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Dr Philip Brinded.
A forensic psychiatrist who examined murder accused David
Bain told the High Court at Christchurch today that his
diagnosis did not assist in proving guilt or innocence.
Dr Philip Brinded told the trial that Bain -- on trial
charged with the murder of the other five members of his
family -- -- suffered from acute stress reaction which over
time developed into post traumatic stress disorder.
He said he was asked to examine Bain after the killings to
ascertain whether he was suffering from a mental disorder,
and, if so, whether it was relevant for a defence of
insanity.
Dr Brinded was giving evidence in the trial before Justice
Graham Panckhurst and a jury. Bain denies charges of
murdering his parents and three siblings at their family home
in Every Street, Dunedin, in June 1994.
He said he met Bain when he was on remand in Dunedin prison
in early July 1994.
Dr Brinded said he had two lengthy interviews with him, and
Bain was extremely distressed at times, and was quite
difficult to interview.
He had no previous signs of a mental disorder, or a
personality disorder, so there was nothing to
suggest that leading up to the killings he was suffering from
a mental illness, he said.
Bain would discuss past history, but when talking about the
loss of his family and what he remembered on that day, he
became distressed and at times incoherent.
He was suffering from acute stress reaction, which over time
developed into post traumatic stress disorder, Dr Brinded
said.
The disorder was consistent with emotional detachment,
failing to display normal emotional responses and then
becoming extremely distressed and unable to function.
He would go to some lengths to avoid talking about the
events, or beginning to describe them.
In 1996 Bain was in Paparua Prison and asked Dr Brinded to
visit him.
Dr Brinded said he found him distressed, with post traumatic
stress disorder and depression. He was having difficulty
coping with the deaths of his family and prison life.
He became his treating psychiatrist and saw him every two to
three weeks for about three years, then four to six weeks for
the next two years. From 2001 he had been visiting him two to
three times a year.
He said that this was an unusual situation as he was an
expert witness for the first trial, but that he had now
become Bain's treating psychiatrist.
He said Bain had waived his medical privilege so that he
could give his evidence at the present trial.
When cross-examined by crown prosecutor Kieran Raftery, Dr
Brinded said that his diagnosis did not assist in proving
guilt or innocence.
Joanna Dunn told the court her family had a visit from the
Bain family in 1978.
When she and Margaret Bain were on their own, Margaret told
her that she was worried about her husband Robin.
She said his depression was so extensive and was hard to
understand, Mrs Dunn said.
The defence has argued that Robin Bain shot dead his wife,
two daughter and younger son Stephen before turning the rifle
on himself.
Dr Harold Love was a director of the Otago University's
classic department productions.
He told the court that on the Sunday before the killings
David Bain attended a rehearsal
for a play he was directing.
He said Bain was relaxed, convivial and horsing about with
the other members of the chorus.
Ambulance officer Robert Cooper told the court that when he
went to the house in Every Street after the killings, David
Bain was sitting at the foot of his bed with a blanket around
him. Mr Cooper said Bain was in a very distressed state.
He was not reacting to anything outside of himself,
whimpering, crying and shaking.
