Rifle used in Bain killings jammed five times, court told

David Bain is accused of murdering five members of his family in 1994. File photo / Pool

The rifle used in the killing of David Bain's family misfed and jammed five times on the day of the murders, the High Court heard today.

Police armourer Robert Ngamoki studied the Winchester .22 rifle found next to the body of David's father Robin, as well as five-round and ten-round magazines for the rifle.

David Bain, 37, is on trial in the High Court in Christchurch for shooting dead his parents and three siblings.

His defence team says his father Robin shot the family before turning the rifle on himself.

Mr Ngamoki said the rifle was in good condition, but it did misfeed and jam once while he was conducting firing tests with it.

This required reloading of the magazine, manually retracting the bolt and shaking the bullet free, or flicking it out with an object.

He confirmed to prosecutor Cameron Mander that a bullet shown to him, from the Bain family home, had the characteristics of having been misfed and jammed.

Bain's defence team has raised the issue of a misfed bullet in the lounge where Robin's body was found, and have put it to witnesses that Robin would not have stayed still if David had misfired the rifle and been forced to reload and fire again.

Bain's lawyer, Helen Cull QC, said there were five misfeeds in the house on the morning of the killings.

Ms Cull put to Mr Ngamoki that an expert from the United Kingdom would say the rifle was prone to jamming. But Mr Ngamoki said it only misfed once in his experience, and he could not agree.

Mr Ngamoki agreed it would take time in each case to clear the rifle after ammunition had misfed, but this would not necessarily create noise.

Earlier today, forensic pathology professor James Ferris told the court that there were some issues with regard to the position of Robin's body that concerned him.

Professor Ferris raised the possibility that Robin's body was moved after he died of the gunshot.

Large blood "splashes" on a curtain some distance from his body were not a result of the firing of the gun into Robin's skull.

In order to produce these stains, the already sustained wound must have been dripping blood down the curtain, Professor Ferris said.

"The only way these could occur would be if his body had been moved and blood had effectively shaken out of the holes."