Crime / Law

Peter Ellis trial: First day focuses on child's evidence

07:53 am on 5 October 2021

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Day one of the historic Peter Ellis appeal at the Supreme Court in Wellington focused mainly on the reliability of a child's evidence.

Ellis died in 2019 and it's the first time in New Zealand the convictions of a dead person have been appealed.

The Christchurch childcare worker, who was jailed on 16 child sex abuse convictions in 1993, was granted the appeal before his death in September 2019 - looking at whether there was miscarriage of justice in a 1999 appeal against 13 of his convictions.

Jake McKee reports.