David Bain will know by early next month if his bid for acquittal on the five counts of murder he faces for the deaths of his immediate family in Dunedin in 1994 will be heard by the Privy Council.
A preliminary hearing to consider whether to grant Bain's defence team leave to have its application for acquittal heard by the full council would be heard in London on December 8, Bain's lawyer, Michael Reed QC, said yesterday.
Bain's team has asked the council to revisit its decision to quash Bain's previous murder convictions and order a retrial, and acquit Bain before the trial he is set to face in Christchurch in February.
When it was announced the defence group would return to the Privy Council, Bain supporter Joe Karam was reported as saying life on the outside had made Bain lose his appetite for a new trial.
Mr Karam said mixing with a wide cross-section of New Zealanders, who had supported and befriended him, had changed Bain's mind on a new trial.
"His view has changed a lot, actually. When he was in prison he really and truly wanted a new trial and a jury to acquit him.
"Now that he has been outside 18 months, he has mixed with a large section of the public and has not had one bad experience.
"He thinks that really, whatever some court says now, it doesn't make any difference because he knows he can live in the community without any problems."
The Court of Appeal will hear a number of appeals against pre-trial rulings in December.
Bain, then 23, was found guilty in May 1995 of murdering his mother Margaret, father Robin, sisters Arawa (19) and Laniet (18), and brother Stephen (14).
He has been fighting his convictions since.
He was freed last year after the Privy Council quashed his convictions and recommended a retrial.
