Prints show Robin last to handle gun: Karam

David Bain supporter Joe Karam says a second set of fingerprints of Robin Bain's thumb support the theory presented last month that the sooty parallel marks were from gunpowder residue.

Police had previously refuted the evidence, with Assistant Commissioner Malcolm Burgess saying fingerprints from Robin Bain showed white patches on the thumb which suggested cuts from "handyman" work.

"Had these been powder marks or smudges as claimed, we would expect to see a complete fingerprint image," Mr Burgess said.

Mr Karam said yesterday what the police did not tell media was that there was a corresponding set of "elimination" prints, taken closer to the time Robin Bain died.

"You'll note I'm relying on prints that are on the police file."

"Revealingly, and mischievously," the white dot was not on the set of elimination prints taken the day before, Mr Karam said. The white mark police relied on to refute the revelation was taken from a set of prints taken in the mortuary - and was caused by condensation, he said. Mr Karam went on to say Robin Bain's fingerprints were never an issue during the original trial. "I can tell you right now that these fingerprints have never been produced in any court." There were no cuts or damage on the thumb where the sooty lines appeared, Mr Karam said. "This is shown by evidence on the police's own file in the elimination fingerprints taken from Robin Bain, which they conveniently or negligently failed to produce.

"The marks in question are not cuts, they are not abrasions, they are not burns," Mr Karam said.

As the sooty marks seemed to have come off easily, it proved they were not on Robert Bain's hand for long.

"If they were from the day before, they would have already rubbed off," he said.

"They are sooty marks. They are on the same finger where deposits from loading a gun into a magazine [would have been]," Mr Karam said.

"Therefore [Robin] Bain was the last one to handle and use the gun. The two marks on the thumb match, to the millimetre, the magazine." APNZ