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.