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The Bain family - Source: TV ONE -
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Police are investigating the testimony of a witness from David Bain's retrial after claims his evidence was misleading.
Police say they will look into a television documentary's claim that a defence witness at the retrial gave evidence that was inconsistent with other people's accounts of events.
David Bain was convicted in 1995 of murdering his parents, Robin and Margaret, and siblings Laniet, Arawa and Stephen in their Dunedin home.
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, with the motive being his incestuous relationship with daughter Laniet.
In The Investigator Special: The Case Against Robin Bain, screened on TV One last night, documentary maker Bryan Bruce called into question some of the evidence given by defence witnesses.
The documentary singled out the testimony of the retrial defence's surprise witness Daryl Young for special attention, quoting two people who contradicted the photocopier salesman's evidence about his dealings with Robin Bain as principal of Taieri Beach School.
Police today said the documentary did not raise any issues that were not put before the court either implicitly or explicitly.
However, they would look into whether there was any substance to the documentary's claim that Young gave evidence about meeting Robin Bain that was inconsistent with documentary records and the accounts of other people who were present at the time.
Police said the inquiries were routine and carried out whenever they received information of this nature.
Valerie Boyd, Margaret Bain's sister, said today the documentary was "a start to restoring Robin's reputation".
"We never for one minute believed all the rubbish about him, so this is just a start," Boyd told Radio New Zealand.
"I think that we'd like it to be all over, but I'd also like the truth to be out there. I think it's time David talked actually."
It was "appalling" the way Robin and the family had been vilified, she said.
"I think there's something really wrong with the law when people can say anything they like about dead people with no accountability."
David Bain supporter Joe Karam said today the factual basis of
the documentary was "so askew as to be farcical".
"It's just unmitigated rubbish," he told NZPA.
"About the only thing I agree with him is that the police should be called in quickly, and they should be knocking on his door for masquerading as a serious documentary maker."
It was "disgraceful" that TVNZ screened the documentary without Bruce seeking input from the defence team.
"How can you possibly do a balanced programme about the defence case without talking to the defence?"
David Bain's lawyer, Michael Reed QC, said the documentary had glossed over a lot of evidence about Robin's depression and his motive for killing the family.
"I am disgusted by the fact he didn't spend one second in court, that he is challenging the jury and that he was disrespectful of the system and of the judge," he told the Otago Daily Times.
David Bain's legal team would today consider what action, if any, it would take.
Reed said the police decision to look into the documentary claim was "absolutely ridiculous".
Watch The Investigator Special: The Case Against Robin Bain documentary here.
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