Justice Minister Phil Goff says counsel for Peter Ellis, Judith Ablett Kerr QC, has misconstrued the comments of one of the experts used in the Ministerial Inquiry suggesting he said a wider inquiry was required.

"Mrs Ablett Kerr has got it wrong claiming Professor Graham Davies of Leicester University advised a broader inquiry was needed.

"Professor Davies said in the report there were issues beyond his remit relating to details of evidence which the wider inquiry may wish to consider," Mr Goff said.

The Minister said in its context, however, the reference to 'the wider inquiry' meant the inquiry by former Chief Justice Sir Thomas Eichelbaum.

"Both of the experts' reports, including Professor Davies', were commissioned to give Sir Thomas expert advice on matters relating to the children's evidence.

"The details of the evidence referred to by Professor Davies were fully considered by Sir Thomas, who spent over 400 hours studying tapes, depositions and trial transcripts, Court of Appeal decisions and other material relevant to Mr Ellis' conviction.

"The Royal Commission of Inquiry which Mrs Ablett Kerr continues to call for would not have been appropriate. Such a wide-ranging factual inquiry would result in the children involved being required to revisit their evidence given ten years ago, when they were aged only 3 or 4 years old. That would have little purpose, given the lapse of time. It would also create unnecessary trauma and stress for the young people involved.

"There is also no need to relitigate matters which had been clearly dealt with by seven judges over two Court of Appeal hearings.

"I remind Mrs Ablett Kerr of Sir Thomas' conclusion in his report that the case advanced by Mr Ellis failed 'by a distinct margin' and that his findings were not 'anything like a borderline judgement," Mr Goff said.

ENDS

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>