The wife of Skye’s shotgun killer Finlay MacDonald claims he is tormenting her from prison by blocking access to the family home and trying to take their children away from her.
MacDonald was sentenced last month to a minimum prison term of 28 years for the murder of his brother-in-law and the attempted murder of his wife Rowena and two other people.
But Mrs MacDonald, who suffered life-threatening stab wounds at her husband’s hands, has told how he has continued to make her life miserable from behind bars after he was arrested over the gun and knife disaster in August 2022.
The mother-of-four told The Scottish Sun on Sunday that MacDonald has refused to allow her access to the family farm they shared in Tarskavaig, on Skye’s Sleat Peninsula, to collect her and her children’s belongings.
Mrs. MacDonald, 34, said her estranged husband, whom she plans to divorce, has tried to claim that everything she now owns should be his.
She said: ‘He tried to take my car and also claim my new house. He had a lawyer say the property was half his since we are still married. He did warn me that if I ever left him, he would make sure I had nothing.”
She said MacDonald had contacted social services to claim his wife was unfit to care for their children. She said: ‘He tried to take the children away from me.
‘He reported me to social services. Their only concern was that I kept him away from them.
Rowena MacDonald, wife of shotgun killer Finlay MacDonald, claims he is threatening her from prison and trying to take her children away
MacDonald has refused to allow Mrs MacDonald access to the family business they shared in Tarskavaig to retrieve her and her children’s belongings
‘I’ve gone to Women’s Aid and the police for help, but what he’s doing is all legal. It’s just unfair. I was hoping there would be a way for him to be forced to quit, but I knew he would make it as difficult as he could.”
Mrs MacDonald, who was stabbed nine times by her marine engineer husband, said: ‘He knows no boundaries. He’s terrible.
‘He has left his own children destitute and is doing everything he can to make it even more difficult.
‘If I can get away with it, I will never speak to or see him again. What he did will affect me, the children and so many others for the rest of our lives.”
MacDonald, 41, carried out the attacks on August 10, 2022. The High Court in Edinburgh heard he stabbed his wife after accusing her of an affair, something she denies, before driving to nearby Teangue where he killed his brother-in-law fatally shot. law John MacKinnon, 47.
Pursued by police, he traveled to the mainland and shot his former osteopath John MacKenzie – whom he blamed for aggravating a back injury – and his wife Fay, both 65, at their home in Dornie, Wester Ross.
MacDonald stabbed his wife nine times after accusing her of having an affair, something she denies
Forensic officers at the MacDonalds’ home in Teangue on the Isle of Skye
Last month, a jury found MacDonald guilty of one count of murder, three counts of attempted murder and one count of possession of a shotgun “with intent to endanger life.”
At the High Court in Edinburgh, Lady Drummond told MacDonald there was no guarantee he would ever be released. MacDonald has since appealed his conviction and life sentence.
Mrs MacDonald said she had been thinking about leaving her husband for some time before the attacks: “I fell out of love years ago,” she said. “There’s only so much abuse you can take and still love someone.”
Told of MacDonald’s trail of destruction as she recovered from surgery in hospital, she said: ‘Nothing surprised me at that moment. He was so calm and thoughtful as he attacked me, then packed his things and left.
‘I was so shocked that John had lost his life and that Finlay had actually tried to kill John and Fay – all for no good reason.’
Mrs. MacDonald is trying to finalize her divorce, saying, “I want all our freedoms back.”