Bain a lucky guy

Martin Van Beynen has an interesting opinion piece on stuff. Apparently he sat throughout the entire Bain trial, and has some things to say that should make a number of people uncomfortable.

I thought many of the defence arguments had been exposed as almost ludicrously implausible and its experts revealed as endorsing some very strained interpretations of the evidence.

The police weren’t perfect either.

Not that the police case was without flaws. If the police had kept samples taken from Robin Bain’s hands, and also removed and retained carpet that contained a crucial bloodied footprint, the result might have been different.

David Bain’s lawyers were able to argue that the police had removed an opportunity for him to prove his innocence, but the police’s lack of diligence could also be seen as a great stroke of luck for Bain.

A point that seems quite lost on many Bain supporters.

He then addresses the jury.

What is a little surprising is not a single person out of the 12 in this, Bain’s second jury, was prepared to argue strongly for a guilty verdict when such a damning case was in front of them. The verdict after only five hours shows that little argument could have taken place.

Disturbing indeed. This was a high profile case, and it seems odd that so little discussion was undertaken.

Several aspects about this jury should worry us all.

The two jurors – a man and a woman – who were seen to congratulate Bain after the verdicts and who went to his celebratory party were the same two who spent the last three weeks of the trial paying little attention to the evidence and closing addresses. They giggled and wrote messages to each other.

Pity nothing was done about it.

He finally shares why he thinks the verdict was wrong. It’s hard to argue with what he has to say.

The reasons I am sure Bain killed his family are twofold.

The first is the incredible coincidences that we have to accept if Bain is innocent.

For instance, we have to accept, just for a start, that the following facts all have perfectly innocent explanations not connected with the death of the Bain family Bain’s clear and recent fingerprints on the murder rifle, the bruises on his face and torso, the blood of his brother on his clothes, a 20-minute delay before ringing the police after finding bodies, hearing his sister gurgling (and failing to help her), convenient changes in his story, a lens from damaged glasses (of no use to anyone else and found in his bedroom) turning up in his dead brother’s room, bizarre behaviour before and after the killings, not noticing the blood all over the laundry and putting the jersey worn by the killer in the washing.

However, the best evidence relates to the implausibility of Robin Bain shooting his family and then himself. If David Bain is not the culprit, Robin had a settled night in his caravan (we know this by the amount and quality of urine in his bladder) and then got up about 5.50am, after David had left on his paper round.

Despite David admitting he hated his father and siding strongly with his mother in every dispute, he was the one Robin wanted to spare, so he had to be out of the house.

….His first stop on the way to the house where his family slept was at the letterbox, where he removed the newspaper.

Why do you collect a newspaper you have no intention of reading?

…

He also put on David’s white dress gloves, forgetting he did not want to implicate David and also overlooking that, since he was going to end it all, it wouldn’t matter much if people knew it was him, anyway.

He loaded both magazines one five-shot and the other 10-shot with hollow-nosed .22 bullets and then headed towards the bedrooms….

Stephen, however, had woken up and grabbed the silencer on the rifle before Robin could shoot. When he did, the bullet went through Stephen’s hand and tore a gouge out of his scalp.

Stephen, pumped up with adrenaline, fought for his life, but Robin, belying a frame described as cadaverous, soon had the better of the brave teenager, strangling him first with his T-shirt and, when he was incapacitated, putting a bullet through the top of his head, like he had done or was to do with Laniet.

He then went down to Arawa’s room. She had got up and, as she retreated into her room, he shot her in the forehead.

By now, he was covered in blood, mainly from Stephen. Did it matter, since he was going to take his own life? It did.

He went back to the caravan, perhaps having already neatly placed his blood-spattered clothes and blood-soaked socks in the laundry basket. He did not wash his hands.

To meet his maker, he chose an old pair of light-blue tracksuit pants, an equally delapidated T-shirt, an old business shirt, a brown woollen jersey and a thick hoodie. He also donned a green knitted beanie. He put on clean socks and shoes, but no underpants.

Then, he went back to the house to take his own life.

Time was marching on.

Read the whole thing.

Bain Verdict Disturbing

I accept that the vain verdict is a fair call by the jury, but there are several things that have disquieted me over the last few days.

1. The fact that his supporters have been “vindicated”. Chief among their claims is the idiotic statement that the police should never have bought the case back to court as there was no evidence. Unfortunately, the Privy Council ordered the retrial, and unless I’ve been following another trial, there has been quite a body of evidence to suggest that Bain did kill his family, and a very long list of things to explain away if he did not.

2. The idea that he might gain compensation is absurd. He was ordered to a retrial, which breaks one of the 4 criteria straight away. Many of the media reports on this have been outright false.

3. I heard the emergency call replayed on the radio yesterday. The descriptions I had heard were correct – he gives all information correctly. Heck, I once forgot my own address when at a tire shop. Most people calling emergency services are reported to forget such critical information but Bain had it all to hand. Couple that with the fake sounding moaning and the pretend fit he had when the ambulance came, I just can’t listen to that tape not think that the guy is faking it.

4. The actions of the jury members afterwards are shocking. It makes me wonder seriously if some Joe Karam fans managed to get onto the jury. A short deliberation in a complex case is one thing, but then asking for autographs and trying to attend victory parties is quite another.

5. There is still apparently quite a lot of suppressed evidence. Some turned up in the Herald, but it seems there is a lot more. Bain’s supporters released that which supports their case, (the incest allegations) but it seems that much is still out there that they happily forgot about when moaning that justice was denied.

6. Bain’s silence was the topic of John Rohan’s column in the weekend. But it was also interesting to see that silence continuing with Bain refusing to speak more about his father than the pre-prepared “I still love him” line. Where is the outpouring of sorrow for the tragic loss of his mother and siblings? In fairness, it’s early days. Maybe it’s yet to come.

Well, that’s off my chest. I feel better now. Let’s not forget that no matter where the truth lies, David Bain is the loser in this. He is either a mass murderer from a screwed up family who’s going to have to maintain a lie for the rest of his life, or the son of a mass murderer from a screwed up family who spent 14 years in jail trying to clear his name.

I don’t fancy being either.

Bain Not Proven Guilty

Well, David Bain’s jury has found him not guilty. I strongly suspect that this was more a case of an insufficient case to be absolutely sure rather than the jury being sure he was actually innocent. His chances of compensation are somewhere between slim and none, but don’t expect the media to let that stop them speculating.

One of the worst aspects of this tonight is listening to so many clips on the news of his insufferable defense lawyer’s smart aleck comments to witnesses.

Never mind, David has fought long and hard to clear his name and has finally succeeded. We wish him well.

If one truly good thing can come of this, it should be the exposure of Dunedin’s police. Clearly there was some extremely questionable police work in this case. Ian Wishart has previously pointed out many problems that existed there in the past, it’s high time that a commission was setup to investigate these claims so that the public can have full confidence in those who protect them.

What the??

I just went to TVNZ to have a look at last night’s Lost episode, and saw this.

Methinks they might be elevating this trial just a little too much…

Hm, actually I think a Tui Billboard is in order on this one.

Oh, and for those who want to give the Lost plot away, this post is delayed one hour

Prosecution has a strong case

DPF quotes the Herald outlining the prosecution case against Bain.

• Stephen Bain’s blood was found on David Bain’s clothing.
• A lense from Bain’s glasses was found in Stephen’s room while the frames and another lense were found in Bain’s room.
• The trigger lock and the key to the .22 calibre rifle were also found in David Bain’s room.
• Bain had also tried to wash blood out of some of his clothing, including a green jersey, in the laundry.
• “Woollen green fibres were taken from under Stephen’s finger nails which match the fibres from the green jersey,”
  
• A partial palm print of David Bain was found on the washing machine.
• Bain was also seen to have scratches on his chest above his nipples.
• A policeman also noticed a bruise on Bain’s temple, about the size of a 50 cent piece.
• No finger-prints belonging to Robin Bain were found on the .22 calibre rifle.
• There was about 20 minutes of “lost time” between the time that the Crown believes he finished his paper round – 6.45am – and the 1,1,1 call made by Bain – 7.10am – from the family home.
• Alleged Bain had also displayed some “unusual behavior” in the days leading up to the murders.
• Alleged Bain told a friend that he had had a premonition and that he “sometimes knew what was going to happen”. He also “told her he had a feeling something horrible was going to happen”.

In the privy council case that dismissed the original finding, the Privy Council described the original finding as “a substantial miscarriage of justice”.

Bain’s supporters have adopted that statement as a mantra, quoting it as though it were sacred scripture.

However, from the serious analysis I have heard, it was not that there was no or insufficient evidence, but rather that the case had moved from the original evidence. The original case is no longer valid, but a new case can still be made.

It’s been amusing to see Bain’s supporters ignoring that fact. By doing so they’ve set themselves up for massive disappointments again and again. They seemed to have thought that all they need to do is give their version and all objections will fall at the wayside.Their shock at loosing appeals that they brainwashed themselves into thinking to be a “sure thing” has raised several chuckles over the years from this citizen.

I have my doubts as to weather he will be convicted this time. I have further doubts whether it even matters – he’s only 3 years left to serve. But those doubts are balanced by the fact that he is charged with an extremely serious crime – the murder of his entire family.

However, it has to be acknowledged that there are two sides to this story. And both sides will be fully presented in court over the following months.

As they should.