David Bain: Free now to dream

SHOWING SUPPORT: The crowd outside the High Court after the verdict

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Until now David Bain has not dared dream about his future.

But now he is a free man, his mind is whirling with possibilities.

Just 18 hours after the jury uttered the two words he had waited 15 long years to hear, Bain, dressed casually in jeans and a brown leather jacket, still appears shell-shocked.

"It hasn't really sunk in," he admits as we walk through the foyer of the Christchurch hotel where he is staying. His stalwart supporter Joe Karam and his legal team have been out for a celebratory breakfast, but Bain has spent the morning closeted in his hotel room, away from the prying eyes of the media.

The 37-year-old is understandably tired. The post-trial celebrations went late into Friday night and even when he did get to bed, he was still wired. "I got a few hours' sleep, but the bulk of the time over the night was spent just contemplating what the future holds."

During the trial he did not dare think too much about what would happen afterwards "my philosophy has always been to prepare myself as realistically as possible and this part I'd always put out of my mind" but now he is free to dream and to plan.

"It's exciting. The future is a blank book for me I have yet to start writing anything down in it."

Before the trial, Bain, who was released from prison in May 2007 after the Privy Council quashed his convictions for murdering his family in Dunedin in 1994, was living in Muriwai, west of Auckland, where he had a fulltime job working as a service manager for a coffee company servicing 50 franchises. He is not sure whether he will return there or even if he will stay in New Zealand.

"I have no idea what the future holds for me. I will take a holiday at some point I have no idea where yet. I'll definitely get out of the rat race and attention and find a bit of space to collect my thoughts. Plans and that type of stuff will come after that."

For the next couple of days at least, Bain, who does not have a girlfriend, will be staying in Christchurch, where his friends have spent much of the last three months virtually camped out at the high court. After the not-guilty verdicts were delivered late Friday afternoon, they traipsed the short journey from the court to Karam's hotel for an impromptu party at which Bain was the guest of honour.

"It was quite touching really, having all the various friends who have got to know me so well over the last 12 to 13 years, and then my friends prior to incarceration, they all came up to the hotel room, the whole legal team, everyone who has been involved in one form or another. It was just fantastic spending this moment with them," says Bain.

Bain had spent most of Friday locked up in a court cell waiting for the seven women and five men on the jury to reach their verdict. He says he found the nearly five-hour wait for a verdict relatively easy.

"The prison officer and I talked about fly fishing, we read magazines, told a few jokes and just chatted normally. The waiting game is not new to me. That part was relatively easy. The hard part was being told the jury had made a decision it was really only the last half hour that was hard."

Bain is almost certain to apply for compensation for the 13 years he spent in prison, but it is not a subject either he or Karam are willing to talk about yet. "That's a matter for the lawyers, not for David," says Karam.

Theoretically Bain will be in line for $1.3m cabinet guidelines indicate about $100,000 a year for wrongful imprisonment and money for other losses if he is found to be eligible for compensation, but it could be months, possibly years, before he sees any of that money.

In the meantime, his friends have set up a fund to help him build his new life and cover his ongoing legal costs.

Contributions to the fund can be made at www.davidbainfund.co.nz. Last night it stood at about $10,000.

- © Fairfax NZ News