Did judge donate $250 cash to Bain?
A donor claiming to be Ian Binnie, the retired judge appointed to review David Bain’s compensation claim, has given money to Bain’s Givealittle campaign.
Justice campaigner Roger Brooking set up the Campaign for David Bain page, raising just over $12,000. Included in the 85 donors was $250 from a person named ‘‘Ian Binnie’’.
Brooking understood the donation to be from the retired Judge of the Supreme Court of Canada, who concluded Bain was innocent on the balance of probabilities of the 1994 murder of his parents and siblings in Dunedin. ‘‘There is the option to make the donation anonymous, so he clearly put his name on it because he wanted people to know how strongly he felt.’’
Binnie, who was paid $400,000 by the Government for his work, had no comment for the Sunday Star-Times. A Givealittle spokeswoman declined to confirm if the donation came from overseas.
Bain received the money last Friday, and Brooking received an email response from Bain saying ‘‘Thank you from my wee family and my most humble self . . . Your efforts have produced quite a substantial boost for us which we will endeavour to honour.’’
Brooking said he started a website over a year ago when the Government appointed retired Australian Judge Ian Callinan QC to review the Bain case.
Callinan later concluded Bain had not proved his innocence on the balance of probabilities.
Brooking’s fundraising campaign halted when Justice Minister Amy Adams announced Bain would receive an ex gratia payment of $925,000. Adams said that payment was ‘‘in recognition of the time involved and expenses occurred by Mr Bain during the compensation process, and the desirability of avoiding further litigation’’.