘‘superficial''.
‘‘It is very disappointing the matter has been treated in such a superficial way,'' she said.
Mrs Ablett-Kerr wrote to Justice Minister Annette King in January seeking a commission to reconsider the case because of fresh doubts about the reliability of evidence from the child complaints.
Research findings by University of Otago academic Prof Harlene Hayne referred to a ‘‘strong risk'' that the evidence of children who told of sexual abuse by Mr Ellis was contaminated by the way interviews were carried out. She urged the courts to consider the case again.
Another researcher, Ross Francis, writing in the New Zealand Law Journal, also said the case should be reopened.
Mrs Ablett-Kerr said her let ter to Mrs King also argued last year's Privy Council decision that the New Zealand Court of Appeal should have evaluated new expert evidence in the David Bain murder case should have also convinced the Govern ment a commission of inquiry was warranted in the Ellis case
‘‘[This case] is arguably the most significant miscarriage of justice case that New Zealand has had since Arthur Alan Thomas,'' she said.
‘‘I have real doubts as to whether [Mr Barker] or his officials have read the Harlene Hayne material.''
Mr Barker's letter outlining his reasons for rejecting the commission ‘‘looked like that from a schoolboy who suddenly realised he had an assignment to hand in'', Mr Ellis said.
He said many high-profile and well-respected New Zealanders had signed a petition in his favour.
Dunedin author Lynley Hood who supports Mr Ellis, said last night she was disappointed with Mr Barker's decision.
‘‘I'm pretty disgusted. His was an extraordinarily cavalier response to very carefully analysed new information.''
But both Mr Ellis and Mrs Ablett-Kerr said they would push on with an appeal to the Privy Council.
‘‘It is really disappointing we will now have to go to the Privy Council . . . which is a huge and financially burdensome task,' Mrs Ablett-Kerr said. - with NZPA
