BLACK HANDS - A family mass murder

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This is the story of a mass-murder that divided a nation - a story that began in a rickety old home on a cold June morning in 1994, where five members of a seemingly ordinary New Zealand family were gunned down. There were two suspects. One lay dead from a single bullet to the head. The other was the only survivor: David Bain. Since then the country has asked: who killed the Bain family? David or his father Robin? In this podcast, Martin van Beynen explores the case from start to finish, picking through evidence, the mysteries and motives, and interviewing never-before-spoken-to witnesses. He seeks to finally answer the question: Who was the killer?Podcasts like this one take a lot of time and resources to create. To help cover some of that cost, you will hear some ads during this episode. For an ad-free experience go to listen.stuff.co.nz/truecrime to get access to this and three other Stuff True Crime podcasts ad-free, for about the price of a cup of coffee… and you’ll be helping us make more great podcasts, like this one.

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Recent Reviews

SD and U

Biased and one-sided

Super disappointed in this podcast. To me, it came across as completely biased and one-sided. Martin went out of his way to do nothing but support his personal opinion. Not the journalism I’d grown to expect.
miss cgh

Solid & In-Depth Reporting

Was very interested in this case, as I’d never heard of it living in the US. I love the amount of detail put into research, but I will say that the amount of court audio was a bit long in parts. It may be a difference in our court systems, but it seemed a lot of it was very conversational character witness type stuff and I think it could be edited down for clarity but otherwise great.
podcastjunkie72

Great work

Really enjoying the work on this! Great job
Arthur's a Snowboarder

Well done!

This was very in-depth and kept me enthralled. Thanks!
eclaire782

Hmmmm

I listened but I’m disappointed. So much speculation and complete disregard for mental health and how it impacts behavior. Also huge assumptions and conclusions based on no real evidence.
kayferguson13

Disappointing

It goes on & on naming victims never making clear WHO they are. And definitely not making clear who they are in relation to the survivor. Phrases like ‘his mother…his father…his brother…his friend’ would’ve been awesome…actually downright normal.
CapeCodDub

Incredibly biased

Host makes a throw away comment about anti-police culture and African-American resentment towards police-you can not equate African Americans experience of systemic racism from law enforcement with that of folks in New Zealand. Infuriating
Kyary pamyurind

Excellent research and narration

Excellent research and narration. I really liked how the narrator tells the story, his voice and his use of other voices. Top notch
Craig D.C.

Brilliant Detailed Podcast

This is a fantastic highly detailed podcast. Let’s the facts and case talk. Horrific account.
Mojo1934

Great podcast

I really enjoyed this podcast
DissapointedW/Show

Incredibly bias

Despite constantly pointing out that he is a “journalist” the host never makes any attempt to hide his hard held conviction about one character’s guilt. Also somebody should get this dude a book about the grieving process that was written this century.
StephenCMH

.

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Donata Jeanne

Made it through Episode 2

. . . which was confusing and disjointed, and the episode after that was impossible to follow. Why? Because they have episode 11 set up to play 3rd. I'm unsubbed.
Aaaashbash

Well done

The people and their time and effort that we out into investigating this case m; you have done a very good job. I appreciate the througness (sp?) of the case you have presented. Brings it all into prospective hmmm? Good job.
Ashtree1717

Well researched but heavily biased

I commend Martin van Beynen for his attention to detail, but he is so blatantly biased against David Bain. I think David is the perpetrator, but van Beynen’s utter contempt for him is almost comical. He also is very arrogant and defensive when calling Ian Binnie out for comparing him to Inspector Javert. “If Binnie had listened to the podcast...” Self-aggrandizing much? I am a journalist myself and I understand it can be difficult to manage your opinions sometimes. I didn’t expect van Beynen to be completely objective (who among us is?) but his overt bias and tone are very off-putting.
Nullity

Meh

Unsubbed after episode 2.
Sarey84

Evidence?

ok first i love your podcast. i am late to this case, but was either robin or david was tested for gun shot residue? i think that evidence would of helped a lot!
ThruTheBellJar

Great work!

I stumbled upon this podcast by accident and I am so glad I did. I really enjoyed it!
crocdeezy

Meh

I don't wanna be a troll so let me just say they need to do a little more research. Half of the time it seems as if they're just totally speculating.
Spectre3297

Garbage. Could have been interesting, but painfully biased.

Look. The son most likely did it. But this is not journalism. Clearly this podcaster had a point of view, great. Don’t pretend you don’t. I was okay until he said at the end that he wanted the son to live on in peace and that he hoped the son wasn’t harassed. Really? Also, to say that people of color in the u.s. are biased against police is rubbish. Shame on you.
Hannahbess

Embarrassingly Biased

As someone who’s never heard of this case living in America, that just enjoys listening to mysteries/unsolved cases I was left wondering way too much about this case and feeling the need to investigate more myself (which is not what one would want to do after listening to 10 full episodes). It’s fine that the creator thinks David Bain was undoubtedly guilty but it sure would’ve been nice to hear more about why others could’ve thought him innocent and less sarcastic reiterations of the same 10 things over and over throughout the podcast. I thought it was well produced and an interesting story (hence the 2 stars) but I more appreciate investigative journalism that presents a less clearly biased view so that I can form my own opinion.
hawaiijones1978

Well done

Six out of five ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Fluffygooey

Interesting but Biased

No question where this journalist stands. Even when he has an episode that is supposed to be dedicated to the evidence against David’s dad, he still manages to start going off on tangents against David. That being said, this story is quite fascinating and ultimately a sad window into an entire family affected in various ways by mental illnesses, in my opinion.
j_thirteen

Right...

The 911 call at the beginning of every single episode is rough. Thought this was an unbiased case review podcast but the “journalist” tips his hand about halfway through the episodes. Not an unbiased opinion at all. Also find it pretty convenient that “he was a nice quiet guy he couldn’t have done it” was a good enough reason for everyone to take the blame off of the father but “he was a nice funny guy who wouldn’t have done it” wasn’t a good enough reason to not put the son in jail for 13 years. Lovely.
Leila90041

Binge-worthy

This story, which is new to me (in the US), is utterly gripping. So glad I stumbled upon this podcast, which is well-done. I do agree with another review that the repeated use of the emergency services call in each episode’s intro is tough to take. I actually plug my ears and cringe.
Jrep490

Good but not engaging

It’s a great story but I found that I missed a lot because it wasn’t very engaging for some reason. I quickly lost track of names which was confusing. I got distracted by dialect differences since this is from NZ and I’m from the US. Worst of all, I wasn’t able to download any episodes which is super annoying, but probably a problem with iPhone (?)
waste of time and brains

No

I truly disliked this podcast; it was incredibly repetitive and redundant to the point of no return. I’m super easy going and dig roughly 99% of investigative true crime podcasts (especially when from AUS/NZ), but I felt that only two-four episodes were truly necessary to tell the story of the ‘Black Hands.’ The rest were incredibly biased and redundant. I have so many other complaints that I feel It unnecessary to being them all up.
Podcast obsesssed

Binged

Just did a 10 hour car ride and binged every episode! Good work on such a controversial and horrific murder.
spcarver

Amazing

Well researched
Dbpixee

Excellent investigative journalism

Excellent investigative journalism. Well done work.
_pinkslip

Why would you use a 911 call as your intro?!!!!!

This podcast is just ok, but I find it very unsettling and insensitive that they use a 911 call as the intro. That’s not ok and a poor choice by the people who produced this. I haven’t made it all the way through this, but I don’t care if the guy who’s making the call did it or not, don’t use a 911 call clip as your intro! Usually people give you a warning before they play 911 clips because they’re so unsettling, and I can imagine this being triggering for people suffering from some sort of PTSD. And right off the bat your going to play a crying man saying “ohhhh! They’re all dead!” Come on, very class-less, makes me want to stop listening, so for that alone I’m giving this 1 Star
quidd lover

Hooked Already! Let the binge begin.

I’m a podcast junkie and usually know within 5 minutes if a podcast is going to be great. This one is just that. It’s laid out properly. You want to learn more about the story and the family. It’s a quality production and the story is so intriguing. Good job on this one! Whenever I binge listen to a podcast ( like this one) I hope that when it’s over they will be creating another story for me to listen to soon!
green418

Awful

This podcast covers a horrific murder in New Zealand. It is difficult to follow because it assumes the listener is already familiar with the case. The podcast then goes on to make sweeping statements on little to no evidence. Additionally, it ignores all the data that show the varied ways people deal with trauma and grief; how susceptible humans are to filling in memory holes, particularly as time passes; and how impressionable young people are when questioned by authority figures. I don’t know who committed this horrible murder, but I do know, based on the assumptions this podcast presented, the host can’t possibly know.
Bookshelves91

Great job!

I really enjoyed this pocast! It was an interesting story!
Queen.Kritten

Excellent podcast!

I really enjoyed this 10 episode series on one crime! The host leads the listener through the case (which is full of twists), and sums up the case with the reasons for his own view. I'm really glad it ended with his opinion, which was very well supported by the evidence, and backed up my own theory which I formed over the first 9 episodes. so, I might be a bit biased since I completely agree, but it seems to me this is the only answer that makes sense, and that we can reasonably conclude from the evidence. But it wasn't obvious from the beginning: the host presents both possible sides very completely and fairly, letting the listener make up her/his own mind. I hope that he gives the same treatment to another case in another podcast -- I'd definitely listen to it! Thank you for a great podcast!
elliesees

Really Well Done

The creator of this podcast does a good job to stay unbiased and present the information at face value, only revealing his opinion on the case towards the end. This is a case that's always fascinated and horrified me and it was really cool to hear it told by someone from it's own part of the world. I would listen to anything this podcast put out again.
emmysnapz

Great Journalistic Serial Style True Crime

This is a great podcast. Expertly produced with 911 calls, court room dialogue and in depth analysis. It was a riveting story perfect for a road trip. Super binge worthy and sometimes grim and gory. I loved it.
Jack Daddy 5462

Excellent Crime Podcast

In my opinion, it works as a fascinating and macabre story being told rather than a mystery but it is entertaining. I see that there is a reviewer who gave this podcast a single star and that person must not understand that using transcipts and clips adds to the audio podcast in a way that uses official materials. Ignore that person because the audio is produced really well. Once again, the worst part of this story IMO is that I think it is fairly obvious who the killer was but the backstory and why this family was the way it was adds to the understanding of why it happened.
Rubyslipper

So good!

I've listened to A LOT of true crime podcasts. Been searching for a new one I could binge listen to, and totally found it in this one! Mystery, suspense, those NZ accents, a compelling story not previously known to me, and audio of courtroom testimonies (but not too much), make for a well rounded recipe indeed for the true crime fanatic. Especially since this story is not known to most of us in the states.
Nzcoolguy1

Fantastic

Very well produced, scripted and delivered. A great podcast and well worth listening to.
Qzwxecrvtbynum2314

Another cheat

Some "journalist" gets hold of taped transcripts and thinks long clips between narration makes a compelling story. All it says though is "Why should I write when these folks can tell the story for me?" Another true crime disappointment.
Sarasel14

Great job

Had never heard of this case and immediately was sucked in and began googling it. My only criticism is that ten episodes was a bit long and some of the forensic info was hard to follow if you knew nothing about the case already.
Aloha_Ally

Enjoyable

Interesting story.
JessEliB

Great podcast!

Binged this on a Sunday simply because I had to hear everything. This case has always fascinated me and I love the detail in this podcast. Highly recommend giving this a listen!