Convicted child sex offender Peter Ellis - whose bizarre, controversial case has been labelled by critics as one of New Zealand’s worst miscarriages of justice - died today, in the midst of another appeal.
Ellis, 61, served seven years of his 10-year sentence after being found guilty on sixteen counts of sexual offending against children at the Christchurch City Creche.
He was released in 2000 and has always maintained his innocence. In July, the Supreme Court said it would hear his case on the grounds a miscarriage of justice may have occurred.
Also in July, he was diagnosed with terminal bladder cancer. His lawyer, Rob Harrison, confirmed that Ellis had "slipped away peacefully today surrounded by his loving family and dear friend Stephen and Pam Ferguson".
The Supreme Court earlier indicated that, in the event of Ellis' death, it would "consider", in terms of any submissions that might be made, whether it would therefore have a hearing on the case.
He was found guilty of abusing seven children in 1993. But critics of the case have said prosecutors relied too heavily on testimonies from children who accused Ellis of involving them in violent sexual rituals.
Nigel Hampton QC talked to TVNZ1’s Breakfast about the 1993 case and Ellis’ last hope at ridding his 16 sexual assault convictions.
The Supreme Court appeal was given the green light after a report by Otago University researchers raised further questions over the interviews with the children in comparison to modern best practice.
University of Canterbury sociologist and criminal justice researcher Jarrod Gilbert told 1 NEWS in July he believed the Supreme Court would exonerate Ellis.
“I would argue that this is the most, one of the most egregious miscarriages of the justice the country’s ever seen,” he said.
“The social work techniques at the time have a great deal to answer for - in this case in particular - one, about how they engaged with the children and pulled information from them, and the other was a belief that children don’t lie.”
Ellis appealed to the Court of Appeal twice, the first of which exonerated him of three of his convictions. His second appeal for his remaining 13 convictions was dismissed in 1999. There were also several unsuccessful petitions for a Royal Commission of Inquiry in 2003, 2008 and 2014.
Ellis was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment in June 1993 and served seven years.
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