A second petition has been started calling for an enquiry into the Peter Ellis case, this time signed by former creche children, their parents, and more prominent New Zealand figures, including one of this country's most famous victims of the justice system, Arthur Alan Thomas. Thomas was twice convicted of the double murder of Jeanette and Harvey Crewe in 1970, and spent ten years in jail before an enquiry discovered that police had planted evidence to sway his conviction. He says that the Ellis case is as close to his own in terms of a miscarriage of justice as he had ever seen. "This will go on and on until something is done," said Thomas, who urged Justice Minister Phil Goff to look, seek and find out more. "It happened in my case and it's happening again." Former creche supervisor Gaye Davidson has more than 3000 signatures on the new petition, which will be presented to National MPs Don Brasha and Katherine Rich in Christchurch on Monday.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Saturday, 4th October 2003 - 12:00pm