Finlay MacDonald: Woman feared she and husband were going to be killed, Skye shooting trial told

A woman has told a murder trial she feared she and her husband were going to die after an alleged gunman shot her partner at “point blank” range.

Fay MacKenzie said the couple fell over but her husband then “rose up” and seized the gun from the man.

She also told the court how moments earlier the man waited for her as she came in from the patio holding her cereal bowl and shot her through a window, hitting her in the face.

Finlay MacDonald, 41, is on trial accused of murdering his brother-in-law, John MacKinnon, and the attempted murder of three other people, including his wife, on 10 August 2022, all of which he denies.

It is alleged that he repeatedly discharged a shotgun at Mr MacKinnon and murdered him in the village of Teangue on Skye.

He is also accused of firing a shotgun at married couple Fay and John MacKenzie and attempting to murder them in the village of Dornie, Wester Ross.

He also denies attempting to murder his wife, Rowena MacDonald, by repeatedly stabbing her in the village of Tarskavaig, on Skye’s Sleat peninsula.

Mrs MacKenzie told the High Court in Edinburgh that she was eating cereal on her patio when she became aware of shouting on the morning of 10 August 2022 and, when she went round the house to investigate, saw a man holding a “long thin gun” at his side.

She heard people shouting at her to get back inside so she did so and described how the man then shot her through the glass window.

Mrs MacKenzie told the court: “I went back to the patio still holding my bowl of cereal. I went in and he was pointing the gun at me, he was waiting for me and he shot me in the face. He was standing there pointing the gun at me when I came in through the patio door.”

Advocate depute Liam Ewing KC asked how many times she was shot.

She replied: “One shot, I can’t remember hearing the bang, I was on the couch, I thought it’s not good, he must have got the top of my head. He must have shot me twice. My eyes were full of blood.”

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Mrs MacKenzie described how she fled to the bathroom, the only room in the house with a lock on the door, and put a towel on her head to staunch the blood.

Her husband, whom she referred to as John Don, arrived but she then saw the alleged gunman in the corridor.

She said: “I looked over John’s shoulder and the man was standing there, dark, tall. He was in the corridor which is about two feet wide. He shot John Don at point blank range and we both fell down onto the shower area.

“He was standing there, the man, and I thought, this is it, this is us going to be killed but then my husband rose up and took the gun off the man.

“I could not see how he did it but he ran out, he must have pulled it off him.”

Mrs MacKenzie said she then grabbed a “hefty” metal toilet roll holder and used it to hit the man on the head a couple of times, then stopped when she heard a voice say “that will do” and realised that police were there.

The court heard that her husband was flown to hospital by air ambulance while she was treated at Broadford Hospital on Skye. Mrs MacKenzie still has pellets in her face and scalp which can feel tender, she told the trial.

Read more from the court case:
Wife of accused tells court about knife attack
Defendant claimed osteopath ruined his life, court told

MacDonald has also been accused of possessing a shotgun with intent to “endanger life” and travelling between the different properties while armed with the reported firearm and ammunition.

He has launched a special defence against the murder charge, claiming his “ability to determine or control his conduct was substantially impaired by reason of abnormality of mind”.

The trial continues.