The House of Bain - Part One: They're All Dead

A Moment In Crime

On June 20 1994 five members of the Bain family were found shot dead in their home at 65 Every Street, Dunedin.

Margaret and Robin Bain, their teenage daughter Arawa and Laniet and their son Stephen were all shot at close range.

Just after 7am David Bain - Margaret and Robin's oldest child - called emergency services to report the ghastly scene. He said he had come home from his morning paper run and found them all dead.

Days later Bain was charged with five counts of murder and after a high-profile trial a jury found him guilty.

He maintained his innocence and fought for decades for a retrial, which finally went ahead in 2007.

A second jury acquitted Bain, finding him not guilty of the five murders.

The case is arguably New Zealand's most talked about massacre and over the years has become morbidly iconic.

To mark the 30-year anniversary of the mass killing A Moment In Crime presents The House of Bain, a two-part telling of the case.

CLICK HERE for further New Zealand Herald coverage of this case

For David Fisher's interview with the juror from the first trial click here

A Moment In Crime is an NZME podcast written and hosted by Anna Leask, senior crime and justice reporter for the New Zealand Herald.

The podcast is produced by Leask, NZME audio engineer James Irwin and podcast production manager Ethan Sills.

A number of key players in the case had their words voiced by actors - Glenn Dwight as David Bain, George Heard as Dean Cottle and Kurt Bayer as the juror from the first trial. NZME audio engineer Tash Chittock assisted with recording.

This episode features references to television news reports from various iterations of 6pm news bulletins on TVNZ1 and Three. These are mostly taken from court coverage, which can still be found on YouTube.

Part two of A Moment In Crime - The House of Bain will be released in June.

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