David Bain trial: Timing of Bain computer message in dispute

Two crucial minutes were the focus of attention at the David Bain murder retrial in the High Court at Christchurch today.

A computer specialist who was called on by police to track when a message was left on the Bain family computer told the computer that he could only determine how long the computer had been on.

The message "sorry you are the only one who deserved to stay" was likely to have been left by the killer.

When Martin Cox tried to pinpoint the precise time the computer was switched on, he had to rely on the watch of a police officer, which later proved to be about two minutes fast.

There was further contention about how long it took Mr Cox to save the message to the computer's hard disk.

The precise time the message was written is important to the case when compared with the time David Bain arrived home from his paper round on the morning that five of his family bodies were found.

Bain is accused of the murder of his parents and three siblings in their Dunedin home in 1994. He is alleged to have shot dead has his father Robin, mother Margaret, sisters Arawa and Laniet, and brother Stephen.

The defence argues his father Robin Bain carried out the killings and then committed suicide.

Mr Cox, was a software engineer from the University of Otago in 1994, told today's hearing he had worked out when the computer was started on the morning of the killings in June 1994.

He could not work out exactly when the message had been typed, as the time and date had never been set on the computer.

He compared the time that he saved the message with the time the computer thought it was, to calculate that the machine had been turned on 31 hours 32 minutes earlier.

When he had finished, he asked that the watch worn by Detective Kevin Anderson be checked. Mr Anderson recorded the times Mr Cox carried out some of his functions.

Police did not do this until nine days later and did not tell Mr Cox the watch was about two minutes fast.

By the time Mr Cox found out there was a two-minute difference, he had given his evidence at the depositions stage and the trial of Bain.

Bain's lawyer Michael Reed, QC, said the jury in the first trial in 1995 were given a computer turn-on time of 6.44am, when the true time was more likely to be 6.42am.

Mr Reed asked Mr Cox if he had been asked to sign a sworn document that his timings were correct, without being told of the error.

Mr Cox agreed he had.

There was further contention about how long it had taken Mr Cox to save the message.

Mr Reed took Mr Cox through the keys he would have had to pressed one by one and put it to him that it would have taken him a matter of seconds, rather than one to two minutes, with an outside figure of three minutes.

Under re-examination by Crown prosecutor Kieran Raftery, Mr Cox said his earlier estimation of two minutes should be changed to one minute. That would make the turn-on time of the computer even earlier.

Earlier, Mr Anderson showed the jury the blood spattered curtain taken from between the alcove and the lounge where Robin Bain was found.

He described the scene search of Bain's bedroom, saying a large amount of ammunition was found in the bottom of his wardrobe. A large cardboard target was also found in the room.

The target was in court yesterday. It had five large red circles on it and holes through it.

The trial is before Justice Graham Panckhurst and a jury.

- NZPA, NZ HERALD STAFF