Tim Dower: If Ellis' appeal succeeds, others will undoubtedly follow

Whatever the outcome of the Peter Ellis Supreme Court hearing today, the Ellis case raises a whole bunch of questions. For the Court to consider the arguments posthumously means this decision will without doubt have consequences. So it could set a precedent. If the argument carries, and if say those convictions are quashed, then relatives and friends of other people who've gone to their graves with their character in tatters, what do they do? If it was your father, or brother, or sister or whatever, would you give up on their innocence after they'd gone? Probably not. It's nearly 30 years since Ellis was convicted. He was found guilty on 16 child abuse charges after a jury trial and sentenced to 10 years. But as we know, three of those charges were later quashed after a supposed victim admitted she'd lied in court to please her Mum. Ellis eventually served seven years, and once he was out launched several appeals and requests for inquiries, battling to clear his name. The Supreme Court will tell us today whether that should have been enough to put all the other convictions in doubt. And we'll learn why it was that the Supreme Court felt it was appropriate to hear the appeal after Ellis' death. The fact he protested his innocence right until the end is neither here nor there, you can read that any way you want. And that won't have influenced the judges one iota. They were asked to decide on the mana of a deceased person beyond their death. And the decision will reveal what they made of that argument, that Ellis had a right to clear his name and re-establish his mana beyond the grave. If the appeal succeeds, others will undoubtedly follow.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.