Acquitted in a retrial of the murders of his parents, two sisters and brother after 13 years in jail, David Bain proclaims his innocence in his first major television interview, with 60 Minutes' Melanie Reid to be screened on Sunday night.
"The only thing I can say to everybody out there, and to all my friends, and the thing that I've constantly said to Joe as well, is I wasn't there. I couldn't have been there. Facts have now been exposed that prove I wasn't there," Bain says.
"So it goes to show that from day one, when I said to my first lawyer 'I'm innocent', I've been proven correct. I am innocent. I did not kill my family."
The television interview comes after the launch of Joe Karam's latest book, Trial by Ambush: the Prosecutions of David Bain, in which the finger is very clearly pointed at Robin Bain for the murders.
David says Karam explains the facts of the two trials in a methodical way that would make it difficult for people to criticise.
"Personally the first half of the book was very hard for me to read because that first trial was extremely traumatic," he says."But the second half of the book became quite interesting when you start seeing how the facts lead, and the way the facts changed it over the years, the perception of those facts once new things came out after discoveries through Joe's explorations and digging."
Did he expect to be arrested?
No, he says. "My belief at the time was that the system was there to protect me and to look after me, that they would accept the truth that I was telling them at the time, and I was totally shocked when the police officer bent over the table and essentially told me that they believed I was guilty, that I had committed this crime."
Life in prison was about surviving one day at a time. "I became quite philosophical in my approach to prison life. I just approached every day as it came for the time that I was in there.
"I didn't plan for the future, I didn't try and set myself long-term goals, I woke up each morning and I coped with the first five minutes of the morning, then I dealt with the next five minutes when that came."
Bain, who now lives and works in West Auckland, says it has been a daily struggle to lead a normal life after 13 years in jail.
He gets taunted in the street by strangers convinced of his guilt, but tries not to let it get to him. His strength, he says, comes from his parents.
"I mean, thinking back over a lot of the circumstances that I found myself in, I don't know how I got through them. I can only thank my upbringing, my family, my mum and dad [who] helped us with our education, with university studies, and helped us become the people we are."
Next week, Bain will give his first public address and talk about his experiences at the International Justice Conference in Perth. His interview with Reid runs on TV3, Sunday night.
BARRY'S GIGGLES
Yesterday morning's news bulletin on RadioLive turned into a fit of uncontrollable laughter for newsreader Hilary Barry. Even the sombre news of Monkee Davy Jones' passing couldn't stop her accidental onslaught of giggling and sniggers. Once she started she couldn't stop.
The chortling continued throughout the three-minute news bulletin. She pleaded with herself to "pull it together" and added: "I think I may get fired today".
Later, Barry took to Twitter to describe herself as an "ex-RadioLive newsreader" and said, "Oh well, at least I can sleep in in the mornings."
RadioLive boss Jana Rangooni told The Diary: "Of course, Barry is still our newsreader. She's the best in the country." Cliff Joiner, producer of the Marcus Lush breakfast show, said he didn't know what had triggered Barry's giggling fit. "She's a lady with a great sense of humour."
BOLLARD'S BANKNOTE
Guests at the state dinner for Quentin Bryce, Governor-General of Australia, at Government House in Wellington on Tuesday, included Denise L'Estrange-Corbet, Mai Chen, Dame Sian Elias, Jacinda Ardern, Judith Collins and Prime Minister John Key and his wife Bronagh.
L'Estrange-Corbet said she asked Reserve Bank Governor, Alan Bollard, to sign a banknote, but she was rebuffed. "He said, 'I only sign notes for charity. Are you a charity?"'
"Yes, I said. 'Which one?,' he asked. And I said: the We-Need-Shoes-in-New-York charity. He laughed and laughed. But he still didn't sign my banknote."
PR QUEEN'S FAREWELL
Nearly 1000 family, friends and former colleagues crammed into the chapel at Sacred Heart College in Glendowie on Wednesday to farewell Cathy Campbell, who passed away last week after battling a brain tumour for two years.
Campbell worked as a journalist and sports anchor for One Network News, before establishing a successful public relations company, Cathy Campbell Communications.
Former Television NZ friends Susan Wood, Cameron Bennett and Penelope Barr stood alongside ex-All Blacks Michael Jones, Alan Whetton and Grant Fox. Campbell's husband, former Sports Cafe host and TV producer, Ric Salizzo, gave a moving eulogy, their son Carlo gave a heartfelt reading and students from Sacred Heart College performed a spine-chilling haka.
