From lock-up to the locker room
But for Ewen Macdonald, life’s a game
He was the man charged and then sensationally acquitted of murdering his brother-in-law Scott Guy in a bitter dispute over who would take over the family farm.
Now, as the Guy family continues to grieve the loss of a son, husband and father, Ewen Macdonald is out of jail, back in the community – and yesterday turned out for a well-known Canterbury rugby club.
To the Guy family, Macdonald is at best a cruel vandal and arsonist; some of them still believe the worst of him. Scott’s father Bryan Guy said previously that they did not trust him, because of the ‘‘betrayal against our family and others’’ .
But to the Belfast Munchers, who play in Canterbury’s senior classics division six competition, Macdonald is just one of the boys.
A muscular-looking Macdonald, watched by his new girlfriend, played 60 minutes for the team in their comfortable 34-16 win over High School Old Boys in front of around 50 spectators at Sheldon Park yesterday.
Wearing the number 21 jersey, Macdonald lasted 60 minutes at flanker before being subbed off. A boy ran up to him as he reached the sideline and gave him a congratulatory hug.
When contacted, Belfast Rugby Club president Dave Pilkington initially said he was unaware Macdonald was playing for the club.
Later, he called back to say the club had no issues with Macdonald playing for the team.
‘‘He has slotted into the Munchers team, he’s paid his subs. Obviously he has moved into the community and is starting a new life, served his time and we are not prejudging him,’’ Pilkington said.
‘‘Who are we to judge a guy that has served his time?’’
Macdonald, 37, was released in November 2015 after spending five years in prison for burning down a duck whare, vandalising his brother-in-law’s newly-built house, stealing deer and killing 19 calves near the home he shared with wife Anna and their four children on the outskirts of the Manawatu town of Feilding.
But on the charge of murdering his brother-in-law Scott Guy, he was found not guilty after a jury trial in the High Court at Wellington.
Guy had been shot at close range with a shotgun outside his rural property in the early hours of July 8, 2010.
Macdonald and Guy had developed an unhealthy rivalry after Guy returned from living in Australia in 2008 and announced he wanted to take over the family farm.
Macdonald began carrying out what he called ‘‘missions’’ under the stealth of darkness with an accomplice.
After being convicted of the attacks he served his sentence in Rolleston Prison outside Christchurch.
He was denied parole four times, until being released six months before the end of his full sentence.
Sensible Sentencing Trust Manawatu Scott Guthrie spokesman said the Macdonald case had ‘‘ripped the heart out of a small rural community’’.
‘‘The Manawatu community is a very caring community but when it comes to Ewen that’s where the caring would stop. We wish he could never come back to the Manawatu.’’