Bain verdict: Free at last - but will he get a payout?

Left: A tearful David Bain outside the High Court, and (right) greeting jubilant supporters. Photos / Getty Images

Any application for compensation from David Bain would probably be referred to a senior lawyer to consider its merits, Justice Minister Simon Power said today.

Bain's lawyer Michael Reed QC indicated Bain's legal team would be pushing hard for substantial compensation after Bain was found not guilty of murdering five family members, in the High Court at Christchurch today.

"Of course I believe it should happen after 13 years in prison, think how long 13 years is," Mr Reed said.

Mr Power told Radio New Zealand that no compensation application had been received and he had received no briefing on the issue.

There was no legal right for compensation in such cases and the grounds for awarding it were very narrow, he said.

Bain's case would be considered on its merits if an application was made.

A tearful Bain earlier hugged a female juror outside the High Court as 1000 supporters and onlookers cheered his acquittal for the murders of his family.

Then, his arm around supporter Joe Karam, Bain spoke to supporters and media as news of the not guilty verdicts reverberated around the country.

Reaction

Mr Karam spoke bluntly of the "evil I have had to fight" to clear Bain of the 1994 murders.

"What has mattered, what has really mattered is that the truth has finally fallen where it has always been," Mr Karam said.

"This will go down as the criminal trial of New Zealand's history.

"Everything against David was smoke and no fire."

Bain told supporters: "Without Joe and his solid strength and love of supporters, I wouldn't have made it this far."

Later he told TV3 the jury's decision was "a huge weight off my shoulders".

Mr Bain's lawyer Michael Reed, QC, called the trial "ridiculously expensive" and that it should never have been brought.

He was also asked about possible compensation.

"Of course I believe it should happen after 13 years in prison, think how long 13 years is," Mr Reed said.

"We are all thrilled to bits," Mr Reed said as he paid tribute to Mr Karam and Mr Bain's former lawyers.

He said they will be enjoying a glass of wine tonight.

Police reaction

Detective Superintendent Malcolm Burgess made no apologies for bringing the case against Mr Bain.

"This is the end of the matter, as far as I'm concerned," he said.

Asked about the many criticisms of police procedure made during the case, Mr Burgess defended police.

"Police stand-by the investigation they undertook in 1994," he said,

He said the police would be "reflecting" on today's verdicts.

"Our role is to put the best evidence available before the court to enable it to reach its decision. We believe we did that," Mr Burgess said.

Outside the court, traffic on the four lane road was brought to a standstill as motorists clapped and shouted "God bless you, David" and "Good on you, David".

The jury's decision

The jury reached their verdict after five hours and 50 minutes
of deliberations.

Some of the jury were in tears as the verdicts were read to a packed courtroom.

"You may leave the dock Mr Bain," Justice Graham Panckhurst David Bain.

Loud clapping and cheering came from the gallery as each of the five "not guilty" verdicts were read out.

After the verdict was read, Mr Karam raised his thumbs to supporters.

He said: "Never in doubt, never in doubt.

"I thank you all."

There were tears on the faces of the Karam family as the news sank in. They and supporters rose to give the jury a standing ovation as they filed out.

Mr Karam told supporters that a highly emotional Bain was taking five minutes to compose himself before speaking to supporters and an assembled media throng.

Richard Karam, Joe's son, said: "The supporters were all very much in shock. They had expected the verdict but then they had been expecting this for the nine years they had known David."

He said it was a shame it had taken so long.

"There will be a couple of shandies consumed I'm sure."

The jury alerted the judge at 4.25pm they had reached a verdict.

Inside High Court number one in Christchurch, all public gallery seats
were taken as Bain family members and supporters sat waiting for the
jury to come back.

After the verdicts were read out, five men and seven women of the jury were thanked by Justice Panckhurst and excused from jury service for 10 years.

The background

Bain, 37, faced a retrial for the murders of his parents and three siblings at their Dunedin home on June 20, 1994, after the Privy Council in 2007 quashed his 1995 convictions for their deaths.

The Law Lords in 2007 had ruled Bain had been the victim of a "substantial miscarriage of justice".

By the time their decision saw him freed on bail in May 2007, Bain had served more than 12 years of a minimum 16-year jail term. He and his supporters had always maintained his innocence.

Justice Panckhurst sent jurors out to consider their verdict on Thursday evening.

The 12 jurors had heard from 184 witnesses over 54 days of evidence in what Bain's lawyers have described as "undoubtedly the most extraordinary case in New Zealand's history".

In the end they took five hours and 50 minutes to reach a verdict.

Today, as they filed out of court after delivering their verdict, Bain supporters yelled out "Well done, well done" and one juror replied that he needed a drink.

Bain's defence team argued his father, Robin, murdered his family before turning the gun on himself.

However, the Crown alleged he murdered his father Robin, mother Margaret, two sisters Arawa, 19, and Laniet, 18, and brother Stephen, 14, and used his paper run as an alibi before putting his bloodied clothes in the washing machine and calling police.

Click here for a summary of the defence and prosecution cases.

Expert evidence focused on whether Robin could physically have shot himself, the age of fingerprints on the rifle, length of bloodied footprints and the timing of David Bain's paper round and a message left on the family computer.

The defence argued the Robin Bain was depressed about his marriage and in an incestuous relationship with his prostitute daughter Laniet, while prosecutors painted Robin as a gentle man and Laniet's claims as unreliable.

Summing up for the defence on Wednesday, Michael Reed QC said Robin Bain had a bite mark, a bruise on his hand that was less than 12 hours old, and what one witness described as the appearance of blood under his fingernails.

But Mr Reed said there was very little blood on Bain, which showed he checked on his family members but did not shoot them.

He spoke of Robin Bain having a history of depression and being worried about his daughter Laniet - who was going to "blow the whistle" on an incestuous affair - and a marriage that was all but over.

"Who is the more likely person to be a homicidal maniac? Is it the nice friendly, jovial 22 year-old with a new girlfriend and dog, enjoying what he is doing ... Or is it this sad, sad father who is going downhill?"

Mr Reed said, "The tragedy for David is that David still loves his father. He's not the father that David knew all those years. He's a man that suddenly flipped."

Summing up on Tuesday, Crown prosecutor Kieran Raftery told the jury that they should focus on who killed Stephen Bain, as the same person killed Margaret, Arawa, Laniet and Robin Bain.

He said the blood found in Stephen Bain's room and the fact that he was strangled pointed to a violent struggle.

He said the defence had described Robin as 58 going on 78 and, therefore, Robin was not the man who fought with Stephen.

He showed the jury how he believed David and Stephen's hands had come into contact with the rifle during the struggle. Mr Raftery told the jury that small samples of Stephen's blood were found on Bain's clothing.

Mr Raftery also told the jury that Bain did not act like a brother when he heard Laniet making gurgling sounds after returning from his paper round, waiting 20 minutes before calling 111.