Joe Karam speaks at Paeroa Rotary
We were privileged to have Joe come to Paeroa to speak, due to the persistence of President Vivien, according to Joe. Vivien had tried numerous times to get him to speak in Paeroa, and always he was busy, but the last time she rang , he agreed to come.
Joe was an “All Black” in the early 1970’s playing 10 tests as fullback.
He switched to Rugby League in Auckland in 1976/77.
He spent 20 plus years of his life supporting David Bain, to have his murder conviction overturned.
We were privileged to have Joe come to Paeroa to speak, due to the persistence of President Vivien, according to Joe. Vivien had tried numerous times to get him to speak in Paeroa, and always he was busy, but the last time she rang , he agreed to come.
Joe was an “All Black” in the early 1970’s playing 10 tests as fullback.
He switched to Rugby League in Auckland in 1976/77.
He spent 20 plus years of his life supporting David Bain, to have his murder conviction overturned.
Joe explained that he is not a lawyer or barrister, but a person who was taken on a journey that started when he saw a news item of an older woman and 3 or 4 adolescent boys on TV news trying to raise funds to get $12,000 together to take their friend David Bain’s court case to the Privy Council.
Intrigued Joe was keen to find out why this group would get together to support David. It turned out that the lady was David’s music teacher and the young men were good friends.They arranged for Joe to talk to David, in prison. Joe was blown away that such a mild mannered man could have done such a heinous crime.
Having just sold a business , Joe offered to pay the money upfront, & from there he learned how the criminal justice system works, with little recourse to revisit the case.
Joe’s dedication to never give up on David Bain cost him most of his savings, & the comfortable life he had developed.
Joe covered a lot of detail of the case, spanning just over the 20 years it took to clear David of the conviction.Guests & members were amazed at the stubbornness of the legal system to revisit a decision that had been made.
Barry thanked Joe & presented him with petrol vouchers, a token rotary pen and certificate.