Crazed knife assault Neighbour attacked man and son in bloodbath
A man was facing a life sentence this week after viciously murdering a Shotts dad- ofthree who went to confront him over the rape of a schoolgirl.
Kenneth Wheeler stabbed Scott Mackenzie to death and wounded the victim’s son in a knife attack at his home.
Delivery driver Mr Mackenzie, 41, had been enjoying a summer evening with family and friends after a barbecue when he heard of the sex attack on the teenager.
He went to near neighbour Wheeler’s home where the fatal assault took place before the murderer turned up at Mr Mackenzie’s house with a blood-stained knife threatening to kill his wife.
One teenage witness told the High Court in Edinburgh that Wheeler, 33, had come to the Mackenzie home in Inverkip Drive and was trying to get in and was pushing the murder victim’s wife forcefully.
She said the incident ended when police officers arrived and used pepper spray to subdue Wheeler on June 5.
Mr Mackenzie’s widow Tracy, 39, told the trial that they would have been married for 20 years in July this year.
She said that earlier in the evening Wheeler had called her “a boring b******” after she had told a teenage girl that she was not allowed a can of fruit cider because of her age.
The drink was poured down the sink but she later formed the impression the girl had been drinking.
She said her front door later burst open and another teenager came in “saying he has raped her”.
Mrs Mackenzie said her husband became upset and she last saw him alive as he went downstairs and her son Jamie followed him.
She said: “I assumed he was with his dad.”
Mrs Mackenzie said she went to get her phone to call the police but a bid was made to stop her.
She said her son Jamie came in and said he and his father had been stabbed.