Murder accused 'knew nothing' about graffiti
Scott Guy's murder-accused brother-in-law denied knowing anything about the obscene graffiti painted on Scott's new home.
Ewen Macdonald has pleaded not guilty to shooting Scott twice in the throat in the pre-dawn darkness on his driveway on July 8, 2010. He is on trial for murder at the High Court in Wellington.
The Crown alleges Ewen murdered Scott against a backdrop of tension over the future of both men at the Feilding farm.
While speaking to Detective Glen Jackson, Ewen said he had seen the graffiti after he had returned from a trip to Ruakaka but did not recognise the handwriting.
He told the police he did not see a lot of handwriting.
Ewen asked if a brush was used instead of spray paint and police told him it was.
Jackson said he talked to Ewen about the way the words were spelled and distinctive way the letters were formed.
He had spoken earlier to Ewen's wife Anna about them and about possibly releasing them to the public. He showed her the pictures and pointed out distinctive loops in the some of the letters.
The court also heard that Anna told police her husband had decided they were not going to an awards ceremony the night of Scott's murder.
She said during an interview with Jackson that she had not known about it until after Scott was shot.
Jackson said while he was talking to her at her home, Ewen came in and said he had been to a number of them and they had decided not to go.
Anna had then said "we didn't decide, you decided, I didn't know about it,'' the court heard.
UNABLE TO RETURN
Scott's widow, Kylee, was unable to live at the farm home she had shared with her husband after he was killed.
Scott's father Bryan said Kylee went back to her parents in Hawke's Bay a week after the shooting. The house she and Scott had lived in was sold in 2011, about the time Ewen got an increase in pay.
The court heard Kylee left the house because of the shooting.
Earlier this morning the jury had been hearing about the financial situation on the Guy farm from farm consultant David Beca, and Bryan.
They heard that the heart of the farming operation - the dairy side - was run by Ewen.
Bryan said both Scott and Ewen were to be paid the same from about June 2008. He had spoken to both of them about it.
He said remuneration between the two was to be on an equal basis.
Each couple had a 10 per cent share in Byreburn which was the company that held the land the cows were on, the plant and equipment.
A valuation was done of the property to determine its value when the shares were offered to the two couples.
They each borrowed money from trusts to pay for the shares of $ 287,000, although there was no demand to pay it back. Bryan said after Scott's death there was no dividend paid on those shares.
Bryan said Ewen and his wife paid $ 250,000 for the homestead when he and his wife moved into Feilding and Scott and Kylee paid $ 150,000 for a block of land to build their own home on.
Bryan told defence lawyer Greg King that Macdonald was working very long hours at the time he got the pay rise.
During cross-examination, Bryan said Scott's death would not have resulted in his shares going back to the farm company, but to his wife and children, Kylee, Hunter and Drover.
"Yes that's right although that later changed."
Defence lawyer Greg King asked if Bryan then bought Kylee out, and he said that had subsequently happened.
'THINKING ALIKE'
Police interviewed Ewen about going to a conference in Invercargill with Scott shortly before he was fatally shot.
Jackson had been assigned as a police liaison with Anna and Ewen and went to speak to him in November 2010 about the conference in June. Scott was killed on July 8.
Ewen said he and Scott came back from the conference thinking the same thing.
"We were aware the farm was supporting three families and were looking for outside income,'' he said.
He said they were both thinking about automatic cup removers for the milking, along with ideas like sharemilking and managing outside farms.
Macdonald said they were both on the same page and wanted to remove labour costs.
They did not go to the same sessions so they could get as much information as possible and both went on the field trips, like to a robotic milking farm.
FUTURE PLANNING
In 2006 Beca met Bryan and later oversaw a meeting with the family about the future of the farm business.
The meeting was called by Bryan and his wife Jo to discuss the future with all the family.
Beca told the jury that to him, the dairy operation run by Ewen was the heart of the operation and produced the great majority of the revenue.
He said Scott assisted with that, with jobs like raising the feed, but his role could not be considered equal.
Scott and Kylee told Beca that communication was a problem.
The consultant spoke to each of the three couples on the farm separately.
Beca said Scott spoke about competition between himself and Ewen and communication was seen as an issue.
Scott did not want to disappoint his father, he told the jury.
Beca also spoke to Ewen and Anna and they had similar concerns.
They wanted to learn all areas of the business and Ewen mentioned his long hours which he felt was not sustainable.
He said they wanted to know how it would work if someone wanted to leave and also ensure there was enough income for their children.
Bryan and Jo wanted to make sure there were funds for travelling and for moving off the farm and into a new home.
Beca said at that stage Bryan still had control and was the farm's main manager.
One of the reasons for the meeting was to plan for the future.
He said the business was successful but like a lot of diary farms, was carrying a lot of debt.
One of the outcomes of the meeting was the shares that the three parties took in the business.
Beca said an important part of the meeting was discussing how that could happen.
A division of responsibilities was made. Ewen was responsible for the milking side of the business and Scott was charged with the non-dairy side, supporting land, crops and calf rearing.
Beca said a communication strategy was put in place for daily, weekly and quarterly meetings.
He said the dairy business had the potential to stand alone. The support side was to provide lower-cost services, feed and grazing than would otherwise be the case.
He added that dairying required a much larger commitment in hours than the cropping.
- © Fairfax NZ News
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