KEY POINTS:
David Bain's retrial for the murder of his family has been stymied by a lack of cash to fund his defence properly, says supporter Joe Karam.
"As of today, we don't actually have anything confirmed that would give us the necessary resources to proceed," the former All Black
said.
"The judge has set a timetable for this trial which it is impossible for us to be able to meet."
Bain was released on bail in May after the Privy Council quashed his convictions for murdering his mother, Margaret, his father, Robin, sisters Arawa, 19, and Laniet, 18, and brother Stephen, 14, at the family home in Dunedin in 1994.
The council left it up to the New Zealand justice system to decide whether a retrial for Bain, who had served nearly 13 years behind bars, was in the public interest.
The Solicitor General ruled that it was, and the retrial was set down for May next year.
However, it is now jeopardised unless his defence team - Michael Reed QC, Helen Cull QC, and lawyer Paul Morten - can convince the Legal Services Agency (LSA) to increase funding to expand the team.
It has already rejected an application by Bain's team for more legal aid, claiming that while the trial is "complex", it is no more complex than other trials it has funded in the past.
Mr Karam said a proper defence could not be mounted with the resources the team had.
It wants additional legal aid to boost the defence team by amongst other things another four solicitors to sift through the more than 100,000 pages of evidence.
"There are not enough hours in the day for us (the existing team) to be able to do the job," Mr Karam told Radio New Zealand today.
Mr Reed, who argued Bain's case at the Privy Council, temporarily withdrew from the case last month, saying there was an imbalance in resources compared with the heavily resourced Crown legal team.
The whole case is expected to cost taxpayers up to $15 million, with around $4m of that devoted to legal aid. An extra four defence counsel would add at least a further $500,000 to the total bill.
A "better understanding" of the differences between the two sides came out of a meeting Mr Reed had with the agency nearly two weeks ago, Mr Karam said.
Since then letters have been exchanged between the agency and the defence team but no settlement has been reached.
Mr Karam said the team was still hoping to get a satisfactory result from its discussions with the LSA, but it was doubtful any decision would be made before Christmas.
If the team was not successful, it would make a submission to the Legal Aid Review Panel.
Failing that, it would take the matter to the High Court, costing more time and money.
- NZPA
