Nearly 30 years after the Christchurch Civic Creche case began, the Supreme Court will lay it to rest - despite Peter Ellis no longer being alive to see how it ends.
Friday, 2 July 2021, 4:28 pm
On Monday, as I drove from Kerikeri to Kamo, on Radio New
Zealand Kathryn Ryan was interviewing
students from Christchurch Girls High School, who were
commenting on vague but serious claims of sexual abuse, with
the finger being pointed mainly at Christchurch Boys High
School pupils.
It was a discomforting listen, and my
passing thoughts included three movies: The Crucible (set in
the 1690s), Heavenly Creatures (set in the 1950s), and
Clockwork Orange (set in the 1960s). My thoughts also
drifted to the Christchurch Civic Creche case (early 1990s),
where a number of women and one man were charged with
The Supreme Court has denied a request to use new evidence during the appeal of Peter Ellis 16 June 2021
The 61-year-old served seven years in prison for sexual abuse of children at the Christchurch Civic Creche in the 90s - but always maintained his innocence
He died fighting to clear his name - and a posthumous substantive appeal is set down for October.
The Crown applied to have a further abuse allegation against Ellis admitted.
The Supreme Court has ruled the evidence inadmissible and will release its reasons in coming weeks.