Bain to ask Privy Council to acquit him

DAVID HALLETT/The Press

CALL FOR ACQUITTAL: David Bain's lawyers are to ask the Privy Council to recall the decision it delivered last December that Bain should be retried for the murder of his father, mother, two sisters and a brother in Dunedin in 1994.

Relevant offers

Multiple murder accused David Bain wants to go back to the Privy Council in England to have the murder charges against him dismissed.

Bain's lawyers said after new evidence arose, they would file papers this week asking the Privy Council to recall the decision it delivered last year that Bain should be retried for the murder of his father, mother, two sisters and a brother in Dunedin in 1994.

The papers would ask the Privy Council to acquit Bain of the murder charges he still faces after the council earlier said there had been a substantial miscarriage of justice and a new trial should be held.

That trial was due to begin in February next year.

Bain was released from prison in May last year after serving 13 years.

Bain's leading supporter, former All Black Joe Karam, said the new evidence was not available when the legal team first argued the case in front of the Privy Council.

He would not say what the new evidence was.

"We are not supposed to be talking about the evidence."

However, he said the new information was compelling enough to convince the legal team to file the application with the Privy Council.

"It is not just one piece of evidence. There are specific pieces of forensic evidence and there is quite a lot of other things which render a retrial, as it is called, impractical."

He said the documents had gone to England "but they haven't actually been filed in the Privy Council as yet".

He would not say if the Privy Council would hear the application.

"I don't want to comment on that. I don't know. The Privy Council can do just about whatever it likes.

"The heartening thing is that we might not have to all endure the difficulties of this retrial process."

Mr Karam said Bain had been working full time virtually since his release in May last year.

The Privy Council said in its ruling a substantial miscarriage of justice had occurred.

"At any retrial it will be decided whether the appellant is guilty or not, and nothing in this judgment should influence the verdict in any way," the Privy Council said in its ruling.

 - NZPA