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The
Evening Post
November 24, 1997
Bain one of many wrongly in jail - Karam
by Neil Reid
Free David Bain campaigner Joe Karam says people are being convicted after
"defective" police investigations.
Mr Karam told a Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce and Industry luncheon last
Wednesday he had identified eight cases which he suspected had flawed police
investigations.
Police Commissioner Peter Doone said it would be inappropriate to comment before
the forthcoming release of a joint New Zealand Police and Police Complaints
Authority review into the 1995 Bain murder conviction.
However, Mr Karam said that the eight cases - which include Bain, Peter Ellis
(convicted of child abuse), David Dougherty (convicted, then acquitted of
rape) and John Barlow and Rex Haig, each convicted of murder - highlighted
problems within the justice system.
"It's happening all the damn time right before our eyes," said Mr
Karam.
"The reason why we have Peter Ellis' and David Bain's (cases) is that
there is a significant flaw in the system at the fundamental stage, which is
the investigation stage."
Mr Karam said he believed some senior police were arresting people
prematurely before they had identified a motive. "(They) charge in like
bulls at a gate and finish up arresting people with no bloody motive . . .
then they wonder why these cases come back to haunt them.
"In these high profile cases the police seem to think it is an aspersion
on their professionalism if they don't make an (immediate) arrest."
Mr Karam has led a campaign to free the 25-year-old Bain, accused of
murdering his parents, younger brother and two sisters in their Dunedin home in June
1994.
He said that after three trials the prosecution in the Barlow murder trial
had not been able to reveal a motive behind why the Wellington businessman murdered Gene and
Eugene Thomas in 1994.
He was not prepared to comment further on the Barlow conviction.
Mr Karam said since the publication of David and Goliath - his book on the
Bain case - he had been contacted by many New Zealanders saying they had been
wrongly convicted.
Mr Karam said New Zealanders were brought up to believe the country had the
best police force in the world.
"Until two or three years ago I probably would have felt much the same.
It would seem they (New Zealand Police) will never admit when they are
wrong."
"Everyone talks about the Arthur Allan Thomas (case) as though this is
the one problem or glitch."
Mr Karam said Bain was convicted after a shoddy police investigation.
"The fact is it is defective and incompetent. It's not an isolated case.
I have no doubt whatsoever that . . . truth will prevail."
Mr Karam said Bain feared innocent New Zealanders would continue to be jailed
for crimes they didn't commit.
"Put yourself in the position of standing in front of someone who is in
jail and looking them in the eye, they have a life sentence and you know they
didn't do it.
"The question David Bain often puts to me when I visit him (is), `who is
going to be next?' "
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