By Lloyd Burr
Murder accused Ewen Macdonald sent a text message to Scott Guy on the morning he was killed, a court has heard.
The text message, sent by Macdonald at 5:03am, read ‘R U up’ and was followed by a call at 5:40 the same morning, which went straight to voicemail.
Macdonald is on trial at the High Court in Wellington, accused of murdering his brother-in-law, who was found dead at the end of his driveway on July 8, 2010.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charge.
This morning the court heard from Mr Guy’s sister Nikki, who said Macdonald twice corrected onlookers that her brother had been shot, not stabbed.
This was before police had confirmed a firearm was used, and despite neighbour David Berry, who was first on the scene, saying Mr Guy’s wounds looked like his throat had been cut.
Nikki Guy says when she arrived at the cordon, Macdonald twice corrected Mr Berry, after he told her about Mr Guy’s injuries.
“David said he was stabbed and Ewen said ‘No, he was shot’ and David said ‘No, he was stabbed’ and Ewen said ‘No, he was shot’.”
Asked how many times Macdonald corrected Mr Berry, Ms Guy said “twice”.
“The reason I remember the exchange is because I thought ‘How did Ewen know he had been shot?’.”
Police told the court yesterday that Macdonald got within 6 to 12 metres of Mr Guy’s body when they arrived at the scene.
Under examination yesterday Mr Berry could not confirm it was Macdonald who had corrected him at the cordon. He said it was someone standing behind him.
Another of Mr Guy’s neighbours, Bruce Johnstone, told the court that Mr Guy looked like his throat had been slit when he saw him on the morning of July 8.
Neighbour heard three gunshots
One of Mr Guy’s neighbours says she heard three gunshots in quick succession on the morning he was murdered.
Bonnie Fredriksson, who lived around the corner from Mr Guy’s house, says she had restless sleep the night of the murder and an hour before her alarm, heard the gun shots.
She says it was unusual to hear gunshots at that time of the day.
“I heard three gun shots in quick succession…I said to myself ‘Was that anything to worry about’”.
“I was listening to see if there were any more and there wasn’t,” says Ms Fredriksson.
She says she heard no other sounds after the shots and no cars which she could usually hear driving on the road.
She described the sound of the shots as “definitely a heavier type”.
Another neighbour, Fraser Langbein, says he was awoken at around 5am on the morning of the murder - but doesn’t know what by.
He says he thought he heard a noise or disturbance and it got him sitting up in the bed.
After three or four minutes, he says he went back to sleep but in the time he was awake, did not hear any cars go past his house.
He says at 7am, his landlord Bruce Johnstone arrived on a quad bike and said ‘Your neighbour’s dead, he’s had his throat cut’”.
Shed alarm deactivated later than usual on day of murder
The timings of alarm deactivation of the Bryeburn Farm shed in the weeks leading up to the murder have been revealed in court.
The shed’s alarm was deactivated at 5:02 on the day Mr Guy was murdered.
However, in the two weeks leading up to the murder, and the days after the murder, the alarm was always deactivated before 5AM.
The clock controversy
A digital bedside clock belonging to a neighbour has come under question as defence lawyers try to ascertain when the shots that killed Mr Guy were fired.
Derek Sharp says he was woken by two gun shots at 4:45 on the morning of the murder.
He says even though his clock was displaying 5:00, it was 15 minutes fast and the actual time was 4:45.
Mr Sharp says his bedside clock is never on time because transmission lines nearby interfered with its accuracy.
He had a system of changing the time based on his wristwatch and the time announced on National Radio, but insisted he always knew how far out his bedside clock was.
Defence lawyer Peter Coles questioned the accuracy of Mr Sharp’s system, saying it could have been wrong on the morning of July 8.
3 News
source: newshub archive
