STORY: "More fingerprints clear David Bain - Karam," by online reporter Dylan Moran, publshed by 3 News on July 11, 2013.
GIST: "Police have responded to claims by David Bain supporter Joe Karam police misled the public with evidence supporting the theory Robin Bain shot his family. At a media conference this afternoon, Mr Karam
released another set of fingerprints supporting the idea that gunpowder
residue was visible on Robin Bain's hand. He said it was "extremely mischievous" of police to
allege a "blotchy white area" of fingerprints to be cuts and said if
Assistant Police Commissioner Malcolm Burgess is found to have
deliberately put up the evidence showing markings instead of those
without them, he should lose his job. Police say the fingerprints released today were
determined to be of inadequate quality, which is why the second,
blotchy, fingerprints were taken by an expert. "That fingerprint expert then took two further sets
of prints on 22nd June 1994. These are the quality prints which have
always been relied on in this case by fingerprint experts," a police
spokesman said in a statement. This afternoon, before the police made the claim, Mr Karam pre-emptively dismissed it. "It doesn't matter how ineffective or how inexperienced [the detective] is, he can't make perfect ridges appear," he said. "Regardless of their various expertise or
experience, anyone looking at this can see that the proposition that
those lines in this photo could be cuts or damaged is completely
disproven by these fingerprints.""
The story can be found at:
http://www.3news.co.nz/More-fingerprints-clear-David-Bain---Karam/tabid/423/articleID/304619/Default.aspx
See Wikipedia account: "Bain maintained his innocence, and thus began a lengthy campaign to have his case reheard, spearheaded by former All Black Joe Karam. According to one of his friends, media commentator Paul Holmes, Karam was appalled at the way the family, the Police and the Fire Service arranged to burn the Bain house down. He felt something was wrong with the case and began to study the evidence presented at the original trial. He went to visit Bain in prison in Christchurch and subsequently visited him over 200 times. Over the next 13 years, Karam wrote four books about David Bain's
case and helped him in his numerous appeals against his convictions. The
first appeal was made to the New Zealand Court of Appeal in 1995 but
the Court refused to even hear it on the grounds that "the Crown case
appeared very strong and the defence theory not at all plausible".
New Zealand did not have a Supreme Court at that time, so in 1996 Bain
made his first appeal to the Privy Council in Britain. However, the
Privy Council also declined to hear the case. In June 1998 David Bain petitioned the Governor-General for a pardon.
The Governor-General passed the application on to the Ministry of
Justice which conducted an investigation into new information presented
by the defence team. In 2000, Bain received his first ray of hope when
Justice Minister Phil Goff said the investigation had shown that "a
number of errors" may have occurred in the Crown's case against him[ and some aspects of the case were referred back to the Court of Appeal.
In September 2003, those hopes were dashed when the Court of Appeal
examined the new evidence but decided once again that a retrial was not
needed - on the grounds that it would not have changed the jury's
verdict. Bain's legal team made a second appeal to the Privy Council and, in
March 2007, Karam and the team travelled to London to lay out nine
arguments why his convictions should be quashed.
One of the nine points concerned Robin Bain's mental state and
potential motive. Reliable witnesses said Robin had been depressed, and
living alone in squalid conditions in a caravan. Journals in his office
at the school where he taught were found to contain stories about the
mass murder of a family. The Privy Council wrote: "Many of those facts
are highly contentious and the evidence could well have influenced the
jury's assessment of them... If the (original) jury found Robin to be
already in a state of deep depression and now... facing the public
revelation of very serious sex offences against his teenage daughter,
they might reasonably (have) concluded that this could have driven him
to commit these acts." The Privy Council concluded that: "In the opinion of the board, the
fresh evidence adduced in relation to the nine points... taken together,
compels the conclusion that a substantial miscarriage of justice has
actually occurred in this case."
The Privy Council quashed his convictions and ordered a retrial. Bain
was released from prison and bailed to live with Joe Karam."http://www.3news.co.nz/More-fingerprints-clear-David-Bain---Karam/tabid/423/articleID/304619/Default.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Bain
See TV New Zealand story: "Police request original Robin Bain fingerprints following 'new evidence." ..." Multiple sets of fingerprint images taken of Robin Bain's hands are set to be examined by police, following further claims of missed evidence. David Bain supporter Joe Karam today claimed that a comparison of two sets of fingerprint samples taken on consecutive days after the 1994 murders show inconsistencies in police evidence. In response to the claim, Assistant Commissioner Malcolm Burgess slated Mr Karam for approaching the media before the police, and said that police have applied for access to all of the original sets of prints taken of Robin Bain's fingers in the days after the murders.........This evening, Mr Burgess attempted to clarify the apparent discrepancy, saying: "The fingerprints of Robin Bain taken on 21st June 1994 and released by Mr Karam today were taken by a detective. These were examined by a police fingerprint expert at the time who determined they were not of adequate quality. "That fingerprint expert then took two further sets of prints on 22nd June 1994. These are the quality prints which have always been relied on in this case by fingerprint experts." He said police have applied to examine all sets of the original fingerprints taken, but even after being studied by an expert a conclusive answer may not be found. "Police have made it clear there could be several possibilities to explain these marks. Right now any explanation for them remains a theory," he said. "Whilst it is hoped the examination will provide greater clarity, it also remains a real possibility that even after the originals have been examined there will still be no definite conclusion regarding the marks.""
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/police-request-original-robin-bain-fingerprints-following-new-evidence-5505957
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
Dear reader: Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog. We are following developments relating to this case;
I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.
The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at:
http://www.thestar.com/topic/
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.
Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com
Harold Levy: Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
