Parole Board did not tell inmate’s former wife or her parents he was being released
Ewen Macdonald's ex-wife says it's "very strange" she and her family were not told about his early release from prison.
Macdonald, the man acquitted of killing his brother-in-law, Feilding farmer Scott Guy, was released yesterday from Rolleston Prison near Christchurch. He has been behind bars since April 2011, when he was arrested.
Macdonald was found not guilty of murder at a high-profile trial a year later, but was jailed for five years after admitting to a string of other offences, including burning down a house on Mr Guy's property, vandalism and killing 19 calves with a hammer.
Mr Guy's sister Anna, who has four children with Macdonald, told the Herald the first she heard about his release was when she read about it online yesterday afternoon.
"You would think I would know, but no one tells us. It is very strange; you feel quite removed from it."
Ms Guy said her parents, Bryan and Jo, also did not know about his release. "You would think that we would get notified by someone - I don't know who - but yeah, we don't. It's a bit weird because everything that we hear is just through the media."
A Parole Board spokesman said only registered victims would have been told of Macdonald's release.
It has been previously reported the only registered victim in the case was Scott Guy's widow, Kylee.
Kylee's spokeswoman, Ruth Money, said she would not comment on the case or whether she knew Macdonald's release date.
Macdonald had tried three times to gain parole before successfully meeting the Parole Board on October 16.
Massey University law professor Chris Gallavin said in his opinion the decision to release Macdonald without appropriate psychological care was appalling.
"He needed, and [the Parole Board] stressed, he needed ongoing psychological support and care and he just didn't get it. He wasn't OK to be released last November and yet, effectively, nothing professional has happened to him since, and now he's suddenly OK to be released."
Professor Gallavin said he felt sorry for the board, which was between a rock and a hard place. "But I also feel quite alarmed that I don't think we can hand-on-heart say this man has been given the adequate care that he expressly was said to need leading up to his release."
Journalist Mike White, who wrote a book about the case, said Macdonald had served an "extraordinary" proportion of his sentence, and seemed to have been punished for a crime he was acquitted of. He hoped the public would allow Macdonald a second chance despite his notoriety.
"His co-offender served less than 10 months. So you could argue that Ewen Macdonald's served his time for the crimes that he did commit and I'd just hope that he's now able to get on with his life and hopefully contribute to society ..."
Going into the trial, most people had assumed Macdonald had to be guilty, White said. "[But] if you actually look at the evidence, it seems very difficult to understand how Ewen Macdonald could have been the person who killed Scott Guy.
"The notoriety that has followed him and continues to follow him is way out of proportion to the crimes he was convicted of, and he served an awful long time."
This would make it difficult for Macdonald on his release. Kylee Guy's sister Chanelle Bullock wrote on the Lets do it for Scotty Tribute page on Facebook that yesterday was "the day that we wish never would happen".
