Going inside the Every Street, Dunedin, murder scene as officer in charge of Robin Bain's body, Detective Mark Lodge was told that either the father or the son was the murderer, a court was told today.
He noted that the father, Robin Bain -- lying dead next to a .22 rifle in the front lounge - had a smear of blood on the heel of his left thumb, a small smear on the outside of the little finger of his left hand, and abrasions on both hands.
The evidence was given on the 13th day of the retrial of the son, David Bain, on charges of murdering his parents and three siblings at the house in June 1994.
Mr Lodge said the autopsy took about an hour, and he was given two blood samples and a lead, flattened bullet that came from the back of the skull.
Robin Bain's clothing was removed and checked for blood. He had small small splashes of blood on his right leg and inside his right thigh. There was a heavy patch of blood on the hoodie where his head had been lying, and on his right shoulder.
The next day measurements of his feet were taken, fingernail scrapings were done, and a hair sample and fingerprints taken. A swab and smear from his left hand were done the day after that.
Testing on the washing machine in the Bain house was described by an appliance expert, David Preston.
He said the water pipe leading into the washing machine tap was rusty so the water pressure going into the machine was extremely poor. The machine filling with water would have been quiet due to the pressure.
The two tests taken for a wash cycle in the machine took close to an hour each, but in the second test the machine skipped several steps.
He told defence counsel Michael Reed, QC, that the machine on a normal cycle would rest for a minute between the different actions it had to do, and as the timer was quite worn it was possible it could jump a segment of the cycle.
