Proud, tearful family of creche worker Peter Ellis say his mana has been 'restored'

Friday, 7 October 2022

Mark Ellis says he is 'so proud' of his late brother Peter Ellis after the Supreme Court overturned his child sexual abuse convictions.

In the wake of the Supreme Court quashing Peter Ellis’ convictions, Stuff is featuring a 2019 story on the case on The Long Read podcast. Listen to the story, and hear Martin van Beynen discuss the Supreme Court judgment, by hitting the play button below, or find it on podcast apps like Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Google Podcasts.

“If only Peter was here to hear it,” says Gaye Davidson as the Supreme Court decision quashing Peter Ellis’s convictions sinks in.

The court on Friday released its decision quashing 13 convictions on charges Ellis abused children at the Christchurch Civic Childcare Centre when he worked there between 1986 and 1991.

His siblings, Mark and Tania, were at the court in Wellington for the decision – and tearfully spoke of their joy at his exoneration, one tinged by a backdrop of how long justice took to be served.

Mark Ellis said he never doubted his brother’s innocence and now felt only sadness for everyone involved in the case – including the criticised expert witnesses.

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“I just wish they had fixed it sooner,” he said of the justice system.

The late Peter Ellis' siblings, Mark (centre) and sister Tania (right), celebrate outside the Supreme Court in Wellington after his child abuse convictions were quashed.

Speaking outside the Supreme Court on Friday, Mark Ellis, said: “I suppose it's [the decision] good news. But [it's been a] long time coming, it sort of takes the edge off it a little bit.

“[I] wish my brother was here, because it was really what he deserved. [It’s] not for us to hear so much, him and mum who were the staunch party in the whole thing, and always stood strong under probably quite trying circumstances that he had. He was always so positive.

“I don’t want to downplay it, but it seems a bit of an anti-climax from something a long time.”

Family friend Barry Doyle said the case had “contaminated our court system”, and it was an important day for the country that it had been resolved.

Mark Ellis broke down in tears when he was asked if his brother’s mana had been restored.

“Definitely. We are just so proud of him, proud of the person he was.”

His sister Tania Ellis said: “We’d just like to thank everyone – our whanau, friends, my work colleagues, Rob (Harrison, Ellis’s lawyer) and the team who have put so much effort into the last almost 31 years.

“Much aroha to all of those people who have been with us, and thank you.”

Tania Ellis said the role of tikanga (Māori customary law) in allowing Ellis to clear his name and re-establish his mana even though he was dead had been “groundbreaking”.

Former creche manager Gaye Davidson is elated at the Supreme Court decision clearing Peter Ellis.

“I think it’s great for New Zealand to have that going forward as part of its fabric of how we move forward, and embrace it.”

Mark Ellis said he had no ill feeling towards the expert witnesses whose testimony played a key role in his brother’s conviction, or towards the complainants.

“It was just a time in history, everyone got caught up in something that was just bigger than them.”

He also said compensation was not important. “It was all about him. It was what he wanted – he wanted his name cleared.”

Asked what they would say to Peter if he was here today, Tania said: “I love you.”

“I’d cuddle him,” Mark added. “[We’re] just pleased with the whole outcome, finally.”

Ellis died of bladder cancer in September 2019.

Gaye Davidson, the manager of the creche at the time, said it would have been “so nice” for Ellis to have been alive to hear the decision, which has vindicated long-held doubts about the convictions.

“If only Peter was here to hear it. It’s so unfair. He would have been so elated and also sorry for the children for what they went through. He always thought of the kids.

“He has fought for this and never given up for himself and us for the whole time he was alive. He was driven to bring the truth out for himself, the kids and us (other staff of the creche).”

Peter Ellis, pictured in July 2019, shortly before his death.

In a statement on Friday, the parents of the children Ellis was said to have abused said they were “shocked and saddened” by the court’s decision, which they felt favoured a convicted criminal and ignored victims, and said they still believed them.

Davidson, who with fellow creche workers Jan Buckingham (now also dead), Marie Keys and Debbie Gillespie, was also charged with abusing children in her care at the creche.

The charges were dropped before trial.

Davidson said the decision after 30 years of the saga was “unbelievable”.

The Supreme Court has quashed Peter Ellis' child abuse convictions after a 30-year battle for justice.

“I’ve got so many emotions. I’m still shaking. Mainly I feel sadness and sorrow he (Ellis) is not here to share it.

“I never understand how it got to where it was, who was driving it, why they wanted this to be part of Christchurch history. It was scary. It was a horrible time.”

She said Ellis had fitted in really well at the creche and although he was a hard case, he was easy to get along with.

She always disbelieved the allegations against Ellis, she said.

She believed a very small minority of the creche parents were motivated by the amount they received from ACC for each of the allegations about Peter.

Davidson said she and the other creche workers were shocked when Ellis was charged and the next biggest shock was when she and three other workers were arrested.

She has since moved on with her life.

“But it sticks with me all the time. I do forget about it sometimes, and then something happens that brings it all back. The horror of it all.”

Gillespie said she was “absolutely gobsmacked” by the decision.

Dunedin author Lynley Hood, who wrote A City Possessed: The Christchurch Civic Creche Case, says she is pleased justice has been done for Peter Ellis.

“I can’t believe it’s 30 years since that terrible knock on the door (the arrest by police). What a shame that Peter is not here to hear it. It’s really sad.”

The decision was “about bloody time” after all the hard going over three decades, she said.

“The system is so stacked against the little guy. Some people need to take responsibility. They have ruined so many lives, including those of the children.”

Gillespie said she had been too scared to work with children after her experience at the creche.

In their statement, the complainants’ parents said the now adults still lived with the effects of the abuse and those who took part in the court process carried a “huge burden”.

“Asking children at the age of 5 or 6 to give evidence in a court of law, after having had interviews with people they had never met, and had no reason to trust was always going to be a huge ask of both the children and their families.”

Their message to the children was: “We hear you and we believe you.”

“The trauma of not being believed over the years takes its toll. The court of public opinion is often ill-informed and the facts are lost. Our children deserved to be safe in the care of adults. They were not.

Ellis’s former lawyer Nigel Hampton, KC, says Ellis knew he would not live to see justice and was at ease with it.

“The legacy of this case ensured that childcare centres around New Zealand became safer places for all children and staff.

“The Civic Creche children, now adults, know what happened to them. Today we want to thank them all again for their bravery and courage.”

Dunedin author Lynley Hood, who wrote a book about the case, A City Possessed: The Christchurch Civic Creche Case, said she was ‘’pleased’’ about the quashing of the convictions.

Shesaid the case was not driven by the children but by the therapists, and said: “It just became one of those big cases where the guilt or innocence of the accused gets overcome by the whole quest of good versus evil.”

While the issue of compensation was up to his lawyer, the issue of restoring his reputation remained, Hood said. She praised the three justices “who made sure justice was done”.

Christchurch Kings Counsel Nigel Hampton, who represented Ellis in the Court of Appeal, said the Supreme Court judgment had been “a long time coming'.

“I’m sure he [Ellis] would feel vindicated – and properly so.”

Earlier opportunities for justice while Ellis was still alive, including the option of ordering a Royal Commission of Inquiry, were missed.

Hampton last spoke to Ellis a few days before he died. Ellis was composed about what happened to him and knew he would not see the end of the saga.

“He knew where the truth lay and he was at ease with it.”

The case highlighted that experts must be truly objective and present evidence based on sound, rigorous science – which was lacking in Ellis' case.

“There should be no room for partisanship or advocacy on behalf of the expert.”

Hampton said the result was a credit to Ellis' lawyer, Rob Harrison, who stuck at it for 30 years.