Stephen Bain was shot through the hand, and his fingers were found partially retracted as though he had grabbed something, a detective told the retrial of David Bain in the High Court at Christchurch today.
David Bain is on trial before Justice Graham Panckhurst and a jury, charged with the murder of five members of his family at their home in Every Street, Dunedin, in 1994.
Detective Michael Bracegirdle told the court Stephen Bain was wearing a t-shirt that he only had one arm in, and it was covered in blood. It was wrapped around his neck, and abrasions on his neck showed that he had been strangled, Christchurch Court News website reported.
His body was covered in blood, which was smeared around his head, face, arms, along his leg and soaked through his hair.
The hand wound had an exit wound, and he had lost a lot of blood as he lay there, Mr Bracegirdle said.
His back had diamond shaped wounds on it.
At post-mortem the pathologist found a deep furrow wound along the top of his skull, and another bullet wound there as well.
Mr Bracegirdle said when he searched Stephen Bain's bedroom the next day, he found metal rectangle handles on a dresser had blood on them and the dresser had blood all over it. One handle was bent upwards.
These appeared to match the diamond-shaped wounds on Stephen's back.
There were short woollen fibres found attached to his fingers and a fragment of a bullet was taken from his skull.
Detective Constable Jacques Legros told the court he examined the bedroom after the body had been removed.
He said there was splattered blood everywhere, furniture was toppled over and it was obvious a violent struggle had taken place.
The police found a bone fragment in the room, a bullet fragment in his pillow on the bed, and the cover of a telescopic sight with a blood smear on it.
Mr Legros will continue his evidence tomorrow.
Earlier, under cross examination by defence counsel Helen Cull QC, Detective Mark Lodge admitted he had been told in his briefing before today's appearance to say he had wrapped Robin Bain's body in a plastic bag before removal to the mortuary and that their were abrasions on his hands.
This evidence was not given at any other trial and no photographs of the abrasions were taken, or notes taken to say where the abrasions were.
He also told the court for the first time that he measured Robin Bain's feet as 27cm in length.
Today he told the court that Robin Bain 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, a tiny abrasion on his left hand, another on the outside of the third finger and on the knuckle of his third finger.
There was also a small abrasion on the back of his right hand surrounded by a bruise, and a splash of blood on the second finger of the right hand.
