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Robin Bain - Source: TV ONE -
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A television documentary tonight called into question some of the testimony given by defence witnesses which portrayed David Bain's father as a depressed man with alcohol and sexual problems.
David Bain was convicted in 1995 of murdering his parents, Robin and Margaret, and siblings Laniet, Arawa and Stephen in their Dunedin home. But he was found not guilty in a retrial in June last year, after his defence team had argued that Robin Bain had shot the other four family members before turning the gun on himself and the motive was his incestuous relationship with daughter Laniet.
Tonight on TV ONE's The Investigator Special: The Case Against Robin Bain , documentary maker Bryan Bruce singled out the evidence of the retrial defence's surprise witness Daryl Young for special attention.
"In many ways, I think Robin was a victim of the 2006 Evidence Act which allowed in all the hearsay evidence against him and since he and his daughter are dead his reputation cannot be easily defended," Bruce said.
"When our lawmakers look back at what we should learn from the Bain case, I would hope they will review the disclosure rules so that the defence have the same obligations to disclose as the prosecution. And I think they need to consider whether families ought to be able to take defamation action against people who speak ill of their next of kin."
On the documentary Bruce spoke to two people who contradicted the evidence given by photocopier salesman Daryl Young to the High Court in Christchurch about his dealings with Robin Bain as principal of Taieri Beach School.
Bruce said Robin Bain had been in effect put on trial and vilified without the benefit of a proper legal defence.
Bruce said there was no forensic evidence linking Robin Bain to any of the murdered family and his documentary showed the questionable chain of actions Robin would have had to have performed - including shooting himself without leaving any of his bloody finger prints on the bloody gun.
