BACKGROUND: WIKIPEDIA: "Peter Hugh McGregor Ellis (30 March 1958 – 4 September 2019) was a New Zealand child care worker who was wrongfully convicted of child sexual abuse. He was at the centre of one of the country's most enduring judicial controversies, after being He maintained his innocence until his death 26 years later and was supported by many New Zealanders in his attempts to overturn his convictions. Concerns about the reliability of the convictions centred on lurid stories told by many of the children and the interview techniques used to obtain their testimony. Ellis was exonerated by a landmark Supreme Court decision in October 2022, which found that evidence against him and misleading expert testimony resulted in a miscarriage of justice in New Zealand. In 1994, Ellis took his case to the Court of Appeal of New Zealand which quashed convictions on three of the charges but upheld the sentence. His conviction and sentence were upheld in his second appearance before the Court of Appeal in October 1999. In March 2000, former Chief Justice Sir Thomas Eichelbaum was appointed to conduct a ministerial inquiry reviewing the children's evidence. His report upheld the guilty verdicts. The same month Governor-General Sir Michael Hardie Boys rejected Ellis' third bid for pardon on the advice of Justice Minister Phil Goff, who was satisfied with Eichelbaum's finding that Ellis had failed to prove his convictions were unsafe. Ellis refused to attend parole board hearings while in prison because he would have to confess to the crimes in order to argue for early release.[1] He was released in February 2000 after serving seven years in prison. Two books and numerous articles[2] have been written about the case. After his release, Ellis continued campaigning to clear his name. In 2019, nineteen years after he was released, he appealed to the Supreme Court to have his conviction overturned. Although he died of cancer before the appeal could be heard, the Supreme Court delivered a judgment in October 2022 allowing the appeal and quashing Ellis' convictions.[3 The Ellis case was one of several similar high profile child abuse cases around the world in the 1980s and early 1990s. It has been mentioned as a cause in the decline in the number of male teachers in New Zealand schools.[4]
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THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW ZEALAND'S DECISION (In part as it relates to Dr. Karen Zelas: "The 152-page decision from the Supreme Court delves deep into the claims against police, Crown and expert witnesses. The main focus of the decision was the evidence from Zelas, and the contamination of the children's evidence. Other appeal points were considered less significant. A now-repealed section of the Evidence Act 1908 allows an expert witness to give evidence in a case involving allegations of sexual offending against children on various matters. The most significant of those was whether evidence at the trial relating to a child complainant's behaviour was consistent or inconsistent with the behaviour of sexually abused children of the same age group as the complainant," the decision said. "Experts were not permitted to suggest that behaviours were diagnostic of sexual abuse or to comment on (or appear to comment on) the credibility of a complainant." Zelas evidence highlighted 20 behaviours in the complainants she said were consistent with those of sexually abused children, including common child behaviours such as troubles with sleep and bedwetting, but also sexualised behaviour."The Court has found that Dr Zelas' evidence lacked balance, did not inform the jury of other possible causes of the behaviours (or, where she did so, discounted or minimised the other causes) and involved circular reasoning. "In several respects, it went outside the scope of evidence permitted under [the section] and in those respects should not have been admitted as evidence at the trial. 'The extent of the inadmissible material and the extent to which Zelas departed from the appropriate standards while giving evidence may well have caused a miscarriage of justice, it said.'
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/776810459274612265
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WHO IS SHE? Karen Zelas is a published poet: As she has described herself: "I live and write in Christchurch, New Zealand. I have been writing full time since 2006, when I ceased practice as a psychiatrist and psychotherapist. My broad experience of life and living informs my writing. My first novel – Past Perfect – was first published in 2010 by Wily Publications, Christchurch, and republished by Interactive Publications, Brisbane, Australia, in 2012. My second novel – Resolutions – has been released by Pūkeko Publications in December 2020 as an ebook only. I am the author of four books of poetry: the first – Night’s Glass Table – was awarded the 2012 IP Picks Best First Book by the publisher Interactive Publications; most recent collections are I am Minerva and The Trials of Minnie Dean: a verse biography (Submarine imprint, Mākaro Press, 2016 and 2017 respectively). I have edited two anthologies of New Zealand writing: Crest to Crest: Impressions of Canterbury: prose & poetry (Wily Publications, 2009) and, together with Joanna Preston, broken lines / in charcoal (Pūkeko Publications, 2020), a book of contemporary poetry by Christchurch poets. I am also a playwright and have had two plays produced: Geography of Loss (a family memoir) and Poverty and Muse (about NZ artist Frances Hodgkins). My third play, The Falling, is currently being produced for radio as a podcast. More about this later ... In 2012, I started the small indie press Pūkeko Publications. See HERE My print books (below) are available through good bookstores and via this website, using the Contact Page HERE Further information is on the Publications and Sales page HERE:
http://www.pukeko-pukapuka.com/about-karen-zelas.html
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: Please do not misunderstand me. The fact that Karen Zelas is a poet is of no concern to me. Indeed, one of my daughters is a poet, and I am rather fond of poetry, although (as you will see) rather poor at writing it. However, I am greatly concerned about the extremely serious errors that she made which drew condemnation from the New Zealand Supreme Court, and turned an innocent man into a pariah.
Is Zelas a zealot, I really can't say,
But I truly wonder how many other innocent men (and women)
That she may have put away.
So wake up, New Zealand government
And order an independent public 'look',
At all other cases in which she may
have run amook.
'Tis a necessary task indeed,
If justice is truly to be done.
We're watching!
Harold Levy;
Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resurce. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com. Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL:
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/4704913685758792985
FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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