Karam Stands By Book Claims

COURT-KARAM-

Auckland, June 6 - Former All Black Joe Karam told a High Court hearing in Auckland today he stuck by the claims he made in his book on the Bain family murder in Dunedin in 1994.

Karam is being sued for defamation by two men who worked on the police inquiry into the killings, in which five members of the Bain family were shot dead in their Andersons Bay home in June 1994.

David Bain was convicted of their murders but in his book, David and Goliath, Karam suggested the convictions came about because of police incompetence.

Former detective sergeant Milton Weir and Detective Sergeant Kevin Anderson are suing Karam and the publishers Reed Publishing (NZ) Ltd for a total of $430,000.

Karam today said under cross-examination by Don Mathieson that he believed 30,000 copies of the book were sold and although he gave numerous addresses to different organisations, they were not to promote sales of the book.

When he accepted invitations to speak, his thinking was not that it would help book sales, nor did he always refer to the book during those addresses, he said.

Karam said he took great care to make sure what was in the book was correct in relation to police movements around the Bain home after the bodies were found and during the police inquiry. However, he admitted he may have made ``occasional mistakes''.

Much of today's cross-examination was taken up with questions about the time Bain made a 111 call to police and a ``sinister'' 15 minutes which was ``missing'' before the call was made.

The hearing, before a jury of six men and six women, is scheduled to end on Friday.

© Scoop Media