Money David Bain receives from interviews does not have to go towards paying for his legal aid, but Legal Aid Services today confirmed he does have to repay some of his multi-million dollar legal aid bill.
Mr Bain, 37, was acquitted of murdering his parents and three siblings at their
Dunedin home in 1994 after a retrial in the High Court at Christchurch last month.
Legal Aid Services said he had received more than $2.7 million in legal assistance since his original trial and a final figure would not be known until all invoices had been received and assessed.
Yesterday a spokeswoman for the agency told the Otago Daily Times Mr Bain would not have to repay his legal aid from any money he got from interviews or any other money he came into.
New Idea reportedly paid up to $50,000 for the interview it published this week with Mr Bain about his 13 years in prison.
Under the Legal Services Act any changes to a person's financial situation once a matter was dealt with could not be taken into account retrospectively, the spokeswoman said.
This evening she clarified that thee separate grants of legal aid were made in relation to Mr Bain's retrial - the retrial itself and the pre-trial appeals to the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.
He did not have to repay the grant for the retrial but "does have a repayment established on his aid for the pre-trial matters".
Asked how much he had to repay, she told NZPA: "That sort of information is private to the individual."
Members of Mr Bain's legal team could not be contacted this evening for comment.
- NZPA
