Peter Hugh McGregor Ellis v The Queen
SC 49/2019
This hearing began in Te Kōti Mana Nui o Aotearoa—the Supreme Court of New Zealand on 4 October 2021. It ran for nearly two weeks, finishing on 14 October 2021.
The first week mainly included evidence from expert witnesses. The second week was focused on submissions from counsel.
On this page
Suppression
Publication of the names or identifying particulars of the complainants is prohibited by s 139 of the Criminal Justice Act 1985.
Publication of the names names or identifying particulars of child witnesses under the age of 17 is prohibited by s 139A of the Criminal Justice Act 1985.
Information for attendees
As a result of COVID-19 restrictions, access to the Supreme Court building will be limited to media, victims (including victim whānau and support persons), family members of the appellant, counsel and court staff.
Remote public viewing is available at the Wellington High Court in Courtroom 6 but due to COVID-19 Alert Level 2, numbers will be limited and will be on a first come, first served basis.
Access to the High Court is on the following conditions:
- All members of the public must sign in using either the contact tracing app or written record maintained by court staff.
- Members of the public should not attend if unwell.
- Members of the public attending are required to wear masks in the courtroom and public spaces except for those with a medical exemption.
- Inside the courtroom, members of the public must be seated and are asked to comply with social distancing measures.
Relevant protocols are listed below.
Background
Peter Ellis was convicted on 16 charges of sexual offending against seven children in 1993. The complainants attended the childcare centre where Mr Ellis was employed.
Mr Ellis appealed twice to the Court of Appeal, the second time after a referral by the Governor-General. The first appeal in 1994 quashed three of the counts of sexual offending against one complainant. The second appeal against the remaining 13 convictions was dismissed in 1999.
In mid-2019, Mr Ellis successfully applied to the Supreme Court for leave to appeal against his convictions and an extension of time to make the application for leave to appeal. Although Mr Ellis died in September 2019, the Supreme Court subsequently decided that the appeal could continue.
The issues in the appeal are:
- Whether there was a miscarriage of justice arising from risks of contamination of or improperly obtained complainant evidence;
- Whether there was a miscarriage of justice arising from lack of expert evidence on the reliability of children complainants’ evidence;
- Whether there was a miscarriage of justice due to unreliable expert evidence being led at trial.
Other hearing synopses
Timeline
Judgments
- Ellis v R [2021] NZSC 77 [Additional evidence, reasons] (PDF, 260 KB)
- Ellis v R [2021] NZSC 63 [Additional evidence, result] (PDF, 113 KB)
- Ellis v R [2020] NZSC 137 [Suppression] (PDF, 202 KB)
- Ellis v R [2020] NZSC 89 [Continuance] (PDF, 70 KB)
- Ellis v R [2019] NZSC 83 [Leave to appeal to the Supreme Court] (PDF, 234 KB)
- R v Ellis [1999] NZCA 226; [2000] 1 NZLR 513 [Second appeal]
- Ellis v R [1998] NZCA 233; [1998] 3 NZLR 555 [Terms of reference for second appeal]