The man acquitted of murdering Scott Guy has again been denied an early release from prison.
Ewen Macdonald, 34, was declined release today after a Parole Board hearing at Rolleston Prison this morning.
He nodded his head with pursed lips as he was told he would be seen by the board within the next year.
This was Macdonald's third time before the Parole Board and they said he had still had plenty of work to do.
They said he had not yet addressed his personality traits which led him to offend, and that more treatment could be required to help him do so.
Macdonald rose to national notoriety when he was accused of the murder of his brother-in-law, Feilding farmer Scott Guy. He was acquitted of Guy's murder but jailed for other offences, including smashing walls and fittings in the house Guy and his wife Kylee were building, and killing 19 calves.
He has been on release to work for the past three weeks, working in rural Canterbury.
The board suppressed what vocation he was in, but it is not farming.
Dressed in jean shorts, jandals and a grey prison shirt, he suggested a restrictive release plan.
He said he was willing to be subject to GPS monitoring, to be confined to the South Island, and to be banned from interacting with media.
He said the conditions showed he was serious about showing the community he wanted to change his ways.
His parents, Kerry and Marlene Macdonald, who were present at the hearing today, were especially supportive of the last condition.
They were hostile towards media present at the hearing, and spoke about how media attention affected their son.
They said he would be "down" after seeing reports in the papers.
They also talked about how it affected Macdonald's children.
The board said Macdonald was just like he was outside prison - a hard-working man who excelled in his work.
But that was exactly how he appeared to the community while he was offending, they said.
Macdonald admitted to the board that they could not be sure he would not reoffend if released early.
"You can't be 100 per cent sure, can you?
"I have given you my word, but that probably means nothing."
A Corrections officer told the board he had no problem with Macdonald being released.
While Macdonald was withdrawn when he first arrived in Rolleston Prison, he had opened up since.
The officer said Macdonald had been declined work to release, but had taken it on the chin and worked hard to get over that line.
Macdonald now accepted he had issues, and he would be able to address those issues in the community, the officer said.
RELATIONSHIP WITH CHILDREN
Parole Board members Associate Professor Philip Brinded, a forensic psychiatrist, and former High Court judge Marion Frater questioned Macdonald at length about how he would handle custody issues with Anna Guy, his estranged wife.
Macdonald said he had a good relationship with their four children.
He had gone through "the right channels" to ensure he had access to their four children during school holidays and during the Christmas season, and seeing them at any other time of the year would be "unrealistic" due to his plan to settle in Canterbury with a family member.
They also had no issues visiting him at the moment, he said.
"They're excited to see me and still love me."
But Frater quizzed him about other stresses which could come between him and his children.
"They have views too, especially as they grow up.
"They may have other commitments or views and, basically, they may say they don't want to come visit.
"As a one-time mother and former Family Court judge, I know things can change."
Macdonald said he could handle those by arranging visits months in advance.
If his children did not want to see him, or Guy tried to prevent them visiting, he would talk with his supporters to try sort out any problems, he said.
NEGATIVE TRAITS
The Parole Board said Macdonald had to work on his negative personality traits.
A psychologist's report prepared for the hearing said Macdonald's offending was marked by a sense of self-entitlement.
Macdonald said his offences were acts of revenge, and the arson of a house being moved off the Guy's family farm was specifically targeted at Scott and Kylee Guy.
"It stemmed from the working relationship on the farm."
That relationship was canvassed at his trial for murdering Guy. It was said during the trial that Macdonald and Guy had an on-going rivalry, which started after the latter returned from the Australian outback in 2008.
Guy said he had wanted to inherit the family farm, effectively coming in over the top of Macdonald's authority on the farm.
Macdonald said how he dealt with his feelings lead to him committing crimes.
"If I try suppress my emotions, my personalty leads me to make the wrong decisions.
"Instead of getting that sick feeling in your tummy while doing the wrong thing, I would suppress that - put it to the side - and let those strong traits take over.
"I'm working on my emotions and getting the balance between the two right."
'WHERE HE BELONGS'
Kylee Guy and her family have labelled Macdonald an evil "sicko" and welcomed this morning's decision.
Scott Guy's widow is the only registered victim of Macdonald after he destroyed a dream home she was building with her husband.
In statement shortly after the hearing, the family said: "We'd like to thank the Parole Board for making the right decision and the NZ public for their enduring support for Scotty and keeping Ewen behind bars.
"Ultimately the narcissistic and evil traits of Ewen MacDonald have been recognised as a risk to the public and professional assessments of Ewen whilst in jail have confirmed our concerns.
"Our promise to Scotty remains that we will never give up the fight for justice - this is solely about Scott Guy.
"Ewen MacDonald is a sicko and he is where he belongs."
Bryan Guy, Scott Guy's father, said he was pleased the board hadn't been too lenient.
"It's the consequence when you commit crimes like he's done, he should definitely spend a bit longer there."
As they were not considered victims of Macdonald's crimes, the Guys were not kept formally informed of the outcome of his hearings, but they would always be inextricably linked.
"We can't help it, the ripple effect of what Ewen did has been huge, it's changed our whole lives really, and not just Jo [Guy] and I but the whole family and a lot of other people as well. That's going to be with us our whole lives, it's not going to go away."
Despite their experiences, the arrival of three new grandchildren in the past seven months had given them something far more positive to occupy them.
"We really are in a bizarre way quite rich for the experiences we've been though. We've got far more to focus on than worrying about Ewen's parole."
JAILED FOR FIVE YEARS
Macdonald has been in custody since April 2011, after being arrested and charged with the murder of Feilding farmer Scott Guy, his then-brother-in-law.
Guy died after being shot twice at close range with a shotgun outside his rural home in the early hours of July 8, 2010.
Macdonald was acquitted of Guy's murder after a jury trial in Wellington in 2012, and the police file into the case remains open.
However, Macdonald was jailed for five years for other offences.
These involved smashing walls and fittings in a house Guy and his wife Kylee were building, as well as writing offensive graffiti on the outside of the house, and burning a 110-year-old whare to the ground.
He also poached trophy stags, dumped 16,000 litres of milk from a vat, and killed 19 calves.
One calf was still dying when found the next day.
He committed the crimes with Callum Boe, who has already served his sentence for his part in the offences.
'NOT REALLY BOTHERED'
A farmer who had two trophy stags poached from his property by Macdonald and farm worker Callum Boe said he was surprised by the board's decision.
"I thought they'd let him out this time ... obviously there's still some work to do," Craig Hocken said.
Two of Hocken's trophy stags were shot by the pair and removed from his property. The animals were worth $17,000 and were not insured.
The deer were in a front paddock of his 40-hectare property and Macdonald and Boe used a ute and trailer to remove the carcasses during the night of December 30, 2006.
Hocken said he was no longer angry at Macdonald for poaching the animals.
"I'm not really bothered now."
STILL A RISK
Macdonald has been declined parole by the board twice before.
After his parole hearing last year, the board said Macdonald could still pose a risk to the community due to his "significant personality disturbance".
A psychiatrist's report described him as being narcissistic and having other negative personality traits.
At that hearing, Macdonald said banning him from the North Island, an overnight curfew and GPS monitoring could keep the community safe, but the board had its doubts.
"Given his personality profile, we wonder whether any plan, with any number of conditions, or any additional therapy, is sufficient to address his assessed risk," it said in its decision last year.
Macdonald has spent the time since then as a minimum-security prisoner at Rolleston Prison, and has been on day release from prison to work on a farm in the Canterbury area.
Macdonald's estranged wife, Anna Guy, has said she wanted him to serve his full sentence behind bars.
She has since moved to Auckland with their four children and has had another child with her new partner.
Macdonald's sentence is due to end on April 6, 2016.
Source: Stuff.co.nz
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