PCA Report paragraphs 95-97. Title from David and Goliath p208.

95. As mentioned earlier, one of the points made by the Police against David was a 25 minute period between his return home from the paper round and when he made the 111 emergency call where he did not adequately account for his actions. Mr Karam suggests this is another instance of Police ineptitude or impropriety which impacted against David Bain.

96. In his book, he contends the Police did not accurately fix the time of the 111 call. This claim is related to a comment made by Ms Bampton, Telecom supervisor, where she said she believed the call first started earlier than the telecom printout indicated. Mr Karam claimed Ms Bampton confirmed this when she said in her statement she believed the call started at about 6.45 or 6.50am. [This was because her assistant who starts at 7.00am was not there.] Ms Edwards, the operator who took the actual phone call, also said in an initial Police job sheet that she thought the call came in just after 6.30am. In fact, this comment was made during her initial contact by telephone with a Dunedin officer who telephoned her at home. At that stage she did not have the benefit of being able to refer to Telecom computer records and simply gave the wrong time when recounting details of the call from David.

97. We have confirmed the 111 call from David was recorded at the Malicious Call Centre, Hamilton at 0709 hours and was referred to the Christchurch emergency calls operator at precisely 0710 hours. There is no doubt these times are accurate. The computer printouts show it clearly. The operator, Ms Edwards, unequivocally accepts 0710 hours was the time she first had contact with David. This should have been clear to Mr Karam from the information provided to him - which included a detailed statementfrom the operator, when she said the call came in at 0710 hours and various logs from the emergency services.