By Michael Morrah
Private investigators could be called on to have another look at the evidence surrounding the murder of Scott Guy.
Mr Guy's widow Kylee is working with a victims’ advocacy group and says the end of the trial is far from the end of her efforts to get justice.
It has been two years since Scott Guy was gunned down in the darkness on his Feilding farm, and churchgoers in the Manawatu town marked the anniversary today.
“We prayed for the Guy family, the Macdonald family, for all the people involved in the past two years,” says Archdeacon David van Oeveren.
Yet no one has been held to account for the crime. With Ewen Mcdonald found not guilty of murder, police say they are not looking for anyone else.
But Mr Guy's widow Kylee has told the Sensibe Sentencing Trust (SST) it's not over.
“Kylee won't accept that this is the final chapter,” says Garth McVicar of SST. “I won't either and I don't think New Zealanders will accept that.”
The Trust is working with Kylee Guy to get the case reviewed.
They met yesterday and Mr McVicar says he's looking at hiring private investigators to delve into the evidence once again.
“This has got to be reviewed,” he says. “I'm not being critical of the defence. I’m not being critical of the prosecution here. But what we cannot afford to do as a nation and for Kylee is accept that this is as good as it gets, that justice has been done, because it hasn't been done.”
Until now, the law hasn't allowed someone to be acquitted of murder and then retried on the same charge. But that is about to change.
“The law has passed,” says criminal barrister Gary Gotlieb. “It's just not quite implemented. It allows an acquitted person to be retried in exceptional circumstances – compelling and exceptional evidence, if it were to come up, or if there has been a taint in the trial – that something improper has happened in the trial.”
Even if that compelling new evidence were to be uncovered, any application for a retrial would need to be approved by the Solicitor General.
Ewen Macdonald will be back in court at the end of the month, where a sentencing date will be set for the charges he has admitted.
They include poaching two deer, burning down a farmhouse and vandalising Scott Guy's new home. He is also facing three other charges, but the details of those remain suppressed.
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The Scott Guy Family Trust has been established by Hastings lawyers Hansen & Bate for the purpose of assisting Kylie with ongoing costs she will now face as a solo mother to Hunter and Drover.
Donations can be made at any branch of Westpac bank; Acc. 03-1517-0042662-000
For further information please contact Garth McVicar on 027 2487-919