A pragmatic result?
Announcing the Government’s decision to pay David $925,000 but no compensation, Amy Adams claimed this was a pragmatic decision. A few days later, in an opinion piece in the NZ Herald, Rodney Hide noted:
“Justice Minister Amy Adams declared the almost $1 million payout to David Bain as ‘pragmatic’. The pragmatic result would have been to accept the Binnie report. The Government could have paid Bain $2 million in compensation and the taxpayer would still be ahead.”
This is approximately how much the Crown has spent on the David Bain case:
Police costs first trial:…………………………………………..$375,000
Cost of imprisonment for 13 years …………………………$1,300,000
Police cost retrial:……………………………………………. . $476,000
Other crown costs since 2006……………………………. . $1,200,000
Defence (both trials):……………………………………….. $3,300,000
Ian Binnie report ………………………………………………$373,000
Robert Fisher review…………………………………………..$207,000
Ian Callinan report …………………………………………….$298,000
Subtotal prior to payout…………………………………. . $7,529,000
Ex-gratia payment…………………………………………….. $925,000
Grand Total………………………………………………… $8,454,000
Source: The $7m bill for David Bain’s innocence campaign, Stuff, 3 August, 2016. This source does not include the cost of imprisonment for 13 years which the Department of Corrections estimates at about $100,000 a year.