David Bain Campaign

David Bain was convicted of murdering his entire family in 1995. In 2007, the Privy Council declared he had been the victim of a miscarriage of justice and said he should be retried. The retrial took place in 2009 and David was found 'NOT GUILTY'.

He applied for compensation for the 13 years he spent in prison after being wrongfully convicted. Highly respected Canadian judge, Ian Binnie, was appointed to examine his claim. After a 12 month investigation, Judge Binnie concluded:

“IT IS MORE LIKELY THAN NOT THAT DAVID BAIN IS FACTUALLY INNOCENT... Having regard to the terms of the Cabinet’s ‘extraordinary circumstances discretion’ set out in the Minister’s letter to me of November 10, 2011, it is my opinion that the egregious errors of the Dunedin Police that led directly to the wrongful conviction make it in the interest of justice that compensation be paid.”

Judith Collins requested a peer review of the report and rejected Binnie’s findings. The Government subsequently appointed retired Australian judge, IAN CALLINAN, to conduct a second review. Judge Callinan's conclusions were leaked to the media. On 18 February, the NZ Herald reported:

"A confidential report by a senior judge found he did not meet the threshold of 'innocent beyond reasonable doubt' - the benchmark for 'extraordinary circumstances' required for compensation under previous guidelines." On 2 August, Justice Minister Amy Adams confirmed this is what the judge's report said and announced the Government would not be paying David any compensation and would not give him an apology.

Commenting on the outcome, Stuff political reporter, Tracy Watkins, wrote: "When it discarded the Binnie report, the process looked tainted, like Cabinet was shopping around for a predetermined outcome."

In order to cover David's legal fees in the last six years and deter his legal team from pursuing further legal action, Cabinet offered David $925,000. David and his team agreed.

THIS WEBSITE ENABLES KIWIS LIKE YOU AND ME TO DO WHAT THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD HAVE DONE YEARS AGO - GIVE DAVID A FAIR GO - AND SOME FINANCIAL COMPENSATION FOR THOSE WASTED YEARS IN PRISON.

As the saying goes: 'It's the putting right that counts'.

For more information on every aspect of this case, go to: www.davidbaindonate.nz