David Bain's retrial for the murder of five of his family in Dunedin in 1994 continues in Christchurch today. Hit refresh throughout the day for the latest updates. Or you can follow us on Twitter
4:43pm Crown prosecutor Cameron Mander told the court that there was also a section on the ambulance report headed up "vital signs" that recorded pulse rates.
He said Bain's pulse was recorded as 74 at 8.15am and 73 at 8.48am.
Mr Wombwell responded: "again, in a normal patient assessment, we're
looking for changes. One reading on its own is meaningless," he said referring to the pulse record that Mr Reed produced earlier.
He also noted that the oxygen saturation rate of Bain's blood taken at the two times had shown little change.
Mr Wombwell said in his experience as an ambulance officer and a nurse, a person's pulse rate will change markedly.
"The classic text book rate is 72 for an adult but no one lives in a text book," Mr Wombwell said.
Court has adjourned for the day. The trial will continue on Monday.
4:33pm Under cross-examination, Mr Wombwell was shown an ambulance officers report from the morning of June 20,1994.
Bain's lawyer Michael Reed, QC, said an ambulance officer filled in the report and indicated that Bain was unconscious. The report also contained the numeral "3" with a question mark beside it.
Mr Wombwell said that report was filled in by ambulance officers "some time" after the alleged fitting episode.
Mr Reed also produced a record of Bain's resting pulse from January, 1993.
Mr Wombwell said it was of no value because it was taken 18 months prior to the day in question.
Mr Reed replied that the defence team will produce an "experienced doctor" who will say the earlier pulse rate was relevant.
3:30pm Mr Wombwell has told the court that he checked each of the Bain family members for signs of life on the morning of June 20, 1994.
He said he first checked the body of Robin Bain.
"I was feeling for a pulse and then I felt again because the skin felt relatively warm. You have to be very, very sure. I put my hand back on him to reassure myself there was no pulse," Mr Wombwell said.
He said he then checked the body of a woman in her fifties who had a gunshot wound to her head and a swollen eye.
"She certainly had the appearance of being dead," Mr Wombwell said.
3:20pm The former chief ambulance officer of Dunedin, Craig Wombwell, told the court that David Bain had not had a fit on the morning of June 20, 1994.
He told the court that Bain had not had a fit or seizure. He said Bain's pulse appeared to be "normal".
Mr Wombwell said his eyes were closed but the eyelids were flickering.
He said Bain was "curled up with his knees drawn up" beside the bed.
2:57pm The former chief ambulance officer Craig Wombwell applied to have his face pixelated but Justice Panckhurst declined the request.
Mr Wombwell said being recognised could interfere with his job as a nurse at Dunedin hospital.
Justice Panckhurst said that did not justify an order to pixelate Mr Wombwell's face.
2:43pm Constable Leslie Andrew confirmed to Ms Cull that he has had no neurological or psychiatric training.
Ms Cull was referring to his earlier statement that Bain's fit appeared "a bit strange".
She asked about a note in Mr Andrew's notebook from the morning of June 20, 1994, which reads: "David's gone into shock" and further down: "David has come around".
Ms Cull asked: "You thought at the time that he'd gone into shock and come around?".
Mr Andrew replied: "Yeah".
Ms Cull asked: "That's consistent with someone losing consciousness?"
Mr Andrew replied: "Ah, yes".
Under re-examination by Crown prosecutor Cameron Mander, Mr Andrew said Bain's eyes were open as he dragged him out from between the bed and the wall.
2:35pm Under cross-examination, Mr Andrew has confirmed that Bain began shaking after police officers downstairs yelled out that they had found the fifth body.
Bain's lawyer Helen Cull, QC has asked Mr Andrew if Bain was trying to stand up at the time.
"No, he just shook and fell backwards," Mr Andrew said.
He confirmed that he dragged Bain out from the side of the bed by Bain's left arm and leg before putting him in the recovery position.
Mr Andrew told the court that he checked for a pulse and called ambulance officers. He said Bain's body was limp.
2:26pm Mr Andrew has also told the jury that he saw bullets and a trigger lock on David Bain's bed.
He said he made the observation after putting Bain in the recovery position after Bain began shaking and fell backwards.
2:20pm Constable Leslie Andrew said Bain's fit appeared "strange" because his eyes looked normal.
"I turned to the accused and he was shaking. Then he fell backwards between the bed and the wall," Mr Andrew told the court.
He said that while in Twizel, he had seen two people have epileptic fits. He said he had also seen people have fits after falls while he was a contract manager on the Twizel dam.
He told the court that the eyes of people who he had seen have fits would have been flickering.
"The whites of eyes become quite predominant and the eyes flicker a lot," Mr Andrew said.
He told the court that he then put Bain in the recovery position before ambulance officers walked into the room and saw to him.
12:56pm The policeman who "kept an eye" on David Bain while other officers searched the Bain family house is giving evidence.
Constable Leslie Andrew was another police officer who was among the first to enter the Bain family home on the morning of June 20, 1994.
Mr Andrew was armed with a revolver and stood in the doorway where he could see Bain sitting on the floor with a phone receiver.
He could also see Constable Wyllie and Sergeant Stapp moving down the hallway as they searched the house.
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."
The court has now moved into chambers and the jury has been sent to lunch.
11:33am Constable Wyllie has told the court that David Bain was "verging on hysterical" when police arrived.
Under cross-examination, Bain's lawyer Helen Cull, QC, asked Mr Wyllie about Bain's demeanour when police arrived at his house.
"He was anxious and panicky, that sort of behaviour," Mr Wyllie said.
11:25am Constable Wyllie has said he told ambulance officer Craig Wombwell not to touch anything and to be careful where he walked when checking the Bain family members for signs of life.
He said the officer entered each scene but did not move the bodies and checked either the neck or wrist pulse, depending on which was more accessible.
"When he did that, he didn't lift a hand," Mr Wyllie said.
11:20am Mr Wyllie has told the court how he found the body of Stephen Bain after police realised there was one Bain family member missing.
"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.
"The position the young boy was in was a good indication he had been involved in some sort of struggle," Mr Wellie said.
11:10am Constable Geoffrey Wyllie has told the court how he and Sergeant Stapp searched the Bain house where they found five bodies with gunshot wounds and a distressed David Bain.
Mr Wyllie told the court in detail how he 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.
10:51pm Mr Stephenson has also confirmed that the dog found in Margaret Bain's room had been walking around the house.
Ms Cull read a statement from Mr Stephenson from his brief of evidence that formed part of the case at the depositions hearing for the first trial.
She told the court that Mr Stephenson had recorded in his brief of evidence that a "dog was roaming around and barking at us. I'm pretty certain it had been in the daughter's room as well".
10:47am Under cross-examination by Bain's lawyer Helen Cull, QC, Mr Stephenson confirmed that when asked to open the front door, Bain told him: "No, they are all dead".
Ms Cull asked him to confirm parts of his brief of evidence from the first trial.
"I don't want to be the witness who says it was a long time ago but it was," Mr Stephenson said.
He confirmed he had to step over the legs of Robin Bain to check an alcove off the lounge.
When asked about the glow coming from the switched on family computer in the alcove, he said he could not recall.
"I'd love to be able to say I remember seeing a green or blue glow coming from that area but I don't have a memory of that," Mr Stephenson said.
10:32am Mr Stephenson said he tried to kick the door down but was unsuccessful. He said Mr Stapp took a piece of firewood and smashed a window in the door.
He said there was a light on in Bain's room where David was sitting on the floor but in a room opposite, the light was off.
Mr Stephenson said he shone his torch into that room 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".
"I had in mind we had a major scene here," Mr Stephenson said.
He said his first priority was to "protect life".
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 Mr Stapp, searched the house while Constable Leslie Andrew stayed with Bain.
10:15am Kim Stephenson was a constable with Dunedin police at the time of the Bain family murders and was having a cup of coffee with another constable when police got the call to go to 65 Every St.
He said he and a Constable Wyllie pulled up outsider and talked about whether to enter the house or wait for back-up.
"We decided to enter the address," Mr Stephenson said.
He said he could hear a tapping noise as he approached the house.
"There appeared to the back of someone's head," that could be seen through the window, Mr Stephenson said.
He said one officer was sent back to Sergeant Murray Stapp's car for revolvers for the other officers and then they tried the door.
Mr Stephenson said police tried the key in the lock but it was "snibbed".
He said he asked Bain to go and open the door.
"I was told there was a key in the lock. I said I can't open it, the door appears to be snibbed. He said: No, Dad's in there," Mr Stephenson said.
10:00am Sergeant Murray Stapp has told the court that he saw David Bain fitting on the morning of June 20, 1994.
It is the Crown's case that some witnesses will give evidence that Bain was pretending to fit.
Mr Stapp was one of the first officers on the scene that morning when police found five bodies inside the Bain household. Mr Stapp said Bain was "shaking".
He was asked under cross-examination by Bain's lawyer Helen Cull, QC, if he thought Bain was shaking uncontrollably.
"I can't see inside his head. I do not know if he was in a position to control it or not. I think not," Mr Stapp said.
He said Bain's limbs were "just shaking. It appeared to be involuntary".
9:30am The David Bain trial will start again this morning at 9:45am.
Yesterday, the jury heard how the murder-accused was huddled up in the fetal position and crying when police first arrived on the scene after the 1994 killings.
Sergeant Murray Stapp broke into the Bains' house on Every St in Dunedin on the morning of June 20, 1994. He has told the High Court in Christchurch he found Bain hysterical, lying in a ball in his bedroom saying, "they are all dead, they are all dead."
Mr Stapp said he then walked around the house and found the bodies of Robin and Margaret Bain and three of their children, Arawa, Laniet and Stephen Bain. He then returned to David's bedroom.
"And then he appeared to have some sort of fit. A little bit of arm movement, a little bit of leg movement, head jerking. And then after several seconds he appeared to faint."
Mr Stapp said he arranged for ambulance officers to attend to David Bain.
A former neighbour of the Bain's also gave evidence, describing David Bain as pleasant, although she said the last time she called out to say "hello," he ignored her. She also described his father, Robin, as a lovely man who was gentle, polite and easy to deal with, but said his mother Margaret was unusual.
Neighbour Wayne Marsh said the last time he saw the men of the Bain family was the weekend before the murders, when they were fixing broken spouting on their house which had been causing run-off on his own property. He said they were not speaking to each other very much, and he felt for them, as they were fixing the spouting was because he had complained to the council.
- NZ HERALD STAFF/AGENCIES
