TRIAL BY AMBUSH: THE TRIALS OF DAVID BAIN

Written by Joe Karam, with foreword by Julian Miles QC

 Publication Saturday 11 February 2012  |  NZ RRP $44.99   |  HarperCollins 

I haven't had a chance to read the book yet but here is what the publisher has to say:

 ‘Trial by Ambush is a remarkable book. Essentially there are three themes running through it. The first is the exhaustive analysis of the evidence relied on by the Crown at both trials. Secondly, it is an exploration of how the police and the judicial system failed David Bain. Thirdly, it is a testament to Joe Karam’s tenacity, intelligence and determination to see justice prevail.’ Julian Miles QC

At 7.09 a.m. on 20 June 1994, David Bain called emergency services and reported finding his entire family of five dead. A year later he was convicted of having murdered them in cold blood, with determination and cunning. He was sentenced to life in prison.

However, after 12 years of public controversy, inquiries and appeals, on 10 May 2007 the Privy Council concluded that a substantial miscarriage of justice had occurred and accordingly quashed the convictions and ordered a retrial. For the first time the background to this historic decision is laid bare.

This compelling new book, released NZ-wide today, explores why the miscarriage happened, just how substantial it actually was and why it took 12 years to right this dreadful wrong.

When the evidence heard by both juries is on the table and assimilated in logical fashion as Joe Karam has done in this detailed narrative, the so-called controversy posed by the judge in his summing up - ‘Who did it? David Bain? Robin Bain?’ - will be put to rest once and for all.

Never far from the public eye since kicking the All Blacks to victory at Cardiff in 1972 as a 21-year-old, Joe Karam has been a public advocate for David Bain since 1996. Karam was named by the New Zealand Herald in 2007 and TV3 in 2009 as one of their New Zealanders of the Year, and his assertion that the first Bain trial was a travesty was vindicated by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council and David’s subsequent acquittal.


And story in NZ Herald this am headed -  Police investigation bungled, one-sided says Bain murder book author

And from The Press last month - Book to put to rest Bain case.