Supreme Court. File photo. Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
The Supreme Court will today deliver the final ruling on one of the country's most high profile legal cases - Christchurch Civic Creche worker Peter Ellis's convictions for child sex offences.
Ellis died in September 2019, but in a legal first the Supreme Court ruled his appeal could continue despite that.
Peter Ellis spent seven years in jail, and has been trying to clear his name since his 1993 conviction.
The public will learn today if there has been a miscarriage of justice.
File photo. Photo: Supplied
The Supreme Court granted the appeal, the defence argued mana - or reputation - lasted after a person died, and his case should still be heard.
It will be made clear today if tikanga, or Māori custom, played a role in that decision - which would be precedent setting.
The first appeal resulted in three convictions being quashed but the second appeal against the remaining 13 was dismissed in 1999.
This new appeal is on the grounds of whether a miscarriage of justice occurred in the 1999 decision.
Ellis's lawyer Rob Harrison last year told the country's highest court that improper techniques were used to get evidence from child complainants, and that the jury did not get proper guidance to evaluate that evidence.
He said children's symptoms, which an expert testified was linked to abuse, was without scientific foundation.
Harrison said the trial was inconsistent with the Bill of Rights.
"The trial was unfair, due to the sanitisation of the charges that were advanced against Mr Ellis - the failure to present all of the children's interviews to the jury and the failure to provide the jury with all the necessary jury materials."
Lawyer for the Crown John Billington QC told the Supreme Court parents talking to their children, and giving children access to resources to help them cope, was necessary and should not mean their testimony was any less reliable.
The judgment will start to be read at 2pm with no media reporting allowed until it is finished.
