From the Listener archives: In June 1994, David Bain was charged with murdering his parents, Robin and Margaret, and siblings, Arawa, Laniet, and Stephen. He was later convicted of the killings, but battled for 20 years to clear his name and was eventually acquitted after a retrial. In the ensuing years, much attention has focused on the court cases and where David is now. But 2009, then15 years after the murders, Robin’s brother Michael wrote about the family for the NZ Listener, and in particular about his eldest brother, a man who Michael says always did his best for his family – and was no killer.
Michael Bain clearly remembered the day when he was interrupted to take an urgent phone call from a distraught family member: “Our family in Dunedin are dead, all shot and killed this morning, except for David, the only survivor.” In the retrial, at which David was found not guilty of murdering his family, the reputation of almost every one of the dead family members was vilified, says Michael.
On the 30th anniversary of the killings, we revisit Michael’s article while Listener editor Kirsty Cameron recalls her experiences of writing about the case here.
It was a pleasant, sunny morning in Otaki on Monday, June 20, 1994, when my 82-year-old mother, Marion Bain, went out to her letter box and, to her delight, found a letter from her 14-year-old grandson Stephen. “Dear Nani, … the most amazing thing has just happened to me, I don’t have any jokes to send you this time! Lots of love, Stephen.”
So ended the cheerful and carefree letter, posted from Dunedin the previous Friday. What Marion did not know and could not have known as she read the letter from the boy she loved so much, was that it was the last he would ever write. Even before she had taken it from her letter box, Stephen was dead. His letter was still lying on her table when her second son, my brother Peter, arrived at her door with news that was almost too much for her to bear. The bodies of her eldest son, Robin, Robin’s wife, Margaret, their two daughters, Arawa and Laniet, and Stephen himself had been found that morning inside their family home in Every St, Dunedin. All had died of gunshot wounds.
Five months before that terrible day, Robin spent a peaceful and relaxing three weeks with Marion in Otaki, swimming, sunbathing, reading and having a companionable time at the family home. She loved having her oldest son there, just to herself for the first time in many years. She missed her Dunedin family very much and loved them all. She wanted to see more of them, but they had always been far away.
Robin and his family had spent 15 years in Papua New Guinea, and all the children except the eldest, David, had been born there. Marion had travelled to PNG to visit them and had fond memories of their idyllic lifestyle and happiness as a family. They had come back to New Zealand but settled in Dunedin, still too far away for her to see enough of them, but they kept in regular touch by letter.
During Robin’s stay with our mother in January, they drove to Hamilton, where he attended a seminar. They stayed with my sister Colleen and spent their free time on local bush walks together, enjoying each other’s company. Robin cracked jokes, told stories of his adventures in PNG, named all the local native trees they came across and spoke fondly of his family in Dunedin. It was a contented and relaxing time.
Peter’s shocking news on that June day stunned Marion and all the family. Her Dunedin family were no more. The circumstances of their loss were almost too much for her to comprehend. She sat and struggled to understand what could have brought such a terrible tragedy upon them.
As most New Zealanders know, my nephew David, Robin’s eldest son, was subsequently arrested and charged with the murders. His trial took place in the Dunedin High Court in 1995 and he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Eventually, a series of appeals followed, culminating in an order from the Privy Council for a retrial. That took place in [May 2009] and was presented with new hearsay evidence against Robin that, despite the forensic evidence presented by the Crown prosecutor, apparently had the effect of casting sufficient doubt in the minds of the jury as to David’s guilt, and he was acquitted.
During the trial process, the good names and reputations of almost every deceased member of David’s immediate family were vilified. This was very difficult for us, the wider family, to accept; none of those against whom the hearsay allegations were levelled were alive to rebut them.
From the outset, our family totally rejected the hearsay allegations that were made against Robin in particular, as they were totally out of character, speculative and disbelieved. Nothing has occurred since to change our minds. We, his family, knew him to be a man of integrity and a good and faithful husband to Margaret and an excellent father to his children. We all knew Robin’s focus and attention to be at a much more profound level than that attributed to the hearsay evidence. We knew his background and that he deserved a valedictory for his lifetime achievements and not to be vilified by those who had never known him.
We knew, too, that even in his last days, he remained motivated and had everything to live for. Most of all, we knew that there were no circumstances in which Robin ever would or could have harmed anyone. Robin was no killer. He was a calm, wise, loyal, peaceful and thoughtful man who deserved to grow old surrounded by the love of his family. I remain honoured to be his brother.
Robin was born in 1935, the eldest of four children, and was brought up in a happy Christian family. Our father was a church elder and choirmaster and Robin was active in the Bible Class Movement. Our family was very musical and often sang and played together around the piano, with Robin on guitar; many times friends and neighbours joined in.
He went on to train as a teacher and, from his first teaching appointment, involved himself in the culture of his pupils to enable him to relate to them and teach them more effectively. In 1964, aged 28, he went for two years to a sole charge teaching position at a remote village school in Papua New Guinea under his church’s volunteer scheme. He came to love the simple, uninhibited lifestyle and the local people of PNG. As was his style, he immersed himself in the local culture, learned to speak Pidgin and developed a genuine affinity with the locals.
Returning to New Zealand, he taught at some remote country schools, then took up a permanent position in Dunedin, gaining his BA at the University of Otago. It was in Dunedin that he met Margaret Cullen; they married in 1969. Margaret was bright, happy, intelligent and great company. She had wide interests and was knowledgeable and enjoyed a good-humoured argument, always finishing with a good laugh. She was also an excellent pianist and shared Robin’s interest in music. They were well suited and very happy.
David was born in Dunedin in 1972. Robin had enjoyed his two years of missionary service in Papua New Guinea so much that he wanted to share the experience with his new little family. So, in 1973, he was accepted for the position of deputy principal of the church-run Gaulim Teacher Training College on the PNG island of New Britain. Its principal said Robin “carried out his duties with a characteristic sense of humour and quiet authority … he provided sound professional leadership and gained the respect of the staff … he showed real strength in his ability to stimulate thinking and creativity amongst others”.
While at Gaulim, Margaret gave birth to two lovely daughters: Arawa in June 1974 and Laniet in March 1976. They were initially home-schooled, and all were contented and settled as a family.
Arawa was later to grow into a tall, beautiful, vivacious and intelligent girl. After the family returned to New Zealand, she became head girl at her high school, had some modelling experience and eventually followed Robin into the teaching profession. She was in her first year at teachers’ college in Dunedin and had just been selected as a finalist in the local Queen of the Heather competition when her young, promising life was cut short. She was only 19, just coming into her prime.
In her childhood, Laniet was a very pretty, happy, energetic and affectionate girl who later never really had a chance to find her feet. After she left school, she experimented with various occupations and lifestyles and entered a dark phase of her life, which we believe she was trying to turn around. She never lost her close ties with her family, and it was on that fateful June morning, when she was at home with them, where she should have been most secure, that her young life came to an abrupt end. She was only 18.
Back to 1979, and Robin was appointed senior lecturer in education at a teachers’ refresher college in Port Moresby and also began lecturing in education at the University of Papua New Guinea.
The following year, Robin and Margaret’s youngest child, Stephen, was born in Port Moresby. Stephen was an energetic, tough little fellow with a strong and likeable character. After the family returned to New Zealand in 1988, he had a few boyish scrapes with authority but by 1994 he was quickly maturing and becoming responsible.
At secondary school, he took up the trumpet and joined the school orchestra much to the delight of his parents, and in May that year had the joy of playing in the orchestra for a school production.
On June 10 he received a letter from a police youth aid officer commending him for his good behaviour and inviting him to join a Blue Light Trust bike safari the following month, but 10 days later, despite fighting valiantly to save himself, his life was brutally snuffed out. He was only 14.
Robin served at the refresher college for 10 years, teaching adult teachers from a multitude of language groups and cultures.
In 1984, he became concerned about the plight of refugee children who had crossed with their parents from Indonesia’s western New Guinea into camps along the PNG side of the border. He spoke fluent Pidgin and made several trips to the camps to do what he could to help the education of the children, and organised supplies of donated library books and reading materials.
At the end of his service at the college in1988, the principal reported that “Robin was popular and held in high esteem by everyone at the college … his characteristics were honesty and integrity … he enjoyed achieving professional growth in others … he related easily with new students and he was caring and helpful, sensitive to needs, and helped them to develop self-reliance in thinking through their problems and goals … he was a caring and experienced lecturer … he was keenly interested in multicultural issues, problems and solutions … he was characteristically constructive, positive and involved … his advice and good counsel were in regular demand.”
The PNG Education Department inspector reported that “Robin had versatile teaching skills … he moved easily back and forth from the multiracial expatriate community to the national teachers and national wider community … he had a good counselling style, and as a family man, related well to men and women students, young and old … he had a sociable and sensitive nature and quickly showed empathy and generated warmth … he was an honest, industrious, versatile, kind and thinking officer.”
While in Port Moresby, Robin and Margaret were very active in music circles; Robin played in a couple of bluegrass bands. He was also keen on the outdoors and enthusiastic about outdoor education. He had extensive experience in tramping and camping in the back country of New Zealand and Papua New Guinea and was a qualified scuba diver.
The family lived in a secure compound in a Port Moresby suburb and were very close, happy and relaxed. They took the opportunity to travel widely, and Robin and Margaret gave the children a range of interesting experiences as they holidayed at exotic places in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia.
At the end of 1988, Robin and Margaret reluctantly had to call a halt to their exotic dream and returned to New Zealand. David was then 16, Arawa 14, Laniet 12 and Stephen 8.
Back in New Zealand, Robin taught in several temporary positions, did some lecturing at the teachers’ college, and in 1990 was appointed principal of Taieri Beach School. He was committed to the principle of equity for rural pupils, and enthusiastic about the benefits children could gain from having access to information technology, promptly taking the initiative to get a school computer.
He also organised the covering of the school pool, then started a project to develop a native bush reserve at the school. The school board of trustees found him “most professional and were impressed with his quiet efficiency and understanding and good rapport with the children, who obviously enjoyed his firm classroom style and sense of humour, and the new skills in music and gardening which the children enjoyed …”
His success with the computer at the 16-pupil school was quite something. “‘Hey world, here we are!’ That was the message broadcast to the world by the 16 boys and girls at the remote Taieri Beach School south of Dunedin in August 1992,” said the NZ Herald in November 1992.
“And within four days the children got replies from schools in the United States, Canada and Australia, and have since received calls from schools in Britain, Scandinavia, South America and Taiwan. The Taieri Beach children, who are aged between five and 10, used their school computer to establish contact with the ‘world’ … it seems that the Taieri Beach children and their principal, Mr Bain, have done something quite remarkable.”
Robin’s pupils found their online world very stimulating and began to share with children in other countries their studies of the Taieri River and rare yellow-eyed penguins. In February 1993, the Otago Daily Times described Robin as “the quietly spoken principal who was the driving force behind the concept of linking his school with the world”. Robin was quoted as saying: “We try to choose items that will stimulate interest in Otago and New Zealand by writing about things
that are unique to this part of the world… I believe that perhaps the most important factor in this communication with children of other countries is that they are learning a lot about other people’s values.”
Robin wanted to provide an opportunity for children to be creative and develop their own interests. He saw the need for each child to be computer-literate and to be able to use information technology. He also believed in the dignity of the individual and had an understanding and sympathetic approach to special-needs children. He believed in the importance of distinguishing between “unacceptable activity” and an “unacceptable person”, and that the best person to deal with a problem was the person who owned the problem. He believed integrity is the most important quality a teacher can aspire to.
After his death, condolence letters and eulogies received from school associates referred to his many achievements at the Taieri Beach School, with specific mention of “his calm teaching style, his care and conscientiousness, his obvious pride in and love for his family, his thoughtfulness, unflappable temperament and quiet inner strength, his quick wit and delightful sense of humour, the happy and harmonious atmosphere at the school due to his mature approach and temperament, his great encouragement and the broadening of the whole school community horizons by the diverse experiences he introduced, his honesty, kindness and gentleness …”
Robin was a gentle, humble, caring, peaceful Christian man. He had a great sense of humour, he was thoughtful and careful, and his conversation was interesting and honourable. He saw potential in everyone and he was a patient, positive, hard-working and conscientious teacher.
He did the best he could for his students and for his own family. After they arrived back in New Zealand, Robin and Margaret were saddened by how much their house had deteriorated during their absence and began planning to replace it with another on the same site. Robin’s employment at Taieri Beach meant he had to commute away from home for the first time, which made it difficult for the family to maintain the close unity they experienced overseas.
Robin was conservative in his Christianity, but Margaret was expanding her spiritual horizons; this added a new tension to their relationship and they began to draw apart to give each other room. Some perceived that this was leading to a separation, but in fact, they still remained committed to each other and their family, and had found a way to cope while working to resolve their differences.
Fifteen years after his death, we, his wider family, firmly believe that Robin, along with the other family members who died, was an innocent victim of the tragedy of June 20, 1994. We have nothing but good memories of a fine upstanding, unselfish man, who lived a life of integrity and achievement and who wanted nothing more than to have a fulfilled and united family and to realise the potential of his young charges at school. Our memories are of a once very happy family who had normal hopes and dreams for the future.
During the past 15 years, much media hype has focused on David, including attempts to divert attention from him to Robin. In all that has been said and written, little attention has been paid to Margaret, Arawa, Laniet and Stephen. They each had lives to live and the future that should have been theirs to experience and enjoy was brutally and tragically snatched from them.
For us, their loving brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts and cousins, the end for each of them remains as unimaginable and horrifying today as when we first heard the news. David is able to enjoy his new-found freedom, but we haven’t forgotten those who were never given a chance and now are unable to defend their reputations, or to enjoy any future at all.
This article was originally published in the September 26-October 2, 2009, issue of the New Zealand Listener.