A man who murdered his brother-in-law and attempted to kill three others during a shooting spree on the Isle of Skye and the Scottish mainland has been jailed for 28 years.
Finlay MacDonald, 41, killed his brother-in-law with a shotgun on 10 August 2022. His “frenzied” attacks began that morning when he stabbed his wife, Rowena MacDonald, multiple times at their home in Taskarvaig on the island’s Sleat peninsula after discovering “flirty” text messages exchanged between her and her boss. She said the attack punctured both her lungs and left her “squelching blood” during each breath.
MacDonald then retrieved a pump-action shotgun with hundreds of cartridges and a “machete-type” knife and drove to his brother-in-law John MacKinnon’s house in the nearby village of Teangue. MacDonald’s sister, Lyn-Anne MacKinnon, was outside on the driveway when she saw him enter the house with the shotgun and said she heard “bangs” as he shot her husband several times. A local doctor attempted to save MacKinnon but he died at the scene.
The court heard that MacDonald had a grudge against his brother-in-law since the pair had a violent falling out in 2013.
MacDonald’s lawyer tried to argue that he should be convicted of culpable homicide rather than murder because his ability to control himself had been “impaired by reason of abnormality of mind”. MacDonald said he stabbed his wife in a “moment of madness”, and he then felt a “total darkness come over me”. Two psychiatrists and two psychologists told the court that MacDonald suffered from autistic spectrum disorder and depressive disorder.
The jury was not swayed, and after three-and-a-half hours of deliberation on Friday, found MacDonald guilty of one count of murder, three counts of attempted murder, and one count of possession of a shotgun “with intent thereof to endanger life”.
Judge Lady Drummond handed MacDonald a life sentence with a minimum of 28 years inside before he could be considered for release.
After murdering MacKinnon, Finlay went to a house in Dornie in Wester Ross on the mainland, where his osteopath, John MacKenzie, lived with his wife, Fay. The jury had heard that MacDonald had claimed MacKenzie gave him a treatment session that had “ruined his life”.
MacDonald shot Fay MacKenzie in the face through the windows of the house and shot her husband twice, in his front and side, before the police arrived on the scene, tasered and arrested him. Rowena MacDonald, Fay MacKenzie and John MacKenzie survived their injuries.
Defending, solicitor advocate Shahid Latif said of Finlay: “He is sorry for what he did that day. He wishes he could undo and go back in time to try and stop himself.
“In particular, he indicates he has failed his children. He wants them to know he is sorry.”
• This article was amended on 2 December 2024. An earlier version incorrectly referred to Lyn-Anne MacKinnon as being the sister of John MacKinnon. She is the sister of Finlay MacDonald, and was married to John MacKinnon.
