Guy Trial: Focus on diving boots and footprints

The jury in the Scott Guy murder trial have been shown several pairs of diving boots, similar to those thought to have been worn by Mr Guy’s killer.

Ewen Macdonald is accused of murdering his brother-in-law in July 2010.

The Crown claims that Macdonald wore diving boots on the morning of the murder, leaving distinct footprints at the scene.

Richard Stephens imported hunting equipment and sold pairs of the 'proline' dive boot to Ewen Macdonald's father's hunting and fishing store in Palmerston North.

"I believe they could be used by my customers for the purposes as a hunting / camp boot and / or a rock fishing boot."

Mr Stephens says only five pairs of the boots were sold in the Manawatu region.

Hunting and Fishing's Andrew Tannock says the boots are great for sneaking up on prey.

"They're a quiet boot to hunt in in bush conditions so that they're easier to sneak up on animals in that type of scenario."

Detective Laurie Howell says police searched stores throughout the lower North Island in an attempt to identify the distinctive wavy patterns left by the boots.

"From Hawke's Bay across to Whanganui, possibly New Plymouth, down to Wellington. As many as possible were visited and nothing was located."

Detective Howell estimates that he looked at over 30,000 shoes throughout his investigations.

He says databases from around the world were searched as police worked to identify the distinctive prints.

"A large Australian footwear database, the FBI database, and I believe a Canadian database, where combined there are literally hundreds of thousands of shoes on those databases, were searched."

Detective Howell says none of the databases had any matches for the boots.

Earlier, the High Court heard that hunting boots seized from Macdonald’s home were nothing like those thought to have been worn by Scott Guy’s killer.

The crown alleges that Macdonald wore diving boots on the morning of the murder, leaving distinctive wavy footprints at the murder scene.

Detective Laurie Howell has told defence lawyer Greg King that police seized a pair of Ewen Macdonald's lace-up hunting boots during their investigation.

"And obviously you would have looked at the sole impressions on those to see if they had anything of interest? And they're nothing at all like the impressions that were found at the scene?"

Detective Howell replied that he did check the impressions and that they were unlike those found at the scene.

He says the boots were not forensically tested as they were ruled out as possible footwear worn by Scott Guy's killer.

It's alleged that Macdonald wore diving boots on the morning of the murder and biked to and from the murder scene.

Detective Howell says police visited Macdonald's property during their investigations and spoke to his wife Anna about his hunting gear.

"She took me to the boot cupboard, where she identified a pair of what she believed were the accused's hunting boots."

Detective Howell says a bicycle was also seized and was forensically tested as part of the police investiagtion.

Photo: NZ Herald