By Dan Parker
The Sensible Sentencing Trust wants Scott Guy’s murder to be a catalyst for a law change, which would see juries given all available evidence about the accused and for the powers of suppression orders to be significantly reduced.
It follows revelations about Ewen Macdonald’s criminal behaviour in the years leading up to Mr Guy’s death – criminal behaviour that was kept secret from the jury.
The reason three charges against Macdonald were suppressed by Justice Simon France was to ensure he received a fair trial.
“The issues judges weigh up every day are what evidence is relevant, what does it prove, is that relevant to the issues we have to consider in this case,” says suppression expert Steve Bonnar.
In Macdonald’s case, the concern was the charges would unfairly prejudice the murder trial and weren’t related to case.
But the Sensible Sentencing Trust’s Garth McVicar says they helped establish a pattern of serious offending and the jury should have been privy.
“Nothing is prejudicial about the truth and that is where I believe our justice system has gone way off track,” says Mr McVicar. “I think our judges are partly responsible, because we have allowed suppression orders to happen and we have allowed a criminal-centred, offender-friendly legal process where it is all about the offender.”
What the jury wasn’t allowed to know was that Macdonald had slaughtered 19 calves with a hammer, in an act of revenge against fellow farmer Paul Barber.
He had also ruined $10,000 worth of Nigel Sexton’s milk by emptying a vat in the middle of the night. He then set fire to a building on his farm.
Speaking to Firstline this morning Mr Sexton said that too was an act of revenge, after he caught Macdonald poaching his stags.
“I said, ‘Why did you do it?’ He said, ‘Because I thought it was fun, because I could do it.' I couldn’t believe him.”
Mr Sexton said Macdonald never apologised.
The Sensible Sentencing Trust is now lobbying the Government to allow juries to hear about an accused’s prior convictions. But Justice Minister Judith Collins says it would be a major upheaval to the system.
“I don’t believe there is a great political will to change it,” she says. “The system we have is not perfect, but it is significantly better than most.”
Macdonald will be sentenced next month on all six charges relating to arson, theft and criminal damage.
Ewen Macdonald’s list of 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, Nigel 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 and painting explicit words on an exterior wall.
Ewen Macdonald’s police interviews:
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