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Joe Karam, David Bain, Michael Laws - Source: ONE News -
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The question of whether David Bain murdered his family is being
debated again, a year after he was finally cleared.
This time the case moved from the High Court to radio talkback,
with David Bain supporter Joe Karam tackling radio host Michael
Laws head-on.
After 16 years, two trials, and a not-guilty verdict, Karam is still fighting the David Bain battle.
Karam said he was having the debate "because Michael Laws and others are spreading mis-information about the David Bain trial".
Laws has long maintained that Bain, who was last year cleared of murdering five members of his family in Dunedin in 1994, was guilty.
"My view, and I think the view of many New Zealanders, is that he's guilty, and he just struck the lucky lottery," said Laws.
Karam is Bain's biggest supporter and today set out forensic evidence the trial jury heard, which he said proves Bain's innocence.
He repeated in the Radio Live debate that Bain's father, Robin, committed the murders before turning the murder weapon on himself.
"Michael, I defy you to give the explanation that the Crown was unable to," he said, referring to what he argues - and the jury agreed - is a lack of evidence to prove Bain committed the murders.
Laws questioned the picture of Bain, who was a teenager at the time of the killings, as a "lovely boy" which had been given to the public and the trial. "What there clearly is evidence of is that he was not a lovely boy."
Laws claimed Bain's sister was scared of him. But Karam repeatedly said this was not true.
Laws and Karam worked through numerous fine points of evidence, disagreeing on almost every one.
"And he's listed a whole lot of things all of which have been completely debunked in the last trial," said Karam.
The debate was chaired by former MediaWorks boss Brent Impey, who said Laws and Karam went at each other "hammer and tongs" even during the ad breaks.
Questions on the show and online from the public included debate about the jurors and details on the forensic evidence.
David Bain was found guilty at his first trial in 1995 and sentenced to life in prison with a non-parole period of 16 years. He was cleared on all charges at a retrial in 2009.
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