Robin Bain supporter: Karam defamation case heading for trial

Joe Karam is suing Kent Parker, the head of the Justice for Robin Bain group, for defamation. Photo / NZPA

The head of a protest group says his legal battle with David Bain supporter Joe Karam is heading to trial.

Mr Karam and members of the Justice for Robin Bain Group were in a settlement conference at the High Court at Auckland yesterday.

The hearing was in Chambers and the media were not been allowed in.

Mr Karam is suing Kent Parker - the head of the group Justice for Robin Bain - for defamation.

Mr Parker told APNZ that there was no settlement at yesterday's conference and the matter was heading for trial.

He said there was another court hearing in two week's time.

Yesterday, a protest outside court attracted three people, including Mr Parker who played his guitar.

Mr Parker said there were 600 people in his group and he was there because of their support.

He hoped there would be a settlement after today's proceeding.

David Bain was convicted in 1995 for the murder of his parents Robin and Margaret, two sisters Laniet and Arawa and brother Stephen in their Dunedin home.

In 2007 the Privy Council quashed his convictions saying there had been a substantial miscarriage of justice and ordered a retrial.

He was found not guilty in June 2009 at the High Court in Christchurch. His lawyers argued that Robin Bain had shot his family before turning the gun on himself while David Bain was out on his newspaper round.

David Bain is expected to be interviewed by retired Canadian Supreme Court judge Justice Ian Binnie in Auckland later this month.

He is in line for a multimillion-dollar payout from the Government if he can prove that "on the balance of probabilities'' he is innocent, and therefore was wrongfully imprisoned for 13 years.