KEY POINTS:
The Crown today set about systematically dismantling new evidence presented by the defence yesterday to the Privy Council in convicted murderer David Bain's appeal.
Solicitor-General David Collins QC began presenting the crown's case in London today to prove that the New Zealand justice system had got it right when it found Bain guilty of the 1994 killings of five members of his family near Dunedin.
Bain, then 23, was found guilty in May 1995 of murdering his mother Margaret, his father Robin, sisters Arawa, 19, and Laniet, 18, and brother Stephen, 14. All had died from .22 gunshot wounds to their heads.
Dr Collins kicked off by dismissing the claim made by Bain's legal team yesterday that the gun used in the murders had misfired before a final shot killed Bain's father Robin.
Michael Reed QC, representing Bain, had told the court that the misfired bullet ended up next to Robin's body.
This proved that he had not been murdered by someone else because he would have heard the click of the misfiring and would have reacted in self-defence.
Dr Collins said any such misfiring could have happened before Robin Bain entered the room where he eventually died, or even after the fatal shot had been fired.
He also dismissed yesterday's evidence that a bloody footprint left at the house was too small to be David Bain's.
Dr Collins presented detailed forensic evidence to show that a 300mm foot, allegedly the size of David Bain's, could leave behind a 280mm print -- about the size of the print left at the house, and that of Robin Bain.
Dr Collins said David Bain had not let police measure his feet at the time of the initial inquiry, and that the 300mm measurement was taken by long-time Bain supporter Joe Karam.
It was not known exactly how his foot was measured or whether he was standing or sitting at the time, as this could make a difference to the result.
Bain's legal team has maintained that his father Robin killed the other family members before committing suicide.
Dr Collins told the hearing that, based on forensic experiments conducted after the killings, there was "a 0 per cent chance" that the magazine from the gun used in the killing could have ended up balanced in the position that it was found in, next to Robin's body, if he had been holding the gun himself.
Bullet trajectories and blood spatters were also inconsistent with the theory of suicide, he said.
They instead proved that he was shot by somebody else.
Dr Collins told the Law Lords that the New Zealand justice system had "gone to extraordinary lengths" to ensure that Bain had been tried fairly and that the case against was based on a "significant" amount of evidence.
Bain is serving a life sentence with a minimum non-parole period of 16 years.
- NZPA
