By Charlotte Shipman
The defence in the Scott Guy murder trial has tried to cast doubt over crucial evidence used by the Crown.
Police found a series of shoe prints around Mr Guy's body and say they were from boots worn by the killer – who they say is Ewen Macdonald.
More than 50 wavy boot prints were found around Mr Guy's body and in a nearby paddock on Mr Guy's land.
But the science the police relied on to determine what size boot made them doesn't measure up for Macdonald's defence team.
“If there is going to be a magical dive boot, it’s going to be a lot bigger than size nine,” says defence lawyer Greg King.
Forensic scientist David Neale made 960 pages of notes on the prints and calculated the dive boot which made them was size nine or 10.
He measured the width and length of the forefoot of the prints, but defence lawyer Mr King had a different system – he counted the number of ridges on the boots' sole.
The single size nine Proline boot given to police for research has 29 ridges.
But three partial impressions at the scene had 32 or 33 ridges, and Mr King says by his count the boots were size 11 or 12.
Macdonald wears size nine.
Mr Neale says the difference could be because the boots came from a different batch or could be made from a slightly different rubber.
Laurence Patterson had a pair of Proline diving boots. He bought them from Macdonald’s father's hunting and fishing shop.
Patterson remembers Macdonald had the same type - they wore them on hunting trips together.
Anna Macdonald gave evidence for the Crown for the last time today. She spoke about a conference her parents Jo and Bryan Guy went to four days before their eldest son was killed. It was to plan the future of the farm.
Everyone agreed the guy family farm wasn't big enough to sustain three families forever.
One of the options being considered was for either Mr Guy or Macdonald to leave the family farm and manage a different farm.
But no decisions had been made at the time of Mr Guy’s death.
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