David Bain and the Black Hands

In June 1994, a family was killed.

Margaret Bain, Robin Bain, and their three children, Arawa, Laniet, and Stephen, were found dead in their dilapidated and ramshackle house in Dunedin, New Zealand. They had all been shot at close range with a rifle. The father was found lying on the floor in the living room, rifle at his side, with a note written on the computer reading “Sorry, you are the only one who deserved to stay”. The only one who deserved to stay was apparently the eldest son, 22-year-old David, who was delivering newspapers during the morning of the killings.

David rang emergency services at 7.09am, in a state of panic. “They’re all dead,” he cried to the operator. “My family: they’re all dead.” police arrived shortly after. Despite initially judging the scene to be a clearcut case of murder-suicide, aspects of David’s story made no sense. Importantly, David could not account for a missing 20–25 minutes of time between his coming home to discover the bodies, and his subsequent call to emergency services. He could also not account for fresh injuries to his hands and face. David was charged and convicted for the murders in 1995, and subsequently acquitted after a retrial in June, 2009.

Over a quarter-century later, the Bain family murders continue to grip the New Zealand psyche and remain one of the small country’s most persistent sources of fascination and debate. A podcast about the murders, Black Hands, was authored by Martin Van Beynen in 2017, and was immensely popular in New Zealand and…