2 Dec 2013

Reasons to deny Macdonald parole revealed

10:07 pm on 2 December 2013

Ewen Macdonald's disturbed state of mind and on-going risk of re-offending have been given as the reasons for denying his parole.

Ewen Macdonald.

Ewen Macdonald. Photo: R

The Parole Board has released details of his personality assessment which he underwent leading up to the hearing last week.

Macdonald has been in custody since April 2011, when he was arrested and charged with the 2010 murder of brother-in-law Scott Guy in Feilding.

He was acquitted on that charge in 2012, but jailed for five years for a string of other offences, including arson and vandalism.

The forensic psychiatric assessment of Ewen Macdonald commissioned by the Parole Board found that he suffers from a significant personality disturbance and has failed to address behavioural issues relating to revenge and envy. It also found that Macdonald poses a clinically significant risk of reoffending.

Macdonald told the board that poaching and vandalism helped him relieve stress and said it was a challenge to get away with doing something wrong.

Scott Guy's father, Bryan Guy, said the report only confirms what the family had made of Macdonald since his arrest.

But Macdonald's lawyer Peter Coles said he is considering mounting a challenge to the Parole Board's assessment of his client.