Who Killed Scott Guy? by Mike White

‘The night of the arson of the farmhouse, we had organised to go for a hunt down at Sextons but when Callum turned up I had changed my mind—he was late and I had the weekend off so didn’t want to go out all night and be tired all the next day and neglect the kids and Anna. We got on to talking about the old house being up on the trailers ready for moving and the idea came up about setting fire to it. Callum is a builder and had said it will be full of native timber and it will be tinder dry. As far as I knew, Bryan still owned the house at that stage—it wasn’t an act of intimidation against Scott and Kylee. I think Callum and I still had a streak of fire bug in us from burning down the whare at Sextons.’
    But when it came to the vandalism at Scott and Kylee’s new house, Macdonald was clear it was more than a spontaneous act of stupidity. ‘That was my idea. I was frustrated at the time so suggested we do the damage of the new house to annoy Scott and Kylee and make them feel frustrated. Afterwards I didn’t feel better. I felt sick and knew it was a big mistake.’
    Just as he claimed Boe had been an active participant in all the other crimes, Macdonald said his friend had taken an equal part in this attack, despite what Boe later told police. ‘When we went round behind the house Callum and I painted the tagging on the house then I smashed the back door to gain access. Callum then went down the hallway putting the holes in the walls. I used the axe to put two cuts in the front door then Callum said, “Give me the axe, I’ll break the plumbing fittings in the bathroom because that will be more difficult to fix and expensive.”
    ‘Then when we went outside and I said we should smash a window so I swung the axe but it didn’t smash the window. Callum said to me, “They’re double glazed—you need to hit them in the corner,” so he took the axe off me and showed me how to do it. He had this knowledge from being a builder. Then we left for our journey to Ruakaka. We painted tagging low on the house so it looked like teenagers had done it because they wouldn’t be as tall as Callum and me.’
    He was aware, however, that trying to lay blame on Boe was pointless, no matter how deserved he felt it was. Nobody, least of all the jury, would give him credit for finger-pointing.
    It was a difficult situation for Macdonald as he read through statements from witnesses raising any negative aspect of his character, taking events out of context and reconstructing facts in the light of his arrest. ‘Once I’m charged with murder,’ he wrote, ‘I’m instantly guilty and people start making up scenarios and circumstantial evidence.’

    Kerry and Marlene Macdonald were well aware of this and tried to get their son to trust that the system was fair and that eventually he’d be proven innocent. But this belief was undermined by the fact that their relationship with the police, which had been strained from the evening of Ewen’s arrest, remained fractious. Partly this stemmed from the obviously different perspectives they held—police were convinced Macdonald was Scott’s killer and Kerry and Marlene were equally adamant they’d got the wrong man.
    Despite their other son being a senior officer, Kerry felt the police were one-eyed and insular, gaining their confidence that they were on the right track from each other. ‘They all get in a huddle and go, “How much have you got?” and they go, “I’ve got two” and “I’ve got two” and “I’ve got two”—“That’s five twos—shit, we’ve got 15.” And they couldn’t stand back and say, “We didn’t get the bastard today, we think he’s done it, let’s go away and try and find some more evidence.” They just went ahead with it—to their peril.’ But part of his concern was that the system put so much pressure on police to get a conviction, seemingly at any cost. ‘It’s good to be determined and thorough and all the rest of it in order