Bain's sister 'very troubled', court told

David Bain's defence lawyers say the murders were committed while he was on his paper round. Photo / Pool

Laniet Bain referred to her brother David as "my David" and was scared of upsetting him, a court has heard.

A friend of Laniet's told the High Court in Christchurch today that she met David Bain when all three were in an opera production in Dunedin in 1992, and originally thought Laniet and David were boyfriend and girlfriend, rather than siblings.

She said she went on to have a "minor relationship" with David, kissing him several times at a party.

David Bain, 37, is on trial for shooting dead his parents and three siblings in June, 1994, but his defence team say his father Robin murdered the family before turning the .22 rifle on himself. The court has heard from previous witnesses that Laniet, 18, was scared of David prior to the killings.

The friend, whose name is suppressed, said she met with Laniet again in 1993 and she had deteriorated as a person.

She had become very introspective and "quite dark to be around".

"She seemed to be very troubled."

When the friend spoke to Laniet about her family, she said she spoke warmly about them "but in regards to David, her attitude was very strange".

"She often referred to him as `my David'. She said David was very jealous of her other relationships."

Laniet indicated to her friend that David had been hurt by her following the minor relationship, and therefore Laniet was also hurt.

The friend said she laughed it off, but Laniet would keep raising it with her in future meetings.

When she saw Laniet for the last time, five or six months before her death, and she was "not in a good way".

"She was visibly very agitated and upset. And she just didn't seem at all like herself. She seemed very worried. When she was talking, she was shaking a lot."

Laniet seemed to change the topic whenever the friend tried to find out what was wrong, the friend said.

"She just said that things were not so good and she didn't want to tell me any more. She mentioned David again and again and again during that conversation. Just that she was scared of upsetting him and worried about what he might think of different things she was doing. It just seemed obsessive."

The Bain family had earlier moved back to New Zealand from Papua New Guinea, and the friend said Laniet was happy to be back, but David spoke about how much he enjoyed Papua New Guinea and the culture there.

Eric Meder, a friend of Robin Bain's, told the court today that Robin was a genuine guy and friend.

"He was very proud of his family. He did a lot of things with David. And he was very proud of his girls."

The court heard that Robin and his wife Margaret loaned a sum of almost $67,000 to the company run by Mr Meder and his wife Margaret. This money was earmarked to be used later to build a new house for the Bain family, but this never occurred.

Greer Taylor was a school friend of David's sisters Arawa and Laniet, but told the court she knew David through music workshops at university.

When she saw David perform onstage at the workshops, he came across quite differently to the "mild, meek, kind of geeky" person he was usually.

On stage David came across as "very confident, almost egotistical".

"I was quite amazed, quite shocked. I was quite drawn to him."

Ms Taylor said she visited the Bain family home and found the family friendly, but odd.

Another friend of Laniet, whose name is suppressed, earlier told the court that Laniet had revealed to her that she was working as a prostitute.

David Bain, 37, is on trial again for shooting dead his parents and three siblings - Arawa, Laniet and Stephen - in June, 1994, but his defence team say his father Robin murdered the family before turning the .22 rifle on himself.

The friend said that Laniet hated working as a prostitute and was quitting and planning a new start.

"It was not her chosen career path," the friend said.

The friend said it was her understanding that Laniet's father Robin did not know about the prostitution.

The prostitution had led Laniet to smoke cannabis heavily.

The defence say Robin, 58, and Laniet, 18, were involved in an incestuous relationship, and this is a motive for him committing murder.

But the friend said she never noticed anything unusual in the relationship between Laniet and Robin. The pair seemed to get on well and have a warm relationship.

"They seemed to be great mates."

Asked if Laniet got on well with David, she said did not recall Laniet saying anything negative or positive about the relationship.

Previous witnesses have told the court that Laniet was scared of David.

The friend said Laniet moved out of her family's home after speaking about being unhappy there, due to a lot of fights with her mother, Margaret.

Laniet's older sister Arawa, 19, seemed to run the household. Margaret "ruled the roost", but would not do any of the household chores.

Lens evidence

An optometrist this morning told the court that he was shocked to find his change of opinion on important evidence in the murder case against David Bain was not reflected in evidence given in a court.

Gordon Sanderson also told the High Court in Christchurch that he was surprised that other evidence he commented on was never raised in the original murder trial of David Bain in 1995.

Mr Sanderson was asked by police to analyse items taken from the Bain family home, including a lens and a pair of spectacle frames

Police evidence has been given about the spectacle lens being found in the bedroom of David's brother, Stephen, 14, where a violent struggle took place before Stephen was shot dead. David Bain's lawyers have accused former police detective Milton Weir of planting the lens in Stephen's bedroom, which Mr Weir denies.

The prosecution case is that the lens fell from the frames David was wearing during the struggle. The defence say the frames actually belonged to David's mother, Margaret, and the lens could have been in Stephen's bedroom before the killings.

Mr Sanderson today told the court that from his examinations, the lens from Stephen's room belonged to frames that were found sitting on a chair in David's bedroom.

The frames were damaged from the application of "quite decent pressure", powerful enough to displace the lens, Mr Sanderson said.

Mr Sanderson said he was asked to determine who the glasses belonged to, and said his initial view was that they were David's.

This was based on a close resemblance to an earlier prescription of David's, the masculine appearance of the frames, and the fact the frames were found in David's bedroom.

He did have concerns over this finding that the correction in the lenses for a stigmatism did not seem to match with David.

Mr Sanderson told the court his opinion had since changed, and he now believed the glasses belonged to Margaret.

He formed this view after seeing a photograph in 1995 of Margaret wearing the glasses.

Mr Sanderson said he was originally asked by police if David could have worn his mother's glasses "and the penny dropped". Like his mother David was myopic, making it difficult to see into a distance.

Questioned by defence lawyer Michael Reed QC, Mr Sanderson said he believed his change in opinion would be corrected in a change in his evidence at the first murder trial of David Bain in 1995.

He gave evidence at this trial, and to his knowledge his evidence presented to the court had not been changed accordingly. He said this shocked him.

Mr Sanderson agreed with Mr Reed he also had a discussion with Mr Weir about dust on the lens found in Stephen's room.

Dust on the lens could indicate it had been in Stephen's room for some period of time.

Mr Sanderson confirmed Mr Weir said to him words to the effect that the dust was inconsequential. He thought this was an unusual way of dealing with evidence.

Mr Weir has stated this conversation about the dust did not happen, but Mr Sanderson maintained it did.

Mr Sanderson remained concerned about this issue, and later made a statement about it after he mentioned it at a dinner party.

He agreed with Mr Reed it was possible the lens could have been out of the glasses for a significant period of time, but it would have been easy for it to shatter over this time.