Defendant who shot Skye had ‘complete control’ of his actions, court hears

A man accused of murdering his brother-in-law and attempting to kill three other people during a shooting rampage on Skye was “totally under control” of his actions, a jury has been told.

Prosecutor Liam Ewing KC told the High Court in Edinburgh in his closing speech in the Finlay MacDonald trial that the defendant was not “significantly affected” by any psychological distress on the day he carried out the attacks.

He said this was demonstrated by the “targeted, controlled behavior” he displayed after stabbing his wife “nine times” at their family home on Skye on the morning of August 10, 2022.

MacDonald’s lawyer disputed that there was any planning or premeditation involved in his client’s actions that day.

MacDonald, 41, is accused of murdering his brother-in-law, John MacKinnon, by repeatedly shooting him with a shotgun in the village of Teangue on Skye.

He is accused of shooting a shotgun at married couple Fay and John MacKenzie in the Wester Ross village of Dornie on the same day and attempting to kill them.

He is also accused of attempting to murder his wife Rowena by repeatedly stabbing her in the village of Tarskavaig on Skye’s Sleat peninsula on August 10.

MacDonald also faces a charge of possessing a shotgun “with intent to endanger life.”

He denies all the charges against him.

h=”1000″)

Mr Ewing told the jury that after stabbing his wife, MacDonald was able to get into a car with a shotgun and “400 cartridges”, drive to two different houses several kilometers away and pick out his “victims”.

These factors, and the fact that the attacks lasted so long, were “incompatible with mental disorder and serious impairment,” he said.

He said: “The prosecution’s evidence is what the defendant did after stabbing his wife and shows that he was completely under control of his actions and able to make decisions.”

Counsel also noted there was no mention of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in MacDonald’s medical records, which the court heard was linked to an attack by his brother-in-law in 2013, dating back to 2022.

Although Ms. MacDonald said her husband “talked about his health every day of their marriage,” she added that people around him, including his wife, were unaware of it.

He also noted that many people are on the autism spectrum and that many people have “discovered infidelity” but do not act the way MacDonald did on August 10.

He also said there was no evidence that MacDonald’s attack on his wife was “provoked by the revelation of sexual infidelity”, but rather by “mildly flirtatious messages” that spoke of his wife’s desire to leave him.

In his closing argument, MacDonald’s barrister Donald Findlay KC accepted his client had targeted specific people in his attacks but said it proved he had not gone on a “killing spree”.

He told the jury his client’s actions were the result of long-standing psychological conditions, including autism, post-traumatic stress disorder and personality disorder, and a series of events that “crowded as we approached August 10.”

These included, he said, an increasingly difficult relationship with his wife, an osteopathy treatment that subjected him to severe pain, and his discovery of a “pattern” of “flirting” between him and his wife late at night and early in the morning on his wife’s phone. his boss.

He said his client’s autism meant he reacted very badly to the discovery of the messages; This, he said, could indicate that he had been made into a “deceived” person over a “certain period of time”.

Mr Findlay told the jury: “A lot of people would have been very angry and demanded an explanation.

“Not so many people. He’s autistic. He couldn’t rationalize it the way other people did.

He also disputed that there was any planning or premeditation involved in his client’s actions on 10 August.

He noted that MacDonald already owned multiple firearms when he purchased the gun used in the alleged attacks and that he had no way of knowing whether Mr McKinnon or Mr MacKenzie was at home when he went to their address after stabbing his wife.

MacDonald filed a special defense to the murder charge, claiming that his “ability to determine or control his behavior is substantially impaired by mental abnormality” and a judge said he could be convicted on an alternative charge of culpable homicide if the jury decided to do so. He believed in the defense of diminished responsibility.

The trial continues before Judge Lady Drummond.