Trial date set for Guy case

The Dom Post reports:

The man accused of murdering Feilding farmer Scott Guy will stand trial in June next year.

Ewen Kerry Macdonald – Guy’s brother-in-law – appeared before Justice Alan MacKenzie in the High Court at Palmerston North this morning.

His murder trial will be held on June 5 in Palmerston North and is expected to take six weeks.

As I read this, I reflected how good it is that the Guy family are spared having to go through what is effectively two entire trials, now that deposition hearings are the exception not the rule.

The trial is going to be incredibly hard on the Guy family. I’m pleased for them that the law change (initiated by Labour IIRC) means they only have to go through it once – especially as it was inevitable that a depositions hearing would end up in committing to trial anyway.