By Lloyd Burr
The mother of murder-accused Ewen Macdonald says he told her Scott Guy’s throat had been cut when they spoke on the afternoon of his death, a court has heard.
Marlene Macdonald, who has image suppression, is recalling the events of July 8, 2010 when her son allegedly murdered Mr Guy with a shot gun at the end of his driveway.
Marlene says her husband Kerry received a call from Macdonald the morning Mr Guy was found dead.
“[Kerry] said to Ewen ‘Was it suicide or has he been killed?’.”
“Kerry passed the phone to me and I spoke to Ewen. I said ‘Are you ok?'. He was very upset, he was crying. I said to him ‘Do you know if he had been killed or if it was suicide’.
“He said ‘I don’t know, Mum’.”
Later that day, Marlene says she and Kerry went to her son’s house where she spoke one-on-one with her son.
“We had a quiet conversation together and I asked him ‘Do you know how he was killed?’,” she said.
“He said ‘I think his throat might have been cut’”.
Earlier in the trial, the jury heard evidence from Mr Guy’s sister, Nikki, who said Macdonald was telling people on the morning that Mr Guy had been shot.
Nikki said she was talking to David Berry – the man who found Mr Guy’s body – who told her his throat had been slit.
She said Macdonald told her at the scene that Mr Guy had been shot and his throat hadn’t been cut.
Macdonald’s boots discussed in court
Macdonald’s wife, Anna, also spoke in court today and was asked about her husband’s diving boots.
The Crown argues Macdonald wore a pair of Proline dive boots when he killed Mr Guy at the end of his driveway.
Anna says her husband owned an array of boots but cannot remember if he owned a pair of diving boots.
Distinctive wave patterns, consistent with those of dive boots, were found on the driveway by Mr Guy’s body and in the nearby paddock leading to where the puppies were kept.
Anna says Macdonald kept heaps of boots in a cupboard at the back door of their house.
“Ewen owned all sorts of boots, tall boots, short boots, farm boots, the kids boots, they are all just dumped in there,” she says.
She says she remembers wanting to throw one dive boot out in 2008 when they moved from the farm cottage to the main farm house.
However, she says she cannot remember physically throwing it out.
She also added that she didn’t take much interest in Ewen’s hunting ventures or gear.
“I don’t care about hunting stuff...I don’t care about the stuff he has got,” she told the court.
Ewen’s father says son “methodical”
Macdonald’s father, Kerry, says his son was “methodical” and “organised” when it came to his hunting gear, a court has heard.
Kerry, who co-owns the Palmerston North Hunting and Fishing store, gave evidence in court this morning.
He says his son was a better hunter than him, and took more care.
“He was very organised with his gear. He knew where everything was. Ewen would know exactly where everything was. He was very organised and methodical with it,” he says.
He also discussed the footwear they would wear when they went on hunting trips.
He said Ewen wore diving boots around the campsite as “camp shoes” because their hunting boots would always be wet.
Photos show Ewen wearing dive boots
The court was shown photographs of Ewen wearing Proline-branded dive boots on a hunting trip in 2005 with his father.
Kerry told the court his shop stocks that particular brand of boot and they “trickle out”.
The Crown argues Macdonald wore the boots on the night he murdered Mr Guy because imprints from the soles of the boots were found around Mr Guy’s body and in the neighbouring paddock leading to where the puppies were housed.
The boots have never been found.
Also giving evidence this morning was Macdonald’s mother Marlene who recalled seeing the boot after her son moved to 147 Aorangi Rd.
She said it was at the back door and remembered it because Macdonald told her the spare key was in it.
3 News
source: newshub archive
