David and Goliath: The Bain family murders

by Joe Karam

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, True Story, Crime

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Karam was born in Taumarunui to a Lebanese father and an Irish mother. He grew up on the family farm near Raurimu and attended St. Patrick's College, Silverstream.

He is a New Zealand former representative rugby footballer who played for the All Blacks. After retiring from rugby, he became a businessman. However, he is most notable for waging a successful 15-year campaign to have David Bain's convictions for murder overturned, and a subsequent campaign seeking compensation for him.

He has written four books about the Bain Case.

abridged from Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Claire · Rating 2 out of 5]

I want to read the new book about the Bain murders so I’ve gone back to read some earlier books on the murders as prep. Like a good social scientist, I’ve read book the present different perspectives and conclusions about this controversial case. For this reader, I didn’t find Karam’s case overly convincing in light of the balance of evidence, but I’m interested to see how his points are addressed in a newer text.

[Donna Halloran · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was not very well written - clearly he is not a writer or a lawyer - but it was a very interesting story. It was recommended to me as this was headline news in new zealand for years and the individual recently was released from prison. Not a bad read.

[One Flew · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book for anyone interested in the David Bain case. Though I didn't agree in the slightest with Karam's conclusions that it is certain that Bain is innocent. If you weigh all the evidence impartially David Bain is almost certainly guilty.

[Frances Duncan]

Not the best idea to start the book with what happened and then spend the rest of the book trying to convince the reader of something else. The writing made it impossible for me to finish unfortunately.

[Skye Andrews · Rating 4 out of 5]

living in New Zealand it was a must read. even now he is out there is still the debate on whether he is innocent or not.

[Fiona Hurst · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought provoking

[Selina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got to reading this book finally. Joe Karam the author put Davids appeal to the privy council in London in an attempt to get justice, as he believed David was innocent, but he still spent 12 years in jail before he was finally freed. This book was published 2 years after the murders. It was reprinted in 2007 when David finally was freed. It investigates the case, and the evidence provided, and the false evidence given to the jury to skew the case that the police bungled their securing of the crime scene and didnt do it till three hours after theyd already gome through and messed up the house where the bodies were. It also told how the defense attorney failed to really defend David, since he was a student at the time and wasnt even thinking he was a suspect that needed a lawyer.

The clear motive for the crime and...most people agree that the father did it, was that his daughter told a witness she was moving back home and to come clean about her incestous relationship with her dad, she had been involved in prostitution and was going to change her life by moving back home. The dad snapped and killed everyone except David while he was out on paper run, using Davids rifle (that hed used to shoot rabbits. ) but then shot himself, and left a message on the computer saying 'you were the only one who deserved to stay' .

The police decided to charge David by claiming he did it and tried to frame his father. But he couldnt have turned on the computer as he was out of the house at the time.

Anyway the case was presented in this book and although it repeated a lot and went into great detail, why the Crown decided to charge David is a mystery. He was shocked and traumatised and couldnt remember a lot of what happened that day, yet fully coorperated with the police in answering all their questions.

Also it had some grisly photographs of the crime scene, which I hastily skipped over. We get some of the background and bio of the family...the mother seemed like a dominant woman and the dad, surprsingly, was a missionary in papua new guinea. David really had no motive to kill his family he was a student studying classical music and liked running.

Another unanswered quesrion was why the rest of the extended family did not come forth giving evidence, it was the uncle burning the house down, but maybe they didnt want dirty laundry aired and probably David had no idea his dad was molesting his sister. But interstingly the book The dad was reading at the time of the murders was crime novelist Agatha Christie, called Death is the End.

[Shelly Lewis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Back in the day at high school, we had a few beefcake teens aiming for rugby superstardom. Not one of them was also juggling a talent for journalism or law.

It seems Joe Karam, the ex-All Black who tied himself to the Bain case, was in a similar vein.

But no matter! Story structure and a lack of legal experience doesn't count when you have some real good, solid, mind-blowing evidence of a huge miscarriage of justice to present to the world, as Karam clearly believes he does.

I read this book as a teenager. I'd never read a true crime book before. I'd never seen a crime scene photo. I was scandalised. I believed every argument presented

However.

I have grown and matured in my exploration of true crime (and this case) and I now recognise the difference between possible and probable.

Is it possible that a bird will fly through my open door, peck my eyes out and leave me permanently blinded? Sure. There's birds out there right now. Sometimes they even get in the house. I've heard they like eyes because they're soft and peckable.

Is it probable? No.

Maybe there is proof out there that David Bain is innocent, but it's not in this book. It's a series of arguments of what if THIS happened and then THAT happened? It's possible!

But sorry, Joe - not probable.

[Zeep92 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I usually don’t write reviews on here, but feel this book warranted one.

This novel provides context for the “did he, didn’t he?” discussion regarding David Bain’s innocence. Like many other reviewers, I don’t believe the book provides sufficient information to prove innocence, but it certainly shows that he should not have been found guilty through the standard course of justice.

Shoddy police work, average defence and what appears to be a trial by media, this was not the right way to convict someone. This novel certainly piques your interest and has you discussing the case with those around you.

However: the writing. I commend Joe Karam for his work investigating and putting this together, but perhaps working with a ghost writer would have been in his best interest. The book jumps around a lot, can be very repetitive in parts and is generally quite difficult to follow.

I would not have continued reading beyond the first few pages had it not been for the externally influenced interest in the story.

Still worth a read if you are interested in the finer details of the case, just prepare yourself for a bit of a struggle.

[Shane Bennett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Watched Blank Hands TV series and wished to learn more. I knew this book was biased towards David Bain. I learnt alot about the evidence and mistakes made. The Police could have done much better gathering evidence (gunshot residue, blood testing) but Mr Karam makes big leaps himself in making evidence point to Robin. Maybe the blood got on Robin because he did some of the killing, but not all of the killing? Or he found the bodies himself before David came home and killed him? At the end of the day evidence can be construed to point towards both David and Robin maybe being the cause of the deaths. Who is guilty? It's not clear cut to me that David is innocent as Mr Karam claims. Maybe there is a third scenario - it's not Robin or David but Robin and David - Robin killed the four members of his family, then David killed his Dad in anger when he got home from his paper run. It will probably remain a mystery - unless David one day says more...

[Mindi]

I can’t really rate this book. It’s a vital piece of NZ history that I didn’t understand, and this book helped me to understand it. The quality of the writing let it down, as it’s very repetitive - I understand the point needed to be made but the reader isn’t dumb, it doesn’t have to be made over and over ten times. Or maybe it did? Since David was convicted of a crime he didn’t commit, the details must not have been as obvious as it seems. A rather horrendous example of ineptness, perhaps due to this being such a rare occurrence in NZ, led to an innocent man whose entire family had been slaughtered spending 12 years in prison. My heart goes out to the young man who had to grow up with that.

[Heidi Fowler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read but quite repetitive

[Simon Burgess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Familicide, a very sad and difficult subject matter in which many issues are raised. Most certainly for the wider family, but also the systems in place for dealing with such crimes. Karam believed David did not murder his family, his analysis here argues That evidence was circumstantial and manipulated. A Privy Council hearing and retrial with access to withheld evidence eventually led to an overturned conviction and retrial. This was Karam's first book on the subject, the start of his mission to see justice done. I was reminded of the suggestion that if you say something three times, some people will tend believe you, regardless of the content. However, a clear analysis is offered where serious flaws are logically exposed, albeit repeated. That fact that justice can be a lottery with may varying factors is adequately demonstrated, even at the beginning of this saga. He writes clearly and succinctly with an honest expression of his own interest and motivation. This proved to be to Davids advantage, in other circumstances this could have been a whistleblower and buried along with the truth and the family.

[Jeannette · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another case of a murder in New Zealand when the police arrest the wrong person who remains in jail for over 11 years. No compensation was awarded for wrongful arrest after Joe Karam proved that David bail was innocent.