David Bain trial: Officer describes scene of bodies, Bain inside house

David Bain in court today. Pool photos

The Sergeant who was one of the first people to arrive at the murder scene has described how police found five bloodied bodies and a distressed man inside the Bain family home.

Sergeant Murray Stapp told the High Court in Christchurch that he arrived on the morning on June 20, 1994 after being told the ambulance service had a call from a man who said his whole family was dead.

After pulling up outside the Bain home, Mr Stapp took a revolver from a safe inside his police car and walked through the front gate with two other police officers.

He told the court this afternoon that one officer began talking to a distressed David Bain through a window but Bain would not open the front door.

Another officer tried to kick the door down before Mr Stapp smashed a glass panel in the door with a piece of firewood, reached around, and undid the latch.

He said police treated the scene as dangerous and with his gun raised, Mr Stapp ran into the room where David Bain lay in the fetal position.

"I ran up to him, I had my revolver in the extended position, he was crying: They are all dead, they are all dead - or words to that effect," Mr Stapp said.

Mr Stapp told the court how he and another officer began searching the Bain home.

He told the court that he used his revolver to part a bead curtain and saw the body of a woman on a bed.
Police later learned it was the body of Bain's mother, Margaret.

He said there was a dog next to Margaret's bed.

Mr Stapp said the dog barked at him and he spoke to the dog to try and calm it down.

He said after finding the body of Margaret, he and another officer checked another room at the end of the hallway before moving downstairs.

Mr Stapp described how he still carried his revolver in his righthand "covering" the other officer as the two moved downstairs to the kitchen area.

"I had no idea what I was dealing with. No idea if anyone there was a threat to me or the accused as he is now," Mr Stapp said.

He said his sense of smell and hearing was "acutely heightened" because of a potential threat to his safety being in the house.

"Your vision often tunnels somewhat but it is heightened as well," Mr Stapp said.

Mr Stapp told the court that an initial check of the downstairs was done but no body was found.

However on returning upstairs he was told by another officer that there were meant to be six people in the house.

The body of Robin Bain had been glimpsed through a window from the outside, lying next to a rifle and police had found the bodies of Stephen and Laniet Bain, shot in their bedrooms.

Mr Stapp said he and the other officer went back downstairs and it was then that they found another room, with a bead and chain curtain.

He told the court that he parted the curtain with the barrel of his revolver or a torch.

"I could see blood on her head and the blood in the photograph," he said referring to a book of police photographs he had in front of him on the witness stand.

"She was quite clearly dead," Mr Stapp said.

He also described looking into the rooms upstairs where the bodies of the other Bain family members were.

He said he saw the body of Laniet in bed.

"There was a lot of blood in the area of the side of her head. She was quite clearly dead," he said.

Mr Stapp said he looked into Stephen Bain's room and although he could not see the boy's face, he could tell he was dead.

He said there was a lot of blood in the room and it was untidy.

Mr Stapp told the court that he went back into the room where David Bain was.

He said Bain was in the fetal position and lying still. A short time later Bain had what Mr Stapp described as a seizure or fit.

Mr Stapp said Bain's body was jerking.

"Not overly so, he wasn't all over the place like you see on television," Mr Stapp said.

Bain then fainted and Mr Stapp called for ambulance officers to be allowed into the house.

Bain's lawyer Helen Cull, QC, began cross examining Mr Stapp late this afternoon and will continue tomorrow morning.