David Bain
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On 20 June 1994, Robin and Margaret Bain and three of their four childrenArawa, Laniet, and Stephenwere shot to death in
Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...
, New Zealand. The only suspects were David Cullen Bain, the eldest son and only survivor, and Robin Bain, the father. David Bain, aged 22, was charged with five counts of murder. In May 1995, he was convicted on each of the five counts and sentenced to mandatory
life in prison Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life imprisonment are co ...
with a minimum non-
parole Parole, also known as provisional release, supervised release, or being on paper, is a form of early release of a prisoner, prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated ...
period of sixteen years. David's case was taken up by businessman and former
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player
Joe Karam Joseph Francis Karam (born 21 November 1951), also known by the nickname of "Clock", is a New Zealand former representative rugby footballer who played for the All Blacks. After retiring from rugby, he became a businessman. However, he is mo ...
. In 2007, his legal team, guided by Karam, successfully
appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which Legal case, cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of cla ...
ed to the Privy Council, arguing that Robin Bain was involved in an incestuous relationship with one of his daughters. When this was about to be disclosed, he killed everyone in his family except David and then committed suicide. The Privy Council declared there had been a 'substantial
miscarriage of justice A miscarriage of justice occurs when an unfair outcome occurs in a criminal or civil proceeding, such as the conviction and punishment of a person for a crime they did not commit. Miscarriages are also known as wrongful convictions. Innocent ...
'. Bain was released on bail in May 2007. The
retrial A new trial or retrial is a recurrence of a court case. A new trial may potentially be ordered for some or all of the matters at issue in the original trial. Depending upon the rules of the jurisdiction and the decision of the court that ordered ...
in June 2009 ended with his
acquittal In common law jurisdictions, an acquittal means that the criminal prosecution has failed to prove that the accused is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the charge presented. It certifies that the accused is free from the charge of an of ...
on all charges. The case has been described as "the most widely discussed and divisive in New Zealand's criminal history". Speculation about it continued long after David was acquitted, including whether or not he should receive compensation for the years he spent in prison.
Ian Binnie William Ian Corneil Binnie (born April 14, 1939) is a former puisne justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, serving from January 8, 1998 to October 27, 2011. Of the justices appointed to the Supreme Court in recent years, he is one of the few app ...
, a retired justice of the
Supreme Court of Canada The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; , ) is the highest court in the judicial system of Canada. It comprises nine justices, whose decisions are the ultimate application of Canadian law, and grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants eac ...
, was appointed in November 2011 to review the circumstances and advise the government on whether compensation should be paid. Binnie concluded that the Dunedin police made 'egregious errors' and that the 'extraordinary circumstances' in the case justified the payment of compensation. This report was rejected by the
Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
,
Judith Collins Judith Anne Collins (born 24 February 1959) is a New Zealand politician who has served as the attorney-general and minister of defence since 27 November 2023. She served as the leader of the Opposition and leader of the New Zealand National P ...
, on advice from the police, the Solicitor-General and High Court Judge Robert Fisher. Following Judith Collins' resignation, in March 2015 the government appointed
Ian Callinan Ian David Francis Callinan (born 1 September 1937) is a former Justice of the High Court of Australia, the highest court in the Australian court hierarchy. Education Born in Casino, New South Wales, Callinan was raised in Brisbane, Queenslan ...
, a retired justice of the
High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is the apex court of the Australian legal system. It exercises original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified in the Constitution of Australia and supplementary legislation. The High Court was establi ...
, to conduct a second review of David's compensation claim. Callinan concluded that David was not innocent on the balance of probabilities. David's legal team indicated they would contest the report's findings in Court. The Government offered David an ''
ex gratia (; also spelled ''ex-gratia'') is Latin for "by favor", and is most often used in a legal context. When something has been done ''ex gratia'', it has been done voluntarily, out of kindness or grace. In law, an ''ex gratia payment'' is a payment ...
'' payment of $925,000 to put an end to the drawn out dispute over compensation, which David accepted (with Karam saying that David did so “reluctantly”).


Family background

Robin Irving Bain and Margaret Arawa Cullen were married in 1969 in
Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from ("fort of Edin"), the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of S ...
, New Zealand. They had four children: David (born 1972), Arawa (born 1974), Laniet (born 1976), and Stephen (born 1980). In 1974, they moved to
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...
, where Robin worked as a missionary teacher. The family returned to New Zealand in 1988. Three years after his return, Robin became the principal of Taieri Beach School. In June 1994, the family lived at 65 Every Street,
Andersons Bay Andersons Bay (sometimes spelt in the grammatically correct former form Anderson's Bay, and often known locally as "Andy Bay") is a suburb of the New Zealand city of Dunedin. It is located in the southeast of the city's urban area, southeast ...
, Dunedin. The house was old and 'semi-derelict'. Photographs presented at the trial showed most of the rooms were squalid and messy with the family's belongings strewn in disorderly heaps. At the time of the murders, Robin and Margaret were estranged. Margaret Bain had developed an interest in new-age spiritualism. She referred to her husband as "a son of Belial – one of the Four Crown Princes of Hell". They used to fight and bicker, and shortly before the murders Margaret told an acquaintance that she would shoot Robin if she could. She refused to let him sleep in the house, so he often slept in the back of his van near the school. When he came home on weekends, he slept in a caravan in the garden. At David Bain's third Court of Appeal hearing, fellow teachers described Robin at the time of the killings as "deeply depressed, to the point of impairing his ability to do his job of teaching children." Cyril Wilden, a former teacher and registered psychologist visited the Taieri School, and noted that "Robin appeared to be increasingly disorganised and struggling to cope." There were piles of unopened mail on his desk and his classroom was ‘dishevelled, disorganised and untidy’. Laniet had been flatting in Dunedin but also lived with her father in the Taieri schoolhouse. She returned to the family residence on the Sunday evening of 19 June, the day before the murders, to attend a family meeting. At David Bain's retrial, witnesses said the meeting was called because Laniet, aged 18 at the time, wanted to disclose that her father had been committing incest with her prior to the murders. David Bain was studying music and classics at
Otago University The University of Otago () is a public research collegiate university based in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. Founded in 1869, Otago is New Zealand's oldest university and one of the oldest universities in Oceania. The university was created by ...
and had a part-time job delivering morning newspapers. Arawa was attending teachers' training college (formerly Otago Teachers' College, later Otago University, School of Education) and Stephen was at high school.


Deaths

On the morning of 20 June 1994, after returning from his morning paper run, David called the 111 emergency number at 7:09 am in a distressed state and told the operator: "They're all dead, they're all dead." When the police arrived they found five members of the Bain family dead, having all suffered gunshot wounds – Robin (58), his wife Margaret (50), their daughters Arawa (19) and Laniet (18), and their son Stephen (14). A message was found typed on a computer that said "sorry, you are the only one who deserved to stay". Four days later, David, aged 22, was charged with five counts of murder. Two weeks after the murders, the house was burnt down at the request of other family members. In the process, the carpet containing bloody footprints was destroyed - described by Judge Ian Binnie as a 'critical' piece of evidence used to convict David. The footprints were revealed when the carpet was tested with luminol on the day of the murders. Police officers admitted at the retrial that they should have cut out and retained the carpet with the bloodied footprints.


Legal proceedings


First trial

David Bain's first trial lasted three weeks and took place at the Dunedin High Court in May 1995. The
Crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, parti ...
case was that David shot his mother, two sisters and brother before going out on his morning paper run at about 5.45am. There was a struggle with his brother. He returned to the house about an hour later, typed a message on the computer that said "Sorry, you are the only one who deserved to stay" and then waited in the lounge for his father to come in from the caravan before shooting him in the head. He then rang emergency services. The defence case was that Robin shot and killed his wife and children, then turned on the computer, typed in the message to his son and committed suicide. David returned from his paper round, found his family members dead and rang emergency services. Dean Cottle, a witness who was expected to testify for the defence that Laniet was intending to expose an incestuous relationship with her father, failed to show up at court when called. Cottle provided a written statement to this effect but Justice Williamson found him unreliable as a witness and, in his absence, ruled against admission of his testimony. So whether Laniet intended to disclose allegations of incest against her father prior to the killings was not presented to the trial jury. As a result, neither the prosecution nor the defence put forward any evidence about motive at the trial. The Crown prosecutor told the jury during his summing up, "It is beyond comprehension. We can't understand it. Your job is to work out who did it, not to worry about why it happened. We will probably never know why." Justice Neil Williamson told the jury that the Crown said "... that these events were so bizarre and abnormal that it was impossible for the human mind to conceive of any logical or reasonable explanation". At the conclusion of the trial, David was convicted by the jury on five counts of murder and sentenced to
life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life impr ...
with a sixteen-year non-
parole Parole, also known as provisional release, supervised release, or being on paper, is a form of early release of a prisoner, prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated ...
period.


Support of Joe Karam

Former
All Black The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...
rugby player
Joe Karam Joseph Francis Karam (born 21 November 1951), also known by the nickname of "Clock", is a New Zealand former representative rugby footballer who played for the All Blacks. After retiring from rugby, he became a businessman. However, he is mo ...
became interested in the case in 1996, when he read a newspaper article about some university students trying to raise money for David's appeal by selling jam. He gave them some money and then studied the evidence presented at the original trial. He felt "something was wrong" with the case and spearheaded a lengthy campaign to have David's convictions overturned. He visited him in prison over 200 times and wrote four books about the case. Karam stated in his books that " ain'sinnocence is the only possible conclusion" and that he was "totally innocent". Karam was subsequently described in some media as a 'freedom fighter' and his support helped bring about a
retrial A new trial or retrial is a recurrence of a court case. A new trial may potentially be ordered for some or all of the matters at issue in the original trial. Depending upon the rules of the jurisdiction and the decision of the court that ordered ...
in 2009 at which David was found not guilty. Karam's support for David came at considerable personal cost. He used to be a millionaire owning more than 20 investment properties. He no longer owns these. He worked fulltime on David's case up until the 2003 appeal and friends estimate he lost up to $4 million in terms of his time, loss of earnings and costs of legal and forensic experts. Journalist, Amanda Spratt, wrote: "Ten years down the track, the friends and fortune have gone. The woman he loved left him, he sold his home and he doesn't bother going to dinner parties any more, sick of them ending in an argument and a walk-out."


Appeals

The first application was made to the
New Zealand Court of Appeal The Court of Appeal of New Zealand () is the principal intermediate appellate court of New Zealand. It is also the final appellate court for a number of matters. In practice, most appeals are resolved at this intermediate appellate level, rathe ...
in 1995, principally on whether the trial judge had erred in refusing to admit Cottle's testimony. The Court refused to hear the appeal on the grounds that the "Crown case appeared very strong and the defence theory not at all plausible." In June 1998, David petitioned the
Governor-General Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...
for a
pardon A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the j ...
, which was then passed on to the
Ministry of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
. In 2000,
Justice Minister A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
Phil Goff Philip Bruce Goff (born 22 June 1953) is a New Zealand retired politician and former diplomat. He was a member of the New Zealand Parliament from 1981 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 2016. He served as Leader of the New Zealand Labour Party, le ...
said the investigation had shown that "a number of errors" may have occurred in the Crown's case against Bain.


Privy Council

In March 2007, David's legal team, including Karam, travelled to
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
to lay out nine arguments before the Privy Council as to why his convictions should be quashed. Two of the nine points concerned Robin's mental state and possible motive including the possibility that he was "facing the public revelation of very serious sex offences against his teenage daughter".Bain could be out of jail next week
''New Zealand Herald'', 11 May 2007.
The other seven points concerned questions about particular pieces of evidence. The Privy Council said there was considerable doubt that David would have been convicted if evidence discovered post-trial had been put to the jury. The Privy Council concluded that: "In the opinion of the board, the fresh evidence adduced in relation to the nine points ... taken together, compels the conclusion that a substantial miscarriage of justice has actually occurred in this case." The Privy Council quashed Bain's convictions and ordered a retrial, but noted that he should remain in custody in the meantime. On 15 May 2007, David was granted
bail Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Court bail may be offered to secure the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when ...
by the High Court in
Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...
. Justice Fogarty said that under New Zealand law, there was no reason for continued detention and he was bailed to the home of his longtime supporter Karam. Altogether, he served almost thirteen years of a life sentence with a minimum sixteen-year non-parole period.


Retrial

The retrial took place at the Christchurch High Court, with the jury sworn in on 6 March 2009, and David pleaded not guilty to the five murder charges. The defence introduced documented evidence about Robin Bain's state of mind and argued that he committed the murders and then committed suicide because he was having an incestuous relationship with daughter, Laniet, which was about to become public. The trial lasted about three months and the jury took less than a day to find David not guilty on all five charges. After the retrial, New Zealand's Chief Coroner consulted with the local
coroner A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into the manner or cause of death. The official may also investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...
and others to decide whether to conduct
inquest An inquest is a judicial inquiry in common law jurisdictions, particularly one held to determine the cause of a person's death. Conducted by a judge, jury, or government official, an inquest may or may not require an autopsy carried out by a cor ...
s into the deaths, as the verdict implied the
death certificate A death certificate is either a legal document issued by a medical practitioner which states when a person died, or a document issued by a government civil registration office, that declares the date, location and cause of a person's death, a ...
s may not be accurate. However no inquests were held; a Law Society spokesman pointed out that even if the coroner's findings disagreed with the retrial verdict, this could not lead to any further legal action against David. Following his acquittal, David undertook a three-month European holiday paid for by his supporters. Ten months later, he was struggling to find work and had no money.
Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...
defence lawyer Peter Williams QC said David would be suffering from the stigma experienced by ex-prisoners re-entering the workplace.


Compensation

In March 2010, David lodged an application for compensation for wrongful imprisonment. His case fell outside Cabinet rules on compensation, meaning the government was not obliged to pay him anything, but may do so if he was able to establish his innocence on "the balance of probabilities" and was also considered to be the "victim of exceptional circumstances".


Ian Binnie's report

Because of the high-profile nature of the case, Justice Minister Simon Power chose an overseas judge – retired
Canadian Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; , ) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, whose decisions are the ultimate a ...
Justice
Ian Binnie William Ian Corneil Binnie (born April 14, 1939) is a former puisne justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, serving from January 8, 1998 to October 27, 2011. Of the justices appointed to the Supreme Court in recent years, he is one of the few app ...
 – to examine David's application for compensation. After a year-long investigation, Binnie concluded in September 2012 that the Dunedin police made a number of egregious errors "that led directly to the wrongful conviction", and that "on the balance of probabilities," David was innocent of the murders in 1994 and should be paid compensation for wrongful conviction and imprisonment". As part of his inquiry, Judge Binnie interviewed David over an entire day and described him as a "credible witness". By the time Binnie's report was completed, Simon Power had retired from Parliament.
Judith Collins Judith Anne Collins (born 24 February 1959) is a New Zealand politician who has served as the attorney-general and minister of defence since 27 November 2023. She served as the leader of the Opposition and leader of the New Zealand National P ...
was Minister of Police at the time David was acquitted in 2007 and was now the new Justice Minister. She disagreed with Binnie's conclusions and sought feedback on his report from the police, the
Solicitor-General A solicitor general is a government official who serves as the chief representative of the government in courtroom proceedings. In systems based on the English common law that have an attorney general or equivalent position, the solicitor general ...
and former High Court judge Robert Fisher without consulting Cabinet, and before releasing it to David's legal team. Fisher claimed that Binnie had made significant errors of principle, so Collins decided another report into David's compensation claim would have to be commissioned. Ms Collins publicly criticised contents of Binnie's report; in response Binnie accused Collins of "playing politics with the report" and claimed she had required him to keep the report confidential. Binnie said that he had weighed up the totality of the evidence both for and against David. He said the government was clearly "shopping around" for a report that would allow it to dodge paying compensation. In January 2013, David filed a claim in the High Court seeking a review of Collins' actions, alleging Collins had breached natural justice and the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act and that she "acted in bad faith, abused her power, and acted in a biased, unreasonable and predetermined manner". In August 2014, Collins resigned as Minister following concern about other controversies she was involved in, and
Amy Adams Amy Lou Adams (born August 20, 1974) is an American actress. Known for both her comedic and dramatic roles, she has been featured three times in annual rankings of the world's highest-paid actresses. She has received List of awards and nom ...
was appointed as the new Justice Minister. The judicial review proceedings against Collins were discontinued in January 2015.


Ian Callinan's report

The government commissioned a second report from a retired Australian judge,
Ian Callinan Ian David Francis Callinan (born 1 September 1937) is a former Justice of the High Court of Australia, the highest court in the Australian court hierarchy. Education Born in Casino, New South Wales, Callinan was raised in Brisbane, Queenslan ...
. The new Minister of Justice,
Amy Adams Amy Lou Adams (born August 20, 1974) is an American actress. Known for both her comedic and dramatic roles, she has been featured three times in annual rankings of the world's highest-paid actresses. She has received List of awards and nom ...
, said Callinan had been selected based on his extensive criminal experience and because he would bring a fresh perspective to the inquiry. He was instructed not to read Ian Binnie's report and chose not to talk to David in the course of conducting his investigation. On 2 August 2016, Adams announced that Callinan had found David was not innocent "on the balance of probabilities". In reply, David said he was "disgusted" that Callinan made negative comments about him but refused to interview him, or give him the chance to reply. Joe Karam had challenged a draft version of Callinan's report, referring to it as a 'trainwreck' and a breach of natural justice. David's legal team had indicated it should be discarded or peer-reviewed, or they would contest its validity in court.David Bain 'disgusted' judge ruled out innocence in compensation application without interview
NZ Herald, 19 November 2016
On the basis of the final Callinan report, the Crown rejected David's compensation application. However, it offered an ex gratia payment of $925,000 to settle the matter and bring closure to all parties, which David reluctantly accepted. Joe Karam said that David felt he had no choice but to accept the money because "Cabinet was never going to play fair".


Reactions to compensation outcome


The public

The majority of respondents to
opinion poll An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll, is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a series of qu ...
s conducted in 2012, 2013 and 2015 thought David should receive compensation for the time he spent in prison.


Media

After the publication of the Binnie report, '' The Listener'' editorial for 3 January 2013 expressed the view that it was "elegantly written and should be required reading for anyone tempted to express an opinion on the matter". ''The Listener'' said that it was hard "to avoid the conclusion that Collins had made up her mind even before she opened it; Justice Minister Judith Collins seems to have forgotten that New Zealanders have a deeply ingrained sense of fair play." In February 2016, before the publication of Callinan's report, journalist Duncan Garner said the New Zealand government was not providing David with a fair compensation hearing; he criticised the government for spending "millions of dollars shopping around for a report that fits their view".


Academics

Chris Gallavin, Dean of law at Canterbury University said: “The decision of the overnmentto retain another judge smacks of a fishing exercise in order to receive a conclusion that best suits their desires. I contend that it was the actions of Minister Collins and the woeful treatment of Justice Binnie that compromised the integrity of the system in the first place.” In a letter to the editor, 21 September 2012, Kenneth Palmer, Associate Professor of Law Auckland University, said: “Justice Binnie’s report on David Bain is an exemplary document. It deserves an A grade. The gathering and analysis of the evidence, consideration of the relevant legal issues and conclusions are measured and compelling… he makes no errors in his methodology and reasoning. By comparison the report of Robert Fisher QC is flawed. It says Justice Binnie made fundamental errors of principle in assessing innocence, and misconduct by the authorities. The analysis does not sustain either of these allegations.” Christchurch barrister Nigel Hampton said "It's pragmatism overcoming principle, and from a lawyer's point of view it's slightly concerning."


Politicians

ACT leader
David Seymour David Breen Seymour (born 24 June 1983) is a New Zealand politician who has served as the 21st deputy prime minister of New Zealand since 2025 and as the 1st minister for regulation since 2023. A member of the ACT Party, he has served as its ...
said he believed Mr Bain should have been paid compensation "and he should also get apologised to." Labour Party justice spokesperson at the time,
Jacinda Ardern Dame Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern ( ; born 26 July 1980) is a New Zealand politician and activist who was the 40th prime minister of New Zealand and Leader of the New Zealand Labour Party, leader of the Labour Party from 2017 to 2023. She was ...
said "I think it's undeniable that the process itself has been absolutely botched." Greens co-leader
Metiria Turei Metiria Leanne Agnes Stanton Turei (born 1970) is a New Zealand academic and former politician. She was a Member of Parliament from 2002 to 2017 and the female co-leader of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand from 2009 to 2017. Turei resig ...
was also critical of the way this claim had been handled, saying it had been "appalling". Former ACT Party leader,
Rodney Hide Rodney Philip Hide (born 16 December 1956) is a former New Zealand politician of the ACT New Zealand party. Hide was a Member of Parliament for ACT from 1996 until 2011, was ACT's leader between 2004 and 2011, and represented the constituency ...
, said "The warring sides have packed it in, without a winner or a loser, too exhausted to fight on. What we have now is an outcome pleasing no one, two reports contradicting each other, an indefensible process and an apparent admission from the top that it's not justice or principle that rules but pragmatism."


Cost to the taxpayer

The total cost to the taxpayer of the David Bain legal case was nearly $7 million. The 2009 retrial cost more than $4 million, making it the most expensive trial in New Zealand history. The three reports into whether David should receive compensation - by retired Canadian judge Ian Binnie, Australian judge Ian Callinan, and Robert Fisher QC - cost the taxpayer a total of $877,000.


Impact on justice system

This case has been one of a number of high profile miscarriages of justice in New Zealand in recent years. It was a factor in the Labour Government's decision to establish a Criminal Cases Review Commission in 2020.


Media


Books

* Joe Karam. ''David and Goliath: the Bain family murders'' (Auckland: Reed, 1997) * James McNeish. ''The Mask of Sanity: The Bain Murders'' (Auckland: David Ling, 1997) . * Joe Karam. ''Bain and Beyond'' (Auckland: Reed, 2000) * Joe Karam. ''Innocent!: seven critical flaws in the conviction of David Bain'', 2001 booklet * Joe Karam. ''Trial By Ambush: The Prosecutions of David Bain'', 2012 * Judith Wolfe and Trevor Reeves. ''In the Grip of Evil: The Bain Murders'' (Dunedin: Square One Press, 2003) * Michael Sharp. ''The Bain Killings Whodunnit? '' :


Other

* Martin van Beynen. ''Black Hands.'' 10 episode podcast. (Stuff 2020). * Black Hands drama series TVNZ, 31 October 2020. * ''The Bain Family Murders.'' Channel 4, United Kingdom, August 2022. * Bryan Bruce. ''The Investigator Special. Series 3. Episode 1. Robin Bain.'' TVNZ, New Zealand, July 2010. * Bryan Bruce. ''A Question of Justice.'' 93 min docudrama. TV1, New Zealand, 2005.


See also

*
Arthur Allan Thomas Arthur Allan Thomas (born 2 January 1938) is a New Zealand man who was wrongfully convicted twice of the murders of Harvey and Jeannette Crewe in June 1971. Thomas was raised on his parents' 272 acre farm at Mercer Ferry Road, near Pukekawa, ei ...
*
Jeremy Bamber Jeremy Nevill Bamber (born Jeremy Paul Marsham; 13 January 1961) is a British convicted mass murderer. He was convicted of the 1985 White House Farm murders in Tolleshunt D'Arcy, Essex, in which the victims included Bamber's adoptive parents, N ...
* Teina Pora * List of massacres in New Zealand


Notes


References


External links

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