30 years on from infamous family killings, Herald podcast revisits Bain massacre

The Bain family (clockwise from left) Robin Irving Bain, Margaret Arawa Cullen Bain, Laniet Margaret Bain, Arawa Mary Bain and Stephen Robin Bain. Photos / Supplied
This month marks the 30th anniversary of the Bain family murders.
On June 20 1994, Margaret and Robin Bain, their teenage daughter Arawa and Laniet and their son Stephen were all shot at close range at the family home in Dunedin.
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”.
Investigators initially suspected Robin had killed his family before taking his own life.
But four days after he made the now-infamous 111 call, David Bain was charged with murdering his parents and siblings.
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.
After a controversial High Court trial in 1995, a jury found Bain guilty on all five counts of murder.
He was sentenced to life in prison.
But, he maintained his innocence and after a battle spanning more than two decades a retrial was ordered.
That went ahead at the High Court at Christchurch in 2007 and after four months of hearing evidence, the second jury acquitted Bain, finding him not guilty of the five murders.
In A Moment In Crime – The House of Bain the Herald speaks to people involved in the case and those with expert opinions on why Bain and the grisly event have become embedded in New Zealand culture.
The podcast is written and hosted by senior crime and justice reporter Anna Leask. It is produced by Leask, NZME audio engineer James Irwin and podcast production manager Ethan Sills.
Part one of A Moment In Crime – The House of Bain was released in May.
A number of key players in the case had their words read by actors in this episode – Glenn Dwight provided the voice of David Bain, George Heard voiced Dean Cottle and Kurt Bayer voiced the juror from the first trial. NZME audio engineer Tash Chittock assisted with recording.
The episode references television news reports that featured on various iterations of 6pm news bulletins on TVNZ and Newshub. These are mostly taken from court coverage, which can still be found on YouTube.
Episodes of A Moment In Crime are usually released monthly and, so far, Leask has covered more than 50 cases including the murders of Grace Millane, Scott Guy, Austin Hemmings, Carmen Thomas, Karen Aim; the deaths of the Kahui Twins, the Edgeware Rd murders, the Christchurch House of Horrors and the massacres at Raurimu and Aramoana.
Last year, a three-part special covered the case of rich lister and philanthropist James Wallace who was convicted of sexually assaulting three men and was jailed and had his knighthood stripped from him as a result.
A Moment In Crime has topped the overall and true crime charts on numerous occasions, and has listeners in more than 80 countries.
The podcast won a silver award in the true crime category at the inaugural New Zealand Podcast Awards in 2021.
You can listen to all episodes of A Moment in Crime on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
If you have a crime or case you’d like to hear more about, email [email protected]
Anna Leask is a Christchurch-based reporter who covers national crime and justice. She joined the Herald in 2008 and has worked as a journalist for 18 years with a particular focus on family violence, child abuse, sexual violence, homicides, mental health and youth crime. She writes, hosts and produces the award-winning podcast A Moment In Crime, released monthly on nzherald.co.nz