KEY POINTS:
David Bain's lawyers failed in their bid to have the multiple-murder accused's charges dismissed by law lords at the Privy Council in
London yesterday.
But Bain's lawyer, Michael Reed, and lead supporter, Joe Karam, said
the British law lords had made history by forcing the New Zealand
Solicitor-General David Collins to consider all evidence presented at the Privy Council at further hearings in New Zealand courts.
The Commonwealth's highest court ruled against Bain in a preliminary
hearing to consider whether to grant his defence team leave to have
its application for acquittal heard by the full council.
Bain is now set to face a new trial next year.
Bain's lawyers hoped to persuade the Privy Council to recall the decision it delivered last year that Bain should be retried for the
murder of his father, mother, two sisters and brother in Dunedin in 1994.
Lord Hoffman, Lord Scott and Lord Mance ruled against Bain's team after
just five minutes' deliberation.
Mr Reed argued the Privy Council could look at the case more widely than
New Zealand courts and argued a stay was the correct decision for the law lords to make.
"Knowing what we know now, we're reasonably confident the board would
have ordered an acquittal and not a retrial."
But the law lords said: "This is surely a point for the New Zealand courts."
They added: "Now he - Bain - is going to have to have the double jeopardy of standing trial for [a] second time."
Mr Reed presented his case to the Privy Council for 45 minutes.
He said outside the court: "We've achieved a tremendous amount," adding that he expected the "full and fair hearing we've always wanted" back in
New Zealand.
He said he believed the Privy Council was better placed to deal with the
question of a retrial than courts in New Zealand.
He said his victory was that "every point we've raised here New Zealand
courts will have to hear".
"The Privy Council always held this was a serious miscarriage of justice. They can't be much more critical than that. I hope our trust in the New Zealand courts will be vindicated."
Mr Karam said it was unique to get a written decision which underlined the gravity of the case.
"We've got to get this problem out of David Bain's life. It's a nightmare we have to bring to an end."
Supported by his son Matthew, Mr Karam said: "We made some quite
strong progress. The Privy Council ruled there will be no restrictions on what the New Zealand court hears, contrary to what we'd expected. It's a good result."
- NZPA
