By 3 News online staff
The farmer who felt the wrath of Ewen Macdonald’s crimes says he’s still angry at the pain caused to his family.
Manawatu farmer Nigel Sexton fell victim to Macdonald’s deer poaching spree, and then after catching Macdonald red-handed was again targeted.
He spoke exclusively to Firstline’s Rachel Smalley, detailing Macdonald’s crimes and how they impacted his life.
Macdonald was charged with the murder of brother-in-law Scott Guy but acquitted at his trial in Wellington.
Although some of his additional crimes were revealed during the court case, others were suppressed to prevent a biased trial.
This week those crimes were made public.
Among the crimes it was revealed that Macdonald and his accomplice Callum Boe snuck onto Mr Sexton’s farm to poach his rare Sambar deer – a cunning animal notoriously hard to hunt.
The pair did this around 100-200 times and killed a dozen deer, they were later caught, trespassed and made to return the stag heads.
Months later Macdonald and Boe returned to the farm for revenge - emptying 16,000 litres of milk from the farm’s vat and setting alight an historic lodge.
They attempted to empty a milk vat on the neighbouring farm but found it empty. So they turned on 19 calves in a nearby pen and slaughtered them with a hammer.
Mr Sexton says he still cannot understand why Macdonald targeted him and his farm.
He says the arson on the farm’s whare was heartbreaking and caused his family a lot of pain.
“That was probably the most hurtful thing. Lots of family memories from when I was a boy… It was heartbreaking. [Macdonald] knew it was sentimental too,” he says.
“It wasn’t the flashest. It was over 100 years old but it’s just the sentiment that went with it. The memories – we had old photos in there and all sorts.”
Mr Sexton says he immediately knew Macdonald was responsible, as he recognised the boot impressions from the poaching.
“We all know our own footprints, our own gumboots but these were distinctive hunting boots,” he says.
Macdonald is still in prison waiting on sentencing for the crimes.
Macdonald’s offending:
- Criminal damage: Slaughtering 19 calves belonging to Himatangi dairy farmer Paul Barber on the night of August 9, 2007. The calves had been struck on the head with an object.
- Criminal damage: Emptying 16,000 litres of milk from a vat belonging to another Himatangi farmer, Graham Sexton, on the same night the calves were culled.
- Arson: Burning down an historic Maori whare built in 1888 which was on Mr Sexton’s farm. Macdonald used an LPG bottle and boat fuel to start the fire. The whare was used as a family sleep out and a duck shooter’s shelter.
- Theft: Driving to a nearby farm and shooting two trophy stags. He put them on his trailer and buried them in a pre-dug hole on the Guy family farm, where he was a manager.
- Criminal damage: Burning down an old farm house on the back of removal trailers at the site of Scott and Kylee Guy’s new home. The house and trailers were destroyed.
- Criminal damage: Vandalising Scott and Kylee Guy’s new home once construction had nearly finished.
Macdonald is still in prison waiting for a sentencing date for the crimes, which he has pleaded guilty to.
Ewen Macdonald’s police interviews:
Boe was sentenced last year for his part in the crimes and will spend two years behind bars.
3 News
source: newshub archive
