Jury sent out to consider verdict in Skye shooting spree trial

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The jury has retired to consider its verdict in the trial of a man accused of murdering his brother-in-law and attempting to kill three other people during a shooting spree on Skye and in Wester Ross.

Finlay MacDonald, 41, denies murdering his brother-in-law John MacKinnon with a shotgun. He also denies three charges of attempted murder against his wife Rowena and married couple Fay and John MacKenzie.

MacDonald, a father-of-four, is on trial at the High Court in Edinburgh accused of going on a violent rampage on August 10, 2022 after seeing messages on his wife’s phone in which she told a friend she was planning to leave him.

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He is accused of stabbing Mrs MacDonald, 34, repeatedly at the family home in Tarskavaig, Skye, and the court heard she was left with two punctured lungs.

MacDonald is accused of then targeting his sister’s husband Mr MacKinnon, 47, by shooting him dead in his kitchen in the village of Teangue, Skye, on the same day.

The court was told MacDonald then drove to the mainland village of Dornie, Wester Ross, and targeted the MacKenzies by shooting them.

Witnesses told the trial MacDonald blamed osteopath Mr MacKenzie for "ruining his life" with treatment he received for a bad back. MacDonald has lodged a special defence against murder.

He claims his "ability to determine or control his conduct was substantially impaired by reason of abnormality of mind", and a judge said he could be convicted of an alternative charge of culpable homicide if the jury believed his defence of diminished responsibility.

The court heard MacDonald has been diagnosed with autism, however prosecutor Liam Ewing KC told the jury "he was fully in control of and able to determine his actions".

MacDonald also denies a charge of possession of a shotgun "with intent by means thereof to endanger life" on August 10, 2022. Judge Lady Drummond sent the jury out to consider its verdict at around 11am on Friday.

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