Witness reports 'strange dynamics' in Bain family

An Opera Live friend of David Bain has told the High Court in Christchurch the fact there were ''strange dynamics'' within the Bain family was well known among opera and musical groups in Dunedin.

The witness, who was granted name suppression, attended Bayfield High School with David Bain, who was a year ahead of him, and Arawa, who was a year behind. He had also met the rest of the Bain family through music and musical productions and he and David remained friends after they left school.

His last visit to the Bain house would have been around early April 1994 when Bain was outside gardening. They would talk generally about music and other matters and there had been discussions with various people about the difficulties in the Bain family dynamics. The discussions had not just been with David Bain, the witness said. He had spoken with Laniet during music productions and the people in Opera Live and other groups knew the family was dysfunctional.

The witness was giving evidence on the 34th day of 37-year-old David Bain's retrial for the murder of his parents, Robin and Margaret, sisters Arawa and Laniet and brother Stephen at the family home on June 20, 1994.

He also told Justice Panckhurst and the jury he and Bain had gone shooting rabbits early in 1994. Bain had not talked about going shooting with any other family members. On one occasion at the house, the accused had shown him his Winchester .22 rifle which had a silencer and a trigger. He also told him he kept a key to the trigger lock in a vase or container in his bedroom but he did not point to where it was.

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