U3A Cromwell - Gil Elliott; An 18 year travail through the criminal justice system

U3A Cromwell - One family's 18 year travail through the criminal justice system

Speaker: Gil Elliott

Gilbert (Gil) Elliott was born and raised in New Plymouth. After high school and UE, he started a position at the New Plymouth Hospital Pathology Department as a trainee Medical
Laboratory Technologist. Five years later after qualifying as a medical Laboratory Technologist (now called scientist) he married Lesley Scott.

They then went that first year to Brisbane and the Gold Coast for about a year for Gil to work in a medical laboratory operated by Queensland Medical Laboratories. On returning to New Plymouth Gil managed the hospital microbiology laboratory for the next four years and then ventured south to Dunedin and the University of Otago. He completed a BSc in physiology and microbiology, a post graduate diploma of science in Immunology and a post graduate diploma in public health. To broaden his horizons undertook legal studies and completed several law papers including inter alia criminal law, family law and torts.
All studies were part-time.

While at university he worked in the Dunedin hospital laboratories in both the blood bank area and in microbiology. After graduating, he worked for a year or so in the university surgery department as a university scientific officer, then back to the Dunedin hospital in the immunohematology (blood bank) department as a hospital scientific officer mostly doing research into haemolytic disease of the newborn. Then a few years working as an applications manager for a private company and then to the National Poisons Centre Otago University Medical School for four years as a Poisons Information Officer. Then briefly to the Kaitaia Hospital laboratory, and finally in 2004 to Dunstan Hospital Clyde for 12 years as the manager of the medical laboratory. A rather varied career and little did Gil realise that his brief foray into the legal system would be visited again years later. During all of this time, in January 2008 Lesley and Gil’s daughter Sophie aged 22 was killed in her bedroom by an ex-boyfriend. Gil was in Clyde at the time. This talk is about a family’s journey through the criminal justice system. A journey that took 18 years and it is not over yet and may never be. It includes looking at things like ‘justice’, like court hearings, like a criminal trial, like The Privacy Act, like sentencing, like Victim Impact Statements, like appeals, like written submissions to the Parole Board and like appearing at a Parole Board hearing for the first time including parole itself, 17 years of In Memoriam notices, birthdays missed and so on and on! Losing a child for whatever reason is absolutely awful, but to lose a child to murder basically means further victimisation for a family and for friends of the victim. It certainly does not stop at a Coroner’s Inquest. The life of the victim is laid bare in court, where the Privacy Act is ignored.