David Bain trial: Police found 'hysterical' Bain, court told

Judge Graham Panckhurst is presiding over the three-month trial. Pool photo

Police officers who were among the first on the scene at the Bain home have described how they found bloodied bodies and David Bain "verging on hysterical".

Constables Geoffrey Wyllie and Leslie Andrew, along with former police officer Kim Stephenson, have been giving evidence at the High Court in Christchurch today.

Mr Wyllie said Bain could be seen through the front window when police walked up the front path of the Bain home in Dunedin on the morning of June 20, 1994.

"He was anxious and panicky, that sort of behaviour," Mr Wyllie told the court under cross-examination.

Mr Stephenson told the court how police had trouble getting into the Bain home.

He confirmed that when he asked Bain to open the front door, Bain told him: "No, they are all dead".

Mr Stephenson said once police were inside the house, he shone his torch into the room opposite Bain's where he saw a body lying on the floor.

"There was blood around the head and some blood seepage. There was a rifle lying on the floor or away from the body and a rifle magazine on the floor caught my attention," Mr Stephenson said.

He said the rifle magazine was unusual because it was "sitting on its edge".

Mr Stephenson went into the room and looked behind some curtains "to satisfy myself no one was behind those curtains".

Mr Stephenson told the court that he saw two more bodies in two separate rooms.

"There was a person lying on the bed. I could tell it was female. Once again there was blood around the head," Mr Stephenson said.

He said other officers, including Sergeant Murray Stapp, searched the house while Mr Andrew stayed with Bain.

Mr Andrew said he "kept an eye" on Bain while covering the other officers as they moved down the hallway.

He said he was armed with a revolver and stood in the doorway where he could see Bain sitting on the floor with a phone receiver in his hand.

Mr Andrew told the court that he asked Bain how many people lived in the house and was told there were six people.

He said he heard a dog bark in another room before Bain called: "Here Casey, Casey, Casey."

Mr Wyllie told the court in detail how he and Sergeant Stapp had found the body of Arawa Bain on the floor of her bedroom.

"There are a couple of steps down into the room, from where I was standing it looked as though she was on her knees but bent back to the direction where I was standing.

"She had an obvious wound to her forehead," Mr Wyllie said.

He Also described seeing the body of Stephen Bain

"I saw the body of a young boy on the floor in there. I remember thinking there had been quite a struggle in the room, there was an upturned stool or chair.