Peter Hugh Mc Gregor Ellis - Appeals

Appeals

The case entered the Court of Appeal in February 1994 with Nigel Hampton, QC, and, when Hampton later fell ill, Graham Panckhurst, QC, acting as counsel for Ellis, both were assisted by Rob Harrison. Brent Stanaway and Chris Lange appeared for the Crown. The hearing was interrupted on 28 July when the oldest child on whose testimony Ellis was convicted told her parents that her story was not true, that she had said only what she thought her parents and the interviewer wanted to hear. The Court of Appeal considered that it was not uncommon for child complainants to withdraw their allegations. The appellate judges believed the retraction may have been a case of denial on the part of the child and was grounds to overturn only those convictions relating to that child. The child has continued to maintain that she fabricated her allegations.

In November 1998, Ellis presented a second petition to the Governor General seeking a Royal Commission on Inquiry into his case, and either a free pardon or for the whole case to be referred back to the Court of Appeal. The Secretary for Justice sought advice from Sir Thomas Thorp on the second petition. His advice concluded that the terms of reference should be expanded.

In 1999 the Ellis case was referred to the Court of Appeal for a second time. Judith Ablett Kerr, QC, appeared as counsel for Ellis, and Simon France for the Crown. As was the case in the original trial and in the case of the first appeal, the court restricted the ambit of material it would examine. Reliability of the complainants' accounts, contamination by parents and other sources, along with non-disclosure by police of photographs to defence counsel, formed the basis of Ablett Kerr's submission. Ablett Kerr argued that the jury had not been allowed to examine these issues in their entirety. The Crown argued that risks involved with multi allegation, multi victim cases were well understood at the time of the trial and the jury had been given a clear picture of the case.

Dr Barry Parsonson, former head of the New Zealand Psychologists Board, said in relation to the children's evidence that led to Ellis's conviction, "the probability of the proportion of fact outweighing the proportion of fiction must be very, very small indeed". He wrote a 120-page-report into the children's interviews for Ellis's second Court of Appeal hearing. Michael Lamb, Ray Bull and Maggie Bruck are among international experts who have provided affidavits supporting Ellis's appeals to have his conviction overturned. At the second appeal the Crown presented the expert opinion of Dr Constance Dalenberg.

The court concluded that they were not persuaded that a miscarriage of justice had occurred but suggested a Royal Commission of Inquiry could better examine some of the issues raised. Ellis immediately presented a third petition to the Governor General.

In March 2000, Sir Thomas Eichelbaum was appointed to inquire into the Ellis case. He concluded that there was no doubt in regard to the reliability of the children's evidence. The Governor General declined a third application for a pardon.

In June 2003 a petition requesting a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Chritchurch Civic Creche case was presented to Parliament. The request was rejected in 2005 by then Justice Minister Simon Power who advised that Ellis had not exhausted all other forms of appeal.

In 2011, Ellis announced his intention to lodge a fourth petition to the Governor General.