Dornie osteopath ‘disarmed former patient after shooting’

A retired osteopath disarmed his former gun-addict patient after the man shot him and his wife in their home, according to a murder case.

Finlay MacDonald, 41, is accused of attempting to murder John MacKenzie and his wife Fay during a series of alleged attacks in Wester Ross, Dornie, on August 10, 2022.

Mr MacKenzie, 65, told the High Court in Edinburgh that he was shot in the back while protecting his wife before struggling with Mr MacDonald and taking the shotgun from her.

Mr MacDonald is also accused of attempting to murder his wife Rowena MacDonald and murdering his brother-in-law John MacKinnon on Skye the same day. He denies all charges and makes a special defense to the murder allegation.

Mr MacKenzie said he was outside feeding the pigs and on his way back to his house he heard someone shouting: “Drop the gun. Drop the gun.”

He said he saw Mr. MacDonald standing outside the front window with a gun in his hand.

Mr MacKenzie said: “I knew straight away it was a bad situation. I just knew it was bad.”

When he entered he found his wife with blood on her face, a towel wrapped around her head and “quite distressed”.

The court heard Ms MacKenzie went into the bathroom and said they needed to lock the door.

While in the bathroom he said: “There’s the man. Here’s the man.”

Mr MacKenzie told the court he pinned his wife to the ground.

She said: “I lay on top of him to protect him and then he shot me in the back.

“After that, a fight broke out over the gun. I got up and took the gun from him.”

Mr MacKenzie then heard calls of “shots fired, shots fired” before police used a stun gun.

He said he lost a kidney and suffered other injuries in the conflict.

Mr MacKenzie said he practiced osteopathy for 40 years before retiring in April 2022.

He said Mr MacDonald had previously contacted him complaining of chest pain and breathing problems and that he had been off work for a year.

He said that after two treatment sessions, Mr MacDonald claimed his back was uncomfortable.

Defense barrister Donald Findlay KC said jurors would hear Mr MacDonald was “fixated” on Mr MacKenzie because of the damage he believed was caused by the treatment he was given.

Mr MacDonald denies all charges and has entered a special defense to the murder charge, claiming he suffers from mental abnormality.

The trial continues.