David Bain trial: Jurors nervous over gun exhibit

The rifle that the Crown says was used by David Bain to murder his family has been shown in the High Court in Christchurch.

Its presence made some of the jury members laugh nervously before Justice Panckhurst assured them that it was not loaded.

He asked witness Kevin Anderson, a detective at the time of the killings, to check the rifle.

Mr Anderson told the court that it had a trigger lock and a safety mechanism and was not loaded.

Mr Anderson was one of four people to give evidence today at the re-trial of David Bain who is accused of murdering five of his family members in their Dunedin home on June 20, 1994. Bain denies the charges.

Mr Anderson was in charge of the scene in the living room where Robin Bain's body was found.

He said a number of .22 cartridges were found in the room, including two magazines, one still loaded in the gun.

He told the court that the other magazine was standing on its edge on the carpet but was knocked over by a pathologist when he examined the body of Robin Bain.

Another officer, Trevor Thomson, told the court that he catalogued clothing that was on the Bain family clothesline.

The items of clothing, including a green woollen jersey, were entered as exhibits in court today.

The jersey is important to the Crown case.

In the Crown's opening address on March 6, Crown prosecutor Robin Bates said Bain had tried to wash blood out of some of his clothing, including the green jersey, found in the laundry on the morning of June 20, 1994.

"Woollen green fibres were taken from under Stephen [Bain]'s finger nails which match the fibres from the green jersey," Mr Bates said in the Crown's opening address.

Bain's lawyer Michael Reed, QC, said in his opening address on the same day that family photographs, since destroyed, would have proven which Bain family member had worn the jersey and it was not David Bain.

Jenepher Glover was a Detective Constable and put in charge of the scene in David Bain's bedroom.

She told the court today that she found .22 calibre rifle ammunition in Bain's wardrobe and on his bedroom floor.

She also found Bain's walkman on his bed that contained a tape with "Queen" written on it.

Bain told Detective Sergeant Gregory Dunne on the morning of the killings that he had put his walkman on his bed after returning from his paper round.

Mr Dunne, who gave evidence yesterday, said Bain told him that he then discovered the bodies of his mother and father.

Ms Glover also told the court that she found a piece of cardboard with five red circles on it.

The cardboard was entered as an exhibit but the relevance of it was not made clear to the jury.

Milton Weir also finished giving the first part of his evidence today. He told the jury that police found blood stains through-out the Bain house.

Mr Weir was the officer put in charge of the entire scene at 65 Every St in 1994.

He said a luminal test was carried out by an ESR scientist which showed bloody footprints inside the house.

He told the court luminol tests only work in complete darkness and involve spraying a liquid in parts of the scene.

The spray gives off a luminous blue light when it comes into contact with blood.

Mr Weir told the court that the light can be seen for a matter of seconds and up to about a minute.

He said the test began in the laundry.

"I recall the floor being speckled, basically," Mr Weir told the court.

He said the test was also carried out in Stephen Bain's room, where blood could be seen on the carpet.

Mr Weir said police then carried out the test in Margaret Bain's bedroom, where a bloody footprint was found at the foot of the bed.

"It was approximately 24cm long and seems to be a foot without a shoe. The person wearing socks, not bare as toes not visible," Mr Weir read from his notebook from June 20, 1994.

He said another footprint was found heading out of the doorway of the room.

None of the police officers were cross-examined today because they are due to be called to give further evidence.

Bain's lawyer Michael Reed, QC, has told the court that they will be cross-examined at a later date.