Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Father of witness on first Bain jury

Updated at 3:15 pm on 24 April 2009

A witness who has given evidence against David Bain in his retrial told the High Court in Christchurch on Friday that her father was a juror in the first trial.

In an unusual move, the defence asked for the witness to be recalled so it could be established whether her father was a juror in the 1995 trial in Dunedin, and if that influenced her evidence in the current trial.

The witness said although her father was a juror, that had no impact on the evidence she has given in the retrial.

The witness cannot be named so as not to identify the former juror.

David Bain, 37, is accused of shooting his parents Robin and Margaret and siblings Arawa, Laniet and Stephen at the family home in Dunedin on 20 June, 1994.

The defence says Robin Bain killed the family present in the house before shooting himself.

The second witness called on Friday gave evidence about stories written in the school newsletters by Robin Bain's students and published days before the killings.

The defence says the stories were about murdering family members and that allowing them to be published showed that Robin Bain was not in a fit mental state at the time of the killings.

The trial has been adjourned until Monday afternoon to enable lawyers to present legal argument to Justice Panckhurst.

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