Over the past three months, TV news has shown the David Bain re-trial. This is his second trial. David has spent 13 years in prison for murdering five members of his family, his mother, father, two sisters and his brother in 1994. David Bain said that he did not do it. He said his father killed them and then shot himself. The re-trial came to an end today when David Bain was found Not Guilty, by a jury of seven women and five men. The jury took only six hours to decide that he was not guilty. The jury has to decide if there is a “reasonable doubt” about who killed the family.
This court case is a very unusual case. David was lucky that a millionaire, Joe Karam, became interested in the case and was sure David was not guilty. Joe was an All Black years ago and since then, has been a successful business man. He wrote two books about David. Joe took the case to the Privy Council in England. This used to be the highest court for New Zealand but we now have our own Supreme Court. The Privy Council did not say that David was innocent but said that there were problems with the first trial, that it had not been fair and David should have another trial.
This court case has been very expensive for the tax payer. It probably cost around $10 million. David can now ask the government for compensation for all those years he has spent in prison. He is now 37 years old, he has no money and has lost all those years of his youth.