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No blood could be seen with the naked eye on rifle that killed the Bain family, the High Court in Christchurch has been told.
After days grilling police about their investigation of the Bain murders in June, 1994, the Bain trial turned a corner this afternoon to deal with scientific evidence.
The evidence started with former ESR scientist Peter Hentschel in the witness box.
Part of his job was to collect blood samples and with the help of fingerprint specialist Kim Jones he identified four fingerprints on the stock of the rifle.
He said he could not see blood on the wood of rifle with the naked eye but under a polilight, which changed the wavelengths of light, he could see blood on the stock.
The rifle was quite extensively smeared in blood but the area of the fingerprints were clear of smearing.
He took blood samples about 5 to 10mm away from the fingerprints to ensure they remained intact for other tests. The way they were deposited meant the hand that had touched the rifle had blood on it.
A sangur test was a pad containing chemicals which reacted with blood and luminol testing involved spraying a surface with the chemical luminol.
Hentschel, who retired in 2005 after a 40-year career working for Environmental and Scientific Research and its predecessors, outlined two tests for blood in the house.
He said luminol testing in Margaret Bain’s room found two partial footprints made by a stockinged right foot and two complete footprints leading into Laniet’s room and out of it. The luminol glowed blue or blue green in the dark when it reacted with blood.
Hentschel said he also examined a green jersey found in the Bain’s washing machine.
One of the complete footprints measured 280mm. The loose weave of the jersey could have made blood smears on two door frames in the house and on a post leading into the kitchen. The loose weave of the jersey could have made blood smears on two door frames in the house and on a post leading into the kitchen.
Weir was today accused of planting a spectacle lens in Stephen Bain’s bedroom.
A tense encounter in the morning session dealt with allegations of planting evidence against former Detective Sergeant Milton Weir, who was the officer-in-charge of the scene of the murders in Every Street Dunedin. The lens popped out of the frame in a fight with Stephen, the Crown alleges.The lens is crucial evidence as the Crown alleges it came from a pair of glasses worn by David Bain as he shot his family.
Reed showed Weir a series of photographs and referred to a gap by a wind jacket near where the lens was found.
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Weir spent yesterday in the witness box being grilled on the Bain investigation and denied deliberately misleading the jury in David Bain’s first trial in 1995 about where he found the lens.Weir categorically rejected the allegation, saying he did not know how the gap had emerged but it was not a result of him planting the lens. He maintained the gap had widened from previous photographs, and put it to Weir that he had put his hand through the gap to plant the lens.Weir agreed and said: “I was sick of the constant investigations.Reed told him his credibility was in issue in the trial and, quoting from an application Weir had prepared for a cash payment when he left the police under early retirement provisions, he said Weir had himself said he was distrusted by fellow officers and constantly under suspicion. . He agreed he had also begun to distrust his own superiors and when he had a performance appraisal with a senior officer before he left the police, he had secretly taped the discussion on a hidden dictaphone.He did not remember his application containing information about a Christchurch officer who had wanted him off an inquiry because of his reputation for dishonesty.Re-examined by Kieran Raftery, for the Crown, Weir said the space between the “real” lens and an optical illusion which he had identified in David Bain’s first trial as the location of the lens was only a “matter of centimetres”. He said other items had also moved slightly between different photographs.He told Raftery he had “perfed” from the police in 1999 and a psychological report was prepared for him based on information he told the psychologist.
In the confidential report he had talked about two police operations where he was the subject of what he regarded as adverse comment.
On the Scott Watson inquiry he was told to keep a low profile by the inquiry head Rob Pope and an officer had joked about him planting evidence. He did not take it as a joke.When doing a review of the Wicked Willies murder investigation originally conducted by the Christchurch police, he had been the subject of a complaint from one of the Christchurch officers who had initially investigated the alleged murder.
Weir said he and his Dunedin team had found shortcomings in the Christchurch police investigation and that had made relations with Christchurch police difficult.
As a result of his review charges were dropped against the murder accused in the Wicked Willies case. ‘HANG BAIN’ In earlier evidence Weir admitted painting “Hang Bain” on his house after he left the police.Weir said he had painted the slogan on plaster in 2002 at his house in Dunedin.”I accept it was inappropriate of me to do that,” he said.The slogan originated at a function he held after the Court of Appeal decision rejecting David Bain’s appeal, he said. He had been under a lot of stress, had given evidence in the Court of Appeal and thought the appeal court decision “could be the end”. Other police officers may have been at the function but he could not remember which ones.Weir was today also referred to an inquiry made by a detective in 1997 of two prostitutes in Dunedin in response to issues raised by Bain’s advocate Joe Karam.Reed told Weir one of the prostitutes called Petra had given the detective, according to the detective’s job sheet, a pair of socks and a private note for “Milton”.Weir told Reed he did not know a prostitute called Petra and was mystified by the socks. He had instructed the detective to make the socks an exhibit. He could not recall the private note.
