22 Sep 2009

Stand up for your father, uncle urges David Bain

7:08 pm on 22 September 2009

The uncle of David Bain says he should be standing up against suggestions that his father murdered his family.

Michael Bain says he is speaking out for the first time since the verdict in June this year in order to clear his brother's name.

After a three-month retrial, David Bain was acquitted of the 1994 murders of five members of his family, including his father Robin, at their Dunedin home.

The jury was told that Robin Bain was having an incestuous affair with his daughter Laniet and that because the affair was about to come out, he had the motive to kill his family.

But Michael Bain says that is not the case, and the hearsay evidence about the incest given at the trial stemmed from Laniet's imagination.

He is incredulous that the jury was able to acquit David Bain on the basis on hearsay, which is what he believes happened.

Mr Bain told Nine to Noon that such evidence should not have been allowed into the proceedings and he is also angry that David Bain has let the claims go unanswered since they first emerged more than a decade ago.

He says because neither Robin Bain nor Laniet Bain had a chance to explain or rebut those allegations, it was unfair that the jury was able to consider them as fact.

However, Mr Bain says his family would not reject his nephew if he wanted to contact them.

Call to tighten rules over hearsay evidence

Christchurch barrister Nigel Hampton, QC, says he would like the court system to tighten the rules for using hearsay evidence.

Mr Hampton says he appreciates the frustrations aired by Michael Bain.

Mr Hampton says there is no way for Robin Bain to refute hearsay allegations put forward by the defence team that he was having an incestuous affair with one of his daughters.

Michael Bain says the jury believed the theory, despite having no evidence.

Mr Hampton says most lawyers involved in criminal work would probably like to see a return to stricter rules that did not allow hearsay - unless in exceptional circumstances.