Ewen MacDonald escapes police trap.

While part of the country continue to believe Ewen MacDonald escaped life imprisonment the evidence continues to stack up that he didn't, even to the point of questioning why he was charged. It has emerged that the scientist who examined the number of waves of the sole of size 9 dive boots knew that the boots MacDonald was claimed to have worn didn't match the number of waves found on the prints lifted from the scene, that the lifted prints were from a shoe 2 sizes larger. How the Crown couldn't know that when it's own scientist David Neale recorded it in his own notes is impossible to accept other than that the scientist and the police didn't want the truth, they already had revealed. Will Neale be sanctioned, prosecuted, with the Crown Prosecutor be brought to task?

It was no mistake but deliberate. Just as it was deliberate that the Crown never disclosed 100s of phone tapes recorded under warrant none which revealed anything other than than the fact there were no admissions of any sort implicating MacDonald. Imagine how important any admission would have been to the Crown case, or even a slip of talking about a shotgun, another crime, discarding clothing, puppies or anything connected with the murder. But when there was nothing the police deliberately chose to hide that despite the rules that required them to reveal such information which the defence would use to convincing effect on the Jury. So no admission the knew that the boot prints didn't belong to MacDonald, no admission that in 100s of conversations MacDonald said nothing that in anyway pointed to having been involved in the murder of his brother-in-law Scott Guy. Yet still they proceeded with the case, knowing that their single piece of 'critical' forensic evidence against MacDonald didn't incriminate him but in fact absolved him of blame.

Let's go a little further the Crown prosecutor, Ben Vanderkolk, in material that he did disclose, the equivalent of 200 east-light folders, 2000 interviews provided to the defence in a  PDF format they couldn't down load. He held out on making it available on a format that could be unloaded to the point where MacDonald's lead defence counsel, the late Greg King was unable to properly prepare. It took a year for Vanderkolk to relent and release, then only under pressure from the defence that they would seek a trial adjournment and obviously advise the Court of the reason. Vanderkolk released the material in an accessible format only one month before the trial. Accidental, or like the hidden confirmation that the boot print at the murder scene wasn't MacDonalds, and the hours of phone conversations recorded of an unsuspecting MacDonald none of which the Crown revealed in the normal order of discovery.

Fast forward to the trial. Now we know that members of the community were approached by Police not to sign defence papers supporting the  assertion that MacDonald was unlikely to get a fair trial in his own district. Why would the police wish to avoid the Courts being able to properly assess the fairness or unfairness of MacDonald being tried in his own district. Well Vanderkolk and the officer in charge Schwalger know why because they were issuing the orders for police to intercede in the due process, of course again something to favour the police who had worked hard in the community on the basis that MacDonald was guilty, confidentiality and all that wink and nudge stuff.

So MacDonald not getting a fair trial seemed to be an ambition of the Crown well before it started. Then on the opening and conduct of the Trial we got to see a range of other 'events' which I wrote about at the outset and said were designed to influence the Jury. The parade of distressed witnesses, in some case attractive and sad women, being called many times to offer tearful testimony that could have been given on a single occasion - intention? To accumulate the misery and distress of those witnesses against the defendant, theatre indeed. We even got to see Sue Schwalger shepherding particular witnesses through a 'side' door so as for them not to have to walk  past MacDonald - deliberate impression? That he was dangerous and the witnesses were fearful of him and therefore even in the absence of proof he was guilty.

We very nearly saw a Miscarriage of Justice work against Ewen MacDonald, and it wasn't through lack of trying on the police and Crown's behalf - essentially they tried everything they could to prejudice the case against him; most importantly burying evidence that he hadn't been at the murder scene and trying to fudge proof that he'd been at home, seen by others at the time of Scott's death. All this before the bizarre murder on a bicycle scenario. One that had MacDonald biking to the murder scene carrying a shotgun without a shoulder strap and returning from there with the same shotgun and 3 puppies - truly the crime narration of idiots. Dangerous and ruthless idiots however, folks willing to overlook proof of MacDonald's clear innocence, overlook anything apparently, discovery, procedure, bias and anything else one should expect from the Justice system in order not to falsely convict an innocent man. Will Schwalger, Neale and Vanderkolk be asked to explain, or will this case fall on the final words of Schwalger's attempt to indicate they'd got the right man and really there was no one else to look for. Sure.