Guy trial: Ewen Macdonald's brother revealed to be police officer

Ewen Macdonald in the dock during the trial. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Ewen Macdonald's brother can be revealed to be a police officer after the judge in the Scott Guy murder trial lifted suppression orders following his acquittal.

Macdonald, 32, was charged with murder last April after Mr Guy, 31, was gunned down in the driveway of his Feilding home early on July 8, 2010.

He was unanimously acquitted by a jury of seven men and four women in the High Court at Wellington yesterday.

The jury heard his brother Blair Macdonald worked as a detective with Wellington police - a detail which Justice Simon France suppressed during the trial.

But after the verdict, Justice France lifted many of the suppression orders surrounding the case, including Blair Macdonald's occupation.

In his written decision, released today, Justice France said details of charges against Ewen Macdonald would remain suppressed, with the exception of the offences raised during the trial.

The jury heard Macdonald admitted to burning down an old house on Scott and Kylee Guy's property, vanadalising a new house being built there, and stealing two prize stags from a neighbouring deer farm.

A sentencing date for charges including arson, criminal damage and theft will be set when Macdonald appears in Palmerston District Court on July 31.

Suppression orders on other charges he is facing will not be permanent, but remain in place in the interim.