Kylee Guy gives evidence during the trial of Ewen Macdonald in 2012. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Kylee Guy gives evidence during the trial of Ewen Macdonald in 2012. Photo / Mark Mitchell
The privately funded investigation into farmer Scott Guy's death was never going to get anywhere if it focused on the wrong man, says a member of Ewen Macdonald's trial defence team.
Macdonald was acquitted of Mr Guy's murder, although he is serving five years in jail for other crimes.
Mr Guy was gunned down on his Feilding property on July 8, 2010. Nobody has been brought to justice for the killing, although police say the file remains open.
When the not-guilty verdict was read, Mr Guy's widow Kylee ran from the courtroom shouting about Macdonald: "He killed my husband".
Subsequently the Sensible Sentencing Trust, working on Kylee Guy's behalf, instigated a private investigation. Yesterday it was revealed that has now ceased because of a lack of funding.
Manawatu lawyer Peter Coles was part of Macdonald's defence team at the 2012 trial in Wellington and he said yesterday if an investigation was trying to prove his former client's guilt, it would get nowhere.
"Before anybody spends any more money on that line of inquiry, they should buy Mike White's book, read it and then understand why they are wasting their money."
Two years ago White, a North & South investigative reporter, released Who Killed Scott Guy? It outlined why the author found Macdonald was not the killer.
"There's absolutely, utterly, no evidence that has set back the defence, never," Mr Coles said.
He said the trial jury's verdict was "rock solid".
Ewen Macdonald in the dock before being sentenced to five years in jail in 2012. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Scott Guy's father Bryan Guy said he and his wife Jo weren't pinning their hopes on the investigation providing answers.
"It's been such a long time now, five years. I wasn't hopeful that there was likely to be some other evidence come to light that police haven't found," Bryan Guy said.
"The other investigation wasn't something that we thought was going to bring much to light, because the police had done a fairly thorough investigation from what we saw of it.
Kylee Guy, wife of murdered Feilding farmer Scott Guy, is comforted by her two-year-old son, Hunter, during an emotional press conference in 2010. Photo / Mark Mitchell
"I guess obviously there's still someone that knows something, but whether that ever comes to light, who knows?"
Bryan Guy said he and Jo Guy didn't think about new developments "day to day".
"We're hopeful that we're going to get the truth one day, but we can't just dwell or worry about that at the moment. Life goes on, we've got to get on with our lives.
"If we dwelt on just worrying about getting the truth for who killed Scott it would just eat us up I think."
