Macdonald the 'worst thing' - Guy

Slain farmer Scott Guy drunkenly confided to his sister that Ewen Macdonald was "the worst thing that happened to our family', according to new court documents.

Slain farmer Scott Guy drunkenly confided to his sister that Ewen Macdonald was "the worst thing that happened to our family'' and the farm would be better off without him, evidence withheld from the jury has revealed.

Justice Simon France opened up the file on Macdonald's murder trial today after granting the New Zealand Herald's application to view court documents.

The decision comes exactly one month after a jury in the High Court at Wellington found Macdonald, 32, not guilty of murdering his brother-in-law Mr Guy, 31, who was shot dead in the driveway of his Feilding home early on July 8, 2010.

The court documents shine a new light on the tensions between Macdonald and Mr Guy on the family farm they co-managed.

In a brief of evidence, Mr Guy's older sister Nikki Guy spoke of the rivalry between the two men - a rivalry that led Mr Guy to confide in her that he did not want Macdonald on the farm.

"I would notice the rivalry in off-hand comments,'' she said.

One such comment came when the siblings went to a concert in Martinborough together in December 2008, a little over a year-and-a-half before the murder.

"Scott came over and started talking. He was in a really happy, chatty, charming mood and appeared to be having a good time,'' Ms Guy said.

"During our conversation he told me how much he disliked Ewen and thought the farm would be better off if he wasn't there. He said that Ewen was the worst thing that happened to our family.

"Scott always wore his heart on his sleeve and would say what he thought.''

But Ms Guy was unable to give evidence on the comments at the trial.

In a judgment issued in the second week of the trial, on June 14, Justice France declined Crown prosecutor Ben Vanderkolk's application for the evidence to be heard.

Defence lawyer Greg King had objected to the evidence on reliability grounds, arguing that Ms Guy had told police about the comments only after Macdonald's arrest.

Justice France noted Mr Guy was "intoxicated and probably affected by drugs'' at the time he made the remark and Ms Guy had indicated she was uncomfortable with the topic.

Mr King argued the only way to undermine the evidence was by "drawing out unflattering material about the deceased''.

Justice France said there was no evidence Macdonald had even heard the comment.

He said he was sympathetic with Mr King's argument the statement was of little evidentiary value and declined the Crown's application.

The two boxes of court documents, released today, amount to thousands of pages of briefs of evidence, judgements, court applications and minutes.

Macdonald is awaiting sentencing on six other charges he had pleaded guilty to - three of which were suppressed until this week.