The brother of the man acquitted of the 2010 murder of Feilding farmer Scott Guy can now be revealed to be a police detective, after the trial judge clarified suppression details in the case.
During the month-long trial the High Court at Wellington was told Ewen Macdonald's brother worked as a detective for Wellington police, but Justice Simon France suppressed the detail until this morning.
Macdonald was charged with murdering his brother-in-law following a nine-month investigation by Detective Blair Macdonald's fellow investigators.
Det Macdonald has worked on investigating bank robberies and also the 2008 "handless body case", where Daniel Moore was jailed for at least 18 years for killing his drug partner Tony Stanlake, cutting off his hands and dumping his body at Owhiro Bay.
Meanwhile, despite being acquitted of murder by a jury on Tuesday, Macdonald still faces sentencing on charges of theft, arson and criminal damage to Mr Guy's property, and a sentencing date will be set for those in Palmerston North at the end of the month.
He has also admitted other charges, which Justice France said would remain temporarily suppressed.
That suppression also affects the charges faced by Macdonald's co-accused Callum Boe, the former farmhand who took part in the arson and damage attacks.
NZN