The widow of a man allegedly murdered by her brother on Skye saw her sibling walk into her family home with a gun before hearing shots, a court heard today.
Lyn-Anne MacKinnon said that after she heard the sounds of bangs she went into the house to find her wounded husband John as her brother, Finlay MacDonald, left without uttering a word.
Marine engineer MacDonald, 41, is on trial at the High Court in Edinburgh accused of murdering John as well as the attempted murders of three other people, including his own wife Rowena, on August 10, 2022.
Giving evidence this afternoon, Mrs McKinnon, 45, described the moments before the shooting at her home in the village of Teangue.
‘I could see he was holding a gun at his side’
She said she was getting items out of a car when she heard another vehicle coming up the driveway and recognised it as her brother’s.
Initially, she thought Rowena would be behind the wheel since Finlay had previously told her he was no longer able to drive because of back pain.
She said: “I realised it wasn’t her and it was Finlay. By that stage, he was walking up the back steps.
“When I looked up I glanced down and I could see he was holding a gun at his side.”
“I said ‘Finlay what do you think you are doing?’. I didn’t get any response,” she said.
Her brother walked into the house and she followed.
She said: “As I walked the steps from the car to the door I heard bangs. I walked into the kitchen and found John. At that point, he was still upright. He was groaning.”
‘He never uttered a word’
Mother-of-six Mrs MacKinnon said she caught her husband in her arms as he was collapsing and said she gently lowered him to the floor.
She said: “I was just screaming in horror.”
Her children appeared and she was shouting for an ambulance to be called and to go and get a doctor.
She was asked if she saw her brother and replied: “We just sort of scuffed past each other in the utility room. He never uttered a word. He never said anything.”
Advocate depute Liam Ewing KC asked her what the bangs were that she had heard and she replied: “Shots. I thought I had only heard two, but I believe it was three. I only saw evidence of two wounds.”
Mrs MacKinnon said she was aware of a physical altercation between her husband and brother years before after she gave her sibling a birthday present which he threw back at her “in a rage”.
She said she was heavily pregnant at the time and her husband was angry when he learned of it.
Wife of accused gives evidence
But she thought they had got over their differences and were civil with each other on occasions when they were together.
As well as denying John MacKinnon’s murder, MacDonald also denies attempting to murder his wife Rowena on the same day as the shooting by struggling with her and repeatedly stabbing her on the body with a knife to her severe injury, permanent disfigurement and impairment and to the danger of her life.
Mrs MacDonald has already given evidence at the trial and told the jury how her husband attacked her with a knife earlier in the day of the alleged shotgun murder.
She also told how her husband blamed an osteopath, John Donald MacKenzie, for “ruining his life” after treatment for back pain was unsuccessful.
On day two of the trial, she told the jury: “He would frequently say ‘I am going to kill him, bloody kill him for ruining my life’.”
Finlay MacDonald denies charges
MacDonald has denied attempting to murder Mr MacKenzie at his home in Dornie by firing a shotgun at him and striking him on the body on August 10 2022 to his severe injury, permanent disfigurement and to the danger of his life.
He has also denied attempting to murder Fay MacKenzie, Don John MacKenzie’s wife, by repeatedly firing a shotgun at her and striking her on the head and body to her severe injury, permanent disfigurement and to the danger of her life.
He also faces a further charge under the Firearms Act that on August 10 in 2022 at addresses in the Skye villages and at the house in Dornie and elsewhere he possessed a shotgun with intent to endanger life.
MacDonald has lodged a special defence to the murder charge maintaining that at the time of the alleged offence his ability to determine or control his conduct was substantially impaired by abnormality of mind.
The trial before judge Lady Drummond continues.