Bain 'always hurt those he loved' - prosecution

Crown prosecutor Kieran Raftery said there was no evidence to suggest Robin Bain committed murder. Photo / Pool

The prosecution in the David Bain trial has finished summing up by quoting Bain himself saying he always hurt those closest to him.

Crown prosecutor Kieran Raftery quoted Bain in a conversation that he had with a friend shortly after the killings in 1994 in which he allegedly said: "I always seem to end up hurting those that I love."

Mr Raftery finished his case by saying: "That is exactly what he has done in this case".

During the summing up at Christchurch High Court today, the prosecution said he tried to create an alibi on the morning five of his family were shot dead.

Mr Raftery said Bain deliberately got the attention of one woman on his paper round that morning.

He said Bain changed his routine and did something he had not done for a year - taking his dog on to a property to ensure he would be noticed.

Mr Raftery said Bain told police that the woman whose dog barked at him would remember seeing him that morning.

"It is an essential part of his plan if he is to frame his father," Mr Raftery said.

Earlier today, the prosecution said Bain's claim that he heard his sister Laniet gurgling was a "Fruedian slip".

Mr Raftery questioned Bain's reaction if he had returned from his paper round and heard Laniet gurgle on the morning five of his family were murdered.

He said to the jury this morning: "Does he behave like a brother? Does he go straight to the telephone and dial 111? He does no such thing for 20 minutes."

He said if Bain heard signs of life, why did he wait?

'Totally untenable'

Mr Raftery described the scenario as "totally untenable" and called it
a "Freudian slip" by David Bain.

"He's talking about a time during the course of the murders that he
was committing," Mr Raftery said.

Mr Raftery also challenged other key defence evidence.

He told the jury there was no evidence to suggest Bain's father Robin committed murder on the morning of June 20, 1994 when the five Bain family members were found dead in their Dunedin home.

He has also rubbished claims Bain's sister Laniet was having an incestuous relationship with her father and that she had given birth three times by the age of 12-and-a-half.

Mr Raftery further questioned evidence the defence has presented about bloody footprints and a computer message which read: "Sorry, you are the only one who deserved to stay".

Claims police moved evidence were "scurrilous" and the placing of a magazine beside robin's body was "staged" Mr Raftery told the court today.

The defence in the three-month trial says it was Robin Bain who committed the five murders and that David Bain is innocent of all the charges.

'Not a shred'

However, Mr Raftery told the jury this morning that despite hearing from pathologists, finger print experts and forensic scientists, "not a single shred of evidence links Robin Bain with any single murder and that is an important starting point".

He described as "bizarre" the scenario that he says the defence is relying on - that Robin Bain killed his family, changed his clothes, typed a message on the computer and then killed himself.

Mr Raftery also said it was not always possible to determine motive in murder trials.

Continuing his summing up, he dismissed evidence given by witnesses suggesting Laniet was having an incestuous affair with her father, Robin Bain.

"She freely mentions it to dairy owners, yet she never mentions it to her GP. She mentions her prostitution, she does not mention incest," Mr Raftery said.

He said evidence from other witnesses about babies that Laniet said she had is also unreliable.

The message left on the Bain family computer also came in for scrutiny this morning, with the prosecution saying it is a "get out of jail free card" for Bain.

Mr Raftery said the phrase left on the family computer is not a suicide note.

He said while there was no "accepted format" of suicide note, the message left on the computer was not written by Robin Bain.

"The note reads more like David Bain talking about himself," Mr Raftery said.

Defence evidence about bloody footprints was also questioned, with the court being told by Mr Raftery that blood was found on Bain's socks.