Princess Diana's pathologist called as Bain witness

The pathologist who did the post-mortem examination of Princess Diana after she was killed in a car crash 12 years ago is to be called as a defence witness in David Bain's retrial for the murder of five of his family.

This was revealed today by defence counsel Michael Reed QC during his cross-examination of Dunedin pathologist Alexander Dempster about the likelihood of Robin Bain having shot himself after killing his wife and three of his children in 1994.

The Crown says the surviving family member, 37-year-old David Cullen Bain shot all five, but the defence says Robin Bain was responsible for the murders then committed suicide.

Dr Dempster demonstrated to the High Court in Christchurch yesterday how difficult it would have been for Robin Bain to have held the rifle to achieve the trajectory of the bullet through his skull.

With a similar build and armspan to the right-handed Robin Bain, DR Dempster said he could not have pulled the trigger using his right hand and could only just reach it with the middle finger of his left hand.

Today Mr Reed showed Dr Dempster a series of photographs of tests done in the UK using the same rifle and the helmet with a steel rod used by Dr Dempster yesterday. Those photographs showed it was possible for a person with a slightly shorter arm span than Robin Bain's to fire the gun if they were standing and had one foot on a chair.

And Mr Reed also said two pathologists, one from Melbourne and Dr Chapman who carried out the post-mortem on Princess Diana would give evidence to say the particular wound site - the left temple - was not an unusual one as Dr Dempster told the court. The left temple was the site elected by one in 20 of right handed people shooting themselves, while one in eight shoot themselves in same site as Robin Bain.

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