15 Apr 2009

Robin Bain's wound 'not from close contact' - pathologist

8:39 pm on 15 April 2009

A pathologist giving evidence in David Bain's retrial has told the High Court in Christchurch that the gunshot wound to the left temple of Bain's father Robin was not a close-contact wound.

This view was supported, pathologist Kenneth Thomson said, by the evidence of gunpowder marks on Mr Bain's eyelid and an absence of skin-searing around the wound itself.

Recalling that a pathologist who examined the body had said there were no powder marks, defence lawyer Michael Reed QC asked Dr Thomson why he had changed his opinion from the first trial, when he said it was a near-contact wound.

Dr Thomson replied that thanks to digital enhancement the quality of photographs was better now, allowing the powder marks to be seen.

Bain, 37, is accused of shooting Robin, Laniet, his mother Margaret and his other siblings Stephen and Arawa in their Dunedin home on 20 June 1994.

The defence says Robin Bain killed the family members present in the house before using the accused's rifle to shoot himself.

The trial resumed in the High Court in Christchurch on Wednesday after a five-day break.