The mother of murdered Feilding man Scott Guy has revealed tensions on the family farm between her son and the man accused of murdering him.
Mr Guy was murdered at the end of his Aorangi Rd driveway on July 8, 2010. His brother-in-law Ewen Macdonald is charged with the murder and is on trial at the High Court in Wellington.
Mr Guy’s mother, Joanne Guy, is in court discussing the relationship between her son and Macdonald, who were business partners on the farm.
Mrs Guy made an emotional appearance, telling the court: “I just want to get this over with.”
“This is bad for my heart…it’s a wonder how people survive these things.”
Scott accused of ‘skiving off’
She recalled a family dinner at a restaurant where Macdonald told Mr Guy he was “sick of him skiving off all the time”.
Mrs Guy says her son stood up and said “I’m sick of this”, and then left the restaurant.
She says family meetings about the farm’s future were often divided, with Mr Guy and his wife Kylee on one side and Macdonald and his wife Anna on the other.
One meeting at the family home, Kylee and Mr Guy presented everyone with a letter.
“It was a bit harsh. Scott read it out…Anna fired up,” she told the court.
“Anna would raise things on behalf of Ewen… Ewen was getting annoyed with things on the farm…like if Scott would go home early to help Kylee at home.”
She says Macdonald also said Mr Guy text his wife too much.
Mrs Guy says her son one day told the family he wanted to inherit the farm.
She says the move surprised everyone and his request was declined.
Mr Guy was also upset when he found out his parents were vacating the family home, allowing Macdonald and his wife – with their growing family – to move in.
“He didn’t like the idea of it…he didn’t think we explained it well to him…he was really wrapped up in the baby…we thought we had set it out but we had explained.
“Maybe because it was the family home and [he] didn’t want them to go in there,” she said.
Mrs Guy says her son didn’t like the family’s new house in the Feilding township.
Scott and Kylee ‘distraught’ over arson attack
Mrs Guy says her son and his wife were “distraught” at an arson attack on the farm - but they still didn’t want to leave.
An old farm house on the back of two moving trailers was let alight on the farm in 2008. The houses were being moved to make way for Mr Guy and Kylee’s new home to be built.
Macdonald pleaded guilty to the arson and vandalism of the house while it was being built in 2009.
Macdonald told police he did it because he thought it would be funny.
The Crown says Macdonald was trying to drive the pair off the farm.
Mrs Guy told the court this morning that Scott and Kylee were “mad, upset and distraught” over the fire.
But she says they were still determined to stay there.
“I didn’t get a sense that they wanted to leave,” she says.
Mother tells of “terrible” day
Mrs Guy says she received a call early on July 8 from her husband Bryan saying “something terrible has happened, you had better get out here”.
She says she jumped in her car and rushed to her son’s house, only to be stopped by police at a cordon.
Mrs Guy says she was consoled at the scene by truck driver David Berry, who discovered Mr Guy’s body.
She says Mr Berry was crying and hugging her but wouldn’t say what happened. He just said “it shouldn’t have happened”, she told court.
Mrs Guy says someone at the scene said her son had been shot, but she can’t be sure who said it.
“I think he was shot…I’m not sure how I knew that. I asked the police and they wouldn’t say,” she told the court.
She did recall asking Macdonald “what happened?”, but that was the extent of her recollection.
She says not long after, everyone left the cordon and went back to the Macdonald household. Macdonald’s wife Anna hadn’t been informed of the accident yet.
She says Mr Guy’s other sister Nikki “was in tears and swearing” as they arrived at Mrs Macdonald’s house.
“Nikki ran in first yelling to Anna. The curtains were pulled and the kids playing….she was yelling at the top of her voice,” says Mrs Guy.
Crown lawyers argue that Macdonald killed Guy with a shotgun because he was jealous and worried about his own future on the farm.
The defence agrees that Mr Guy was murdered, but says that Macdonald is not the killer.
The trial, now in its sixth day, will concentrate this week on the relationship between Mr Guy and Macdonald.
3 News
source: newshub archive
