Although this has nothing to do with Real Estate this is my blog and I actually think David Bain and his legal team and supporters deserve a big well done for their efforts over the last 14 years to try and bring justice to their cause. A few friends of mine down here in Christchurch have been involved in the retrial over the last few months and by all accounts it sounds like it has been a stressful time for everyone.
This is a story of true dedication and commitment to do what one thought was rightly due to himself. If you dont agree with the outcome of the case so be it, its not really any concern of anyone. We need to actually look at the story behind the scenes and take away something from it. Fighting and driving toward what you believe is right with passion and dignity is what all New Zealanders should strive towards achieving.
All the best David.
For anyone interested here is a timeline of David Bain's story - thanks to the New Zealand Herald
* June 20, 1994 – David Bain’s parents, Robin and Margaret, two sisters, Laniet and Arawa, and brother, Stephen, are shot and killed in their Dunedin home. Bain calls emergency services in a distraught state.
* June 24, 1994 – Bain is charged with five counts of murder. The following day the rest of his family are farewelled by 1000 mourners.
* July 7, 1994 – Bain home is razed by Fire Service at request of family.
* October 1994 – Depositions hearing begins and Bain is committed for trial in May 1995.
* May 8, 1995 – Three-week-long murder trial begins in the High Court at Dunedin. Unprecedented public and media interest.
* May 29, 1995 – Jury finds Bain guilty on all five murder counts.
* June 21, 1995 – Bain sentenced to mandatory life term, with a minimum non-parole period of 16 years.
* December 19, 1995 – Court of Appeal dismisses Bain appeal.
* May, 1996 – A petition to Privy Council seeking leave to appeal fails.
* July 22, 1996 – Court of Appeal lifts suppression order covering defence witness Dean Cottle and evidence that was to have been presented at Bain’s murder trial. It alleges Laniet told Cottle that her father was having an incestuous affair with her and she was going to confront the family.
* April 16, 1997 – Joe Karam launches his book, David and Goliath. It says Robin, not David, was the killer, and that police botched the investigation.
* May 5, 1997 – Police appoint Assistant Commissioner Brion Duncan to head an independent inquiry reviewing police handling of the murder investigation.
* June 23, 1997 – James McNeish releases his book, The Mask of Sanity, which concludes that David was the killer.
* November 25, 1997 – Police in the murder investigation are cleared by the joint police and Police Complaints Authority inquiry. It finds no serious flaws in the police investigation and says criticism that police were incompetent is unjustified.
* March 1998 – Police officers to sue Karam over claims in his book.
* June 1998 – Petition of 113 pages and 290-page supporting document seeking a pardon for Bain is lodged with the Governor-General.
* June 1999 – Former Dunedin pathologist Jim Gwynne presents petition to Governor-General seeking pardon for Bain. Dr Gwynne says evidence shows Robin Bain committed suicide.
* June 9, 2000 – Damages suit brought against Karam by two Dunedin detectives, one since retired, fails in the High Court at Auckland.
* December 19, 2000 – Bain has aspects of his case referred back to the Court of Appeal. Justice Minister Phil Goff said an investigation had shown that “a number of errors” may have occurred in the Crown’s presentation of its case.
* October 2002 – Court of Appeal considers four aspects of the case referred to it by Mr Goff.
* December 20, 2002 – Mr Goff announces the case is to be reheard in full by Court of Appeal.
* September, 2003 – Court of Appeal hears case.
* December 13, 2003 – Court of Appeal decides a retrial was not needed on the grounds that the new evidence would not have changed the jury’s verdict.
* June 7, 2006 – Bain’s legal team wins right to a full Privy Council hearing.
* March 8, 2007 – Five-day Privy Council hearing in London begins.
* May 10, 2007 – Privy Council delivers decision, ordering a retrial.
* May 15, 2007 – Bain granted bail at hearing in Christchurch High Court
* June 21, 2007 – Solicitor-General rules that Bain will face a retrial
* March 6, 2009 – Retrial begins. Bain pleads not guilty to five charges of murder
* June 4, 2009 – Retrial ends, jury begin deliberations
* June 6, 2009 – David Bain found not guilty of all the murders.
All the best David, Unless of course you did it. Why have I got that uneasy feeling we may have just released a mass murderer in our midst.
When it comes to court cases he has won one and lost one, maybe we should have one more to make sure 🙂
Too much evidence to link David to the murders and I think we have a mass murdered on the loose too. Motive may have been the estate that would have gone to him. Dreadful way the brother was murdered and from descriptions the father wouldn’t have had the requisite strength to subdue and strangle his son before shooting him in the head. I think money was the motive for this young lad being slaughtered the way he was!
Also, I question Joe Karam when he has been in the possession of all of the facts in this case for 15 years and has worked his butt off to get David Bain free. The truth will come out in the end. Having read the evidence in more detail this time round, I can see why James McNeish came to the conclusion that he did. There has been no justice for the Bain family.
As you said Feya The truth will come out in the end. I am not sure whether he is guilty or not. I personally dont have a side to the arguement. The only thing I say is that the justice system whether we like it or not has spoken.
I do have a gut feeling though that this will not be the end of the David Bain Saga.
I personally think we are afraid of the hidden truth. We associate our findings on those we can view only. We don’t understand the makings of one’s minds and the fact that David is the sole survivor we take that in to account and therefore persecute him fully. Did he do it maybe did he not maybe. Only his deceased family can answer that and in saying that, may they rest in peace. The law has prevailed and he should be accepted as innocent. If David did commit the crime then he will carry that for the rest of his life. It’s not our demon to carry.
Having read all the details I could get of bot trials, and James mcNeish’s book `Mask of Sanity’ I am absolutely convinced, way beyond reasonable doubt that David Bain killed his family. I was shocked at the not guilty verdict and figured the jury were undeclared members of the `friends of David Bain’. I also grieved for the still living members of his family who must be stunned by the not guilty verdict. A not guilty verdict that does NOT mean proven innnocent.