Pathologist casts doubts on David Bain gunshot theories

Pathologist Alexander Dempster showed a jury how difficult it would have been for Robin Bain to shoot himself. Photo / The Press

An expert has cast doubt on theories of how Robin Bain might have shot himself, giving evidence that the gunshot wound he suffered was not caused by a "near contact" shot.

Pathologist Ken Thomson told the High Court at Christchurch on Thursday that the rifle used could have been up to 20cm from Robin's head when fired.

David Bain, 37, is on trial for shooting dead his parents and three siblings in the family home on June 20, 1994. His lawyers argue that his father Robin was the killer, and shot himself with the .22 rifle found next to his body.

The defence team have presented photographs showing several possible methods in which Robin, 58, could have placed the rifle against his left temple to inflict the fatal wound.

Another pathologist, Alexander Dempster, told the court this week that he believed the injury Robin suffered was likely an angled "near contact wound", caused by having the silencer attached to the rifle muzzle virtually against the head.

He said he thought suicide was unlikely.

Dr Thomson said on Thursday: "This, in my view, is an intermediate range shot. Not as what's suggested, a near contact wound."

The charring and soot seen in other close contact wounds in the Bain house was absent in Robin's wound, he said.

Test firing by other experts indicated that the rifle would have been "some centimetres away from Robin Bain's head" when fired.

"It could be 16, 18, 20cm away."

Dr Thomson also gave evidence about the effects of three gunshot wounds inflicted on David's Bain sister Laniet while she was in her bed.

Evidence had previously been given about whether Laniet, 18, could have survived long enough to be heard gurgling by David Bain when he says he returned from his morning paper round on the morning of the deaths.

To have gurgled, Laniet would have had to have been still alive, Dr Thomson said.

"She must have been making some sort of respiratory effort.

"If she had ceased to be breathing then there would be no noise unless someone perhaps attempted to move her."

Dr Thomson said of three wounds Laniet suffered, the first was likely a close contact shot to the cheek, which could have rendered her briefly unconscious, but would not be fatal.

He believed she then sat up before being shot above the left ear and on the top of the head while in a "half-sitting, semi-upright position in the bed". Either of these two shots would have been fatal, as both bullets passed through major brain structures.

With the shot to the top of Laniet's head, the rifle had been pushed down firmly on the head, Dr Thomson said.

Defence lawyer Michael Reed, QC, had previously described the shooting of Laniet as an execution by a deranged person.