The bullet wound that killed Robin Bain was "very unusual" for a self-inflicted injury, a Dunedin pathologist told a High Court murder trial jury in Christchurch yesterday.
A gunshot wound to the top of Laniet Bain's head was "extraordinarily large", with major damage at the point of entry, a specialist pathologist yesterday told the jury hearing David Bain's retrial for the murder of his family almost 15 years ago.
An officer involved in the search of 14-year-old Stephen Bain's bedroom in 1994 said yesterday he had not seen former detective sergeant Milton Weir "plant" a spectacle lens in the room and did not believe Mr Weir would "stoop that low".
Forensic pathologist Alex Dempster has told the Bain retrial jury today Stephen Bain was strangled with his own t-shirt to the point where he was unable to fight and was then shot through the top of the head.
A police officer who helped former Detective Sergeant Milton Weir search 14-year-old Stephen Bain's bedroom in 1994 said today he had not seen Mr Weir ''plant'' a spectacle lens under an ice skating boot and did not believe the other officer would ''stoop that low''.
A forensic blood expert told the Bain retrial jury in Christchurch yesterday blood staining on one of David Bain's white sports socks could have resulted from contact with blood on the floor rather from airborne blood as he testified earlier.
Forensic consultant Peter Cropp has today agreed blood staining on one of David Bain's white sports socks could have been caused by contact with blood on the floor rather than by airborne blood.
Sustained attack by the defence on former ESR scientist Peter Hentschel continued yesterday on the 18th day of David Bain's murder retrial in the High Court in Christchurch.
Blood on a pair of David Bain's socks was from either Laniet or Stephen Bain, a forensic scientist told the High Court in Christchurch yesterday.
A next door neighbour saw the words ''hang Bain'' on a wall of the Maori Hill home of a former Dunedin police officer in 2002, the Christchurch High Court jury hearing David Bain's retrial was told today.
Former ESR scientist Peter Hentschel has come under continued criticism from defence counsel in the David Bain retrial today for inadequate record-taking when he took blood samples from a rifle used in the killing of five members of the Bain family in 1994.
The size of the foot that left bloody sock prints on carpet in the Bains' Every St home was the focus of much of the cross-examination of a former ESR scientist at the Bain murder retrial in Christchurch yesterday.
Retired forensic scientist Peter Hentschel has told the Bain retrial jury in Christchurch, he found no particles he could say were gunshot residue particles on skin from Robin Bain's hands.
Material from the confidential psychological report prepared before he took early retirement in 1999 was yesterday used against a key officer in the Bain murder investigation.
Blood on the barrel and silencer of a .22 rifle found near the body of Robin Bain was "of human origin", a former ESR forensic scientist with 40 years' experience told the David Bain retrial jury in the High Court at Christchurch yesterday.
The police officer in charge of the overall crime scene at the Bain family home in June 1994 "had an open mind" early in the investigation about whether police were faced with four murders and a suicide or five murders, a Christchurch High Court jury heard yesterday.
Jurors hearing the David Bain retrial were yesterday faced with more complex technical evidence about the calculations used to try to establish the time the Bain family computer was switched on the morning five of the family were shot.
At the end of 10 days of David Bain's retrial for the 1994 murders of his family, evidence has been completed from 40 of the Crown's 150 witnesses.
David Bain's mother, Margaret, did not die immediately from the single gunshot wound above her left eye, but survived long enough to inhale blood into her lungs, a Christchurch High Court jury was told yesterday.
The crucial question of exactly when a computer was switched on in the Bain house the morning five of the family were shot was the focus of intensive cross-examination in the High Court at Christchurch yesterday.
