The Binnie Report clearly states that the magazine found next to Robin Bain’s body was empty.
(iv) The Curious Placement of the empty 10 shot magazine
268. An important element of the prosecutor’s argument against suicide (and a point which found favour with the Court of Appeal) is that an empty 10 shot magazine was found close to Robin Bain’s dead right hand on the carpet resting on its narrow, slightly convex edge.
…
271. The Bain argument is that the magazine must have been placed on the floor before Robin’s death because in order to make the fatal shot Robin must have switched the empty 10 bullet magazine for the loaded 5 bullet magazine. Each of the 10 bullets was accounted for elsewhere in the house. When the Police seized the gun it was fitted with a smaller 5 shot magazine. It was a bullet from that 5 shot magazine that killed Robin. The Bain team theory is that Robin put down the empty 10 shot magazine on the flooras he fit the smaller 5 shot magazine to the rifle in preparation for suicide.
And this photo shows that there is a bullet in the magazine next to Robin Bain’s hand.
So what’s the plausible explanation?
1) That Binnie misrepresented the evidence.
2) That the Police photographer didn’t know that the magazine was supposed to be empty.
Police contend it’s not a bullet shown in the photo but a roofing nail.
Laniet – 3 shots, Stephen -2 or 3 shots, Margaret, one shot, Arawa – two shots (first one missed). Total shots fired 8 or 9 (something that can easily be fact checked against the original evidence rather than Binnie’s report) – would explain why there is a bullet left in the 10 round magazine. I would suggest that Binnie got it wrong (and not just on this point). Jumping straight to police fabricating evidence (how does putting the magazine beside Robin fabricate that David did it?) is the mark of the desperate.
If the police were trying to fabricate evidence surely they would put the magazine in the alcove behind the curtain where they claim David shot Robin from (which is incidentally, the same spot where the spent shell casing landed after the fatal shot was fired – yet another miracle of physics if you want to believe Robin committed suicide as Robin would have had to kick the casing under the curtain as be fell)
And whether there was a round left in the magazine or not, it doesn’t implicate either Robin or David more than the other anyway – at best a moot point.
So to answer your question, number 1 looks like the plausible explanation. Number 2 is conspiracy theory rubbish with nothing to substantiate it.
Binnie is so specific it is not credible to say that he made a mistake.
David’s defence made an argument in Court that relied on the magazine being empty. They would only make this argument if they were told that the magazine was empty. If it wasn’t empty the prosecution would have said so.
The spinners at counterspin already knew about this.
Craig
Why did you just make up your own evidence?
You’d do well in the NZ Police.
It’s that kind of thinking that gets results.
Who told you to say that?
Evidence from the trial:
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/48754/laniet-bain-shot-three-times
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/48725/police-describe-bain-death-scenes
Summary of the prosecution case describing the shots fired – backing this up.
http://www.crime.co.nz/c-files.aspx?ID=96
“Binnie is so specific it is not credible to say that he made a mistake.” – you are joking right? He clearly did make a mistake, there is a bullet in the magazine which was sitting on its narrow edge. Highly unlikely it was planted by police investigators, would require a conspiracy of the majority of the Dunedin police as well as one of the responding officers (who would have no more crime scene access afterwards) noted the magazine case on its narrow edge. Are you saying that all the crime scene investigators along with a responding officer colluded to have the magazine placed on its edge to prove David did it? Why would they put it beside Robin then? Your point makes no sense.
http://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/47166/bain-rifle-magazine-find-039unusual039