Bain trial: 'That ladies and gentlemen is the evidence in this trial'

Laniet Bain was killed with four other members of her family in June 1994. Her brother David is on trial for the murders. Photo / NZ Magazines

The last witness in the Bain trial at the Christchurch High Court has been called.

Justice Panckhurst has told the jury: "That ladies and gentlemen is the evidence in this trial".

He also thanked the jury on behalf of both counsel.

"I'm conscious that from time to time we've had to inconvenience you," Justice Panckhurst said.

He said he was also very grateful for their attention in the case.

The trial has been adjourned until Tuesday when the closing address will be delivered by the Crown, followed by the defence and the judge.

Earlier the High Court heard that Laniet Bain was sick of "everyone getting up her" and was going to tell her parents that she had been a prostitute.

Laniet's brother, David Bain, is on trial for the murder of his parents and three siblings in their Dunedin home on June 20, 1994. His defence team say his father, Robin, 58, shot dead the family before committing suicide with the rifle.

David Bain's lawyers wanted Dean Cottle to appear as a witness at the trial, but he has fled to Brisbane. A warrant has been issued for his arrest.

Justice Graham Panckhurst read Cottle's earlier evidence to the court.

Cottle gave two statements to police in 1995 and 1996 in which he said that he met Laniet in a bar in Dunedin, the year before the killings.

"She was a nice girl and we got on well".

He said Laniet told him she was a prostitute and she was having an incestuous relationship with her father.

Cottle said Laniet did not have a good relationship with her mother, Margaret, but the pair would "sit around and take turns talking to God", Cottle said.

He said Laniet told him that her sister, Arawa, had also been a prostitute and was involved with cannabis.

Cottle said he bumped into Laniet coming out of a coffee shop in Dunedin on the Friday before the killings.

"She also said: I'm going to put a stop to everything. She actually used the term: I'm sick of everyone getting up me," Cottle told police.

He said Laniet told him that the incestuous relationship with her father had started while the family was in Papua New Guinea.

Cottle said Laniet told him that she was going to "make a new start" and that she was going to tell her parents "everything".

Cottle's relationship with Laniet has been previously referred to by other witnesses in the Bain murder retrial in the High Court at Christchurch.

A friend of Laniet's has given evidence that Mr Cottle was blackmailing Laniet over her work as a prostitute and requiring her to have sex with him at least once a week and do "horrible and graphic things".