Man jailed over murdering brother-in-law in Isle of Skye shooting spree

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 Mac Donald, 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 Mac Donald, 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. Mac Donald then retrieved a pump-action shotgun with hundreds of cartridges and a “machete-type” knife and drove to his brother-in-law John Mac Kinnon’s house in the nearby village of Teangue. Mac Kinnon’s sister, Lyn-Anne Mac Kinnon, was outside on the driveway when she saw Mac Donald enter the house with the shotgun and said she heard “bangs” as he shot her brother several times. A local doctor attempted to save Mac Kinnon but he died at the scene. The court heard that Mac Donald had a grudge against his brother-in-law since the pair had a violent falling out in 2013. Mac Donald’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”. Mac Donald 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 Mac Donald 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 Mac Donald 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 Mac Donald a life sentence with a minimum of 28 years inside before he could be considered for release. After murdering Mac Kinnon, Finlay went to a house in Dornie in Wester Ross on the mainland, where his osteopath, John Mac Kenzie, lived with his wife, Fay. The jury had heard that Mac Donald had claimed Mac Kenzie gave him a treatment session that had “ruined his life”. Mac Donald shot Fay Mac Kenzie 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 Mac Donald, Fay Mac Kenzie and John Mac Kenzie 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. ”