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The Christchurch Civic
Creche Case |
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An excited David Bain is preparing
for a new life beyond prison bars. "He can't wait to step out of
that prison and get on with his life," long-time supporter Joe Karam
said yesterday. "He is very exuberant, very
excited." The Privy Council in London has
quashed Bain's convictions for the 1994 killings of his mother, father and
three siblings in the family home in Dunedin. Mr Karam said if Bain's bail
application in the High Court at Christchurch on Tuesday was succesful, they
would eat some good food, or perhaps play some golf or do some fishing. In the meantime, some of the
country's top legal brains have begun the laborious task of deciding whether
to retry him for the five murders - though there are doubts he could ever get
a fair trial again in New Zealand. Bain's former girlfriend, Heather
Gillies, said the ultimate goal for Bain would be to hear the words "you
are innocent". "For him it's not about
freedom, it about innocence." Now married and living in
Australia, Ms Gillies still kept in touch with Bain and had spoken to him in
recent months. He faces a long, anxious wait. The
decision on whether to retry lies with Solicitor-General David Collins, QC. Former Crown lawyer, now defence
lawyer Robert Lithgow, believes Mr Collins will think long and hard about the
case. A team from within his Crown Law
Office would be consulted, and perhaps outside opinions sought as well. One of the main considerations
would be what evidence and witnesses were still available 12 years after the
murders. No timetable has been set. A Legal Services spokesman said
more than $360,000 had already been paid towards Bain's case, but the actual
cost would be higher. Mr Karam has spent at least $1 million
dollars of his own money fighting Bain's case. The Police Association is
clamouring for him to be tried again. "It is the only way to go now
and it is where the facts should be tested," president Greg O'Connor
said. Detectives who played key roles in
the investigation and trial of Bain remained silent yesterday. Inquiry chief, now retired
Detective Chief Inspector Peter Robinson, declined to comment on the case, as
did the officer in charge of the murder scene, former Senior Detective Milton
Weir. Arresting officer Detective Senior
Sergeant Kallum Croudis said it would be inappropriate to comment as
"the matter is still before the courts". However, three years ago when the
Court of Appeal dismissed Mr Bain's appeal, Mr Croudis said: "This
verdict confirms, once and for all, that David Bain was the man who committed
the murders." Bain has few family members left.
When his grandmother Marion Bain died last July, her family said they did not
want him at the funeral. Bain's aunty, country music star
Colleen Trenwith, said through a friend that the family wanted to remain
silent on the Privy Court's decision. "It has been a very stressful
time and the family wants to maintain a dignified silence." Another longtime supporter,
82-year-old Waikanae woman Leila Read, who flew to England to attend the
Privy Council hearings, said Bain told her recently he found legal procedures
"terribly nerve-racking". "David thought he was going
insane with all the ups and downs and told me he had decided just to look after
himself in prison." He told her he was concentrating
on study and work as much as he could behind bars to prepare himself for a
job upon his eventual release. "He will have a lot to learn
- how to use credit cards, how to do banking and budgeting." Victoria University criminologist
Michael Rowe said his struggle to readjust would be compunded by immense
public interest. Bain's case is only the third to
have been quashed by the Privy Council in the past 166 years. The Green Party is questioning why
the Government is resisting calls for an independent body to review possible
miscarriages of justice - an idea that has the support of a large group of
top criminal lawyers. A report by Justice Thorp at the
beginning of last year - which estimated there were up to 20
wrongly-convicted people in New Zealand jails - had recommended an
independent review body, and the idea had backing from Parliament's justice
select committee. But a spokesman for Justice
Minister Mark Burton said yesterday it was not being considered. Prime Minister Helen Clark gave a
guarded reaction to the Privy Council finding, though said it was
"significant". She rejected suggestions from
Bain's lawyers that the Privy Council finding showed it was wrong to drop it
for the new Supreme Court. |
