Bloody tracks probably Robin's - expert

A scientist says Robin Bain is most likely to have left important bloody sockprints in his family home, while David Bain's lawyers say their own expert testing will show their client could not have made them.

Kevan Walsh, a forensic scientist with Environmental Science and Research (ESR), was called to testify for the prosecution in the murder trial of David Bain in the High Court at Christchurch, but had to agree with the defence yesterday that his tests showed the sockprints lined up better with feet the size of Robin Bain's.

A senior police investigator has stated the sockprints in the hall and a bedroom of the Bain house were likely to have been left by the person who killed the rest of the family.

David Bain, 37, denies murdering his parents and three siblings in his Dunedin home on June 20, 1994. His lawyers say his father, Robin, 58, shot the family before turning the .22 rifle on himself.

Along with the issue of the bloody sockprints, the prosecution also began calling evidence yesterday on another key issue - David Bain's paper round.

The prosecution says David did his paper round on the day of the murders to create an alibi, and was home in time to write a fake suicide message on the computer. But the defence says David arrived to find his family dead and the message was already typed.

The bloody sockprints were found in the family home using luminol - a chemical that reacts with blood and glows. A complete print was measured at 280mm long.

Mr Walsh told the court how he performed tests using bloodied socks on feet about the same length as Robin's (270mm) and David's (300mm). In the case of David, he used his own foot, at 298mm long. Mr Walsh said the testing of his own foot, to mimic David, got an average size sockprint walking on carpet of 297mm, and nothing smaller than 286mm.

With testing of a foot the size of Robin's, Mr Walsh said the average size bloody sockprint was 282mm.

Defence lawyer Michael Reed, QC: "And the conclusion you have drawn from that is ... that a person with a 270mm foot, walking on carpet ... is most likely to leave a print of approximately 280mm?"

Mr Walsh: "Yes."

Mr Reed put it to Mr Walsh that the same method of testing by a defence expert would produce sockprints for a foot exactly the size of David's of nothing less than 300mm.

The court heard from several witnesses yesterday about David's paper round, including Stuart Warrington, who said he used to see David when he left for work about 6.10 every morning.

He confirmed he saw David delivering the papers on June 20 but said he did not see him with his dog as two other witnesses have stated.

Alister McConnell told police he would drop off bundles of newspapers for David to deliver, and sometimes had to wake him up when he did not turn up on time.

Laurence Peeters, a police constable in Dunedin in 1994, told the court he jogged the paper route in about an hour as a "guide" for investigators.

But he agreed he was not carrying newspapers or had an "old dog" running with him. The trial continues.