Crown lists evidence pointing to David Bain as killer

Bain trial, Day 1. By David Clarkson

The crown says injuries, blood spots, fingerprints, and David Cullen Bain?s premonition that something ?horrible? was going to happen, point to him being the murderer of five members of his family at their Dunedin home in 1994.

Crown prosecutor Robin Bates detailed the case against 36-year-old Bain on the opening day of his retrial charged with the murders on Every Street, Andersons Bay.

He said the evidence was circumstantial but strong. ?Circumstantial evidence can often be very compelling,? he said.

The crown case ? it will call about 90 witnesses ? would show that David killed all five of the victims.

It would show that his father Robin Bain did not kill four members of the family and then commit suicide.

David Bain, then a student aged 22, phoned 111 about 7.10am on June 20, 1994, saying that his father was dead. Police arrived at 7.30am to find him hysterical and wailing, ?They are all dead,? in his bedroom.

They found the body of Robin Bain, shot through the head, with a .22 rifle nearby.

They also found David Bain?s mother Margaret, 50, killed by a single shot in the head, and his sisters Laniet and Arawa, also killed by head wounds.

It was clear from the scene that there had been a significant struggle by Bain?s 14-year-old brother Stephen who received a wound that grazed his scalp and bled profusely. He was then incapacitated by being strangled with a t-shirt and killed by a second shot.

Mr Bates told the court that Bain had injuries consistent with the struggle in Stephen?s room, and had Stephen?s blood on his clothing.

Bain told police he had heard Laniet gurgling. This meant he had to be present between the time she was shot through the cheek ? causing her incapacitation ? and shot in the head.

The scene in the laundry was consistent with Bain trying to destroy evidence by washing his clothing ? particularly a green jersey which the crown says he was wearing during the killings.

The crown also said a lens from spectacles Bain was wearing was found in Stephen?s room. The frame and other lens were found in Bain?s room.

The murders were carried out with Bain?s rifle, for which he had the trigger lock keys, and his bloody gloves were found in Stephen?s bedroom.

The crown alleged he had to remove the gloves to clear a misfeed or jam in the rifle. It also said that Robin ? if he planned to commit suicide ? would have had no reason to wear gloves to hide his fingerprints.

It alleged he had tried to use his paper round as an alibi and had made sure he was seen along the route.

Mr Bates said evidence would be given of Bain having an intense conversation with a friend six days before the killings. Bain said he sometimes knew what was going to happen next, and he had a feeling ?something horrible? was going to happen.

After the killings, he told the same person that the murders were what he had told her about beforehand.

Mr Bates? opening address continues this afternoon, to be followed by an address by the leading defence counsel for the trial, Michael Reed QC.