Due to the live nature of Tonight, we apologise for the lack of captions for some items. Tonight ` Ewen Macdonald's lawyer lays it on the line over why his client isn't guilty as the Scott Guy murder trial draws to an end. A young man's fighting for his life while his three friends are dead after a high-speed crash in Waikato. And a horror joyride with a happy end, plus what one of the car's tiny occupants said to a car thief. The murder trial that's gripped the country's another step closer to a conclusion. Ewen Macdonald's lawyer today made an impassioned plea for his client to be acquitted. Macdonald's accused of killing his brother-in-law Scott Guy, but his legal team says the evidence simply doesn't fit. Simon Bradwell was at the High Court in Wellington. The Crown says Ewen Macdonald corrected the man who found Scott Guy's body, saying his brother-in-law had been shot instead of having his throat cut. The defence says that is ridiculous. If you're the blimmin' killer, if you're the person that has shot Scott Guy, then why, why in the realms of Christendom would you be correcting people? Allegations Ewen Macdonald resented Scott Guy were also rubbished. The evidence is, that on the 7th of July 2010, the night before Mr Guy was savagely and coldly murdered in his driveway, that Ewen and Scott had never been getting on better. Based on evidence both of them had enjoyed a trip to Invercargill shortly before his death. Also dismissed was the Crown's allegation that bootprints at the scene were left by a pair of Ewen Macdonald's Proline dive boots. The defence says it can't be proven the boots were Prolines, and if they were, they were too big to be Mr Macdonald's. We win both ways, frankly. In his police interview, Ewen Macdonald lied about not committing the arson, vandalism and graffiti at properties on the Guy farm. But the defence argues Bryan Guy, a fair and honest man, also misled police about locking away the farm shotgun, when in fact it was only hidden. It demonstrates, doesn't it, that innocent people can lie to police? The defence has always said someone else killed Scott Guy. Today they used another man as an example of how innocent events could appear sinister. When you take your man and you put him in that dock, things can be made to seem to fit. But the defence says not one skerrick of evidence fits the Crown claim that Ewen Macdonald was the killer. And if it doesn't fit, members of the jury, you know the rest. The judge is scheduled to sum up on Monday ` the last act before the jury retires. Simon Bradwell, ONE News. Dozens of homeowners face eviction after the re-zoning of properties in Christchurch's Port Hills. Reports show their houses remain at high risk of landslip and rockfall. But the final major zoning announcement is good news for around 1100 properties that have gone from white to green zone, meaning the homes are safe to live in. However, 285 are zoned red and have to be abandoned. That leaves 166 still white-zoned, needing further assessment. Lorelei Mason reports. For the past year Ralph Bungard has defied a council-issued eviction notice and remained in his Avoca Valley home. It's still white-zoned and red-stickered, which we have been now for 490-odd days. He now faces a fresh eviction demand after a CERA geotech report says the risk of rocks falling on him from the hillside above remains and is endangering his life. The council hopes he and 113 others will now cooperate and move out. We're guided by law, and those situations could end in court. Now, we don't want to go there. We hope that we can avoid that. Enforcement gives us no joy. But Ralph says he's not moving. When it comes down to it, we're doing the life-risk analysis, and we do it every day, so we're happy where we are. CERA geotechnical engineers say the risk of what they term 'rock roll' from landslips or unstable boulders ` many the size of washing machines ` is just too great. One in 10,000 is a risk level for life threat that's used extensively. 166 properties remain in this white zone limbo. They'll have to wait until August or late October for answers, with the prospect many will ultimately turn red anyway. We're not trying to prolong your pain or the agony. We just want to make sure that you do get a fair go. As if on cue, Mother Nature reminded those gathered at today's press conference just why concern remains. 2011, when we were doing those early flat-land type announcements... Um... A small quake serving as a reminder that the land underneath this city remains unstable. The Port Hills was the city's last remaining major land-zoning announcement. Many here have waited nearly 500 days for news. For most it was more clear-cut. Around 1100 are now green. They can now begin discussions with private insurers and the EQC and move on at last. But nearly 300 more, like these cliff-top homes, have turned red. Their land is considered too perilous to rebuild on. They'll now come under the government's red-zone settlement umbrella. If they all choose the Crown settlement for their house and land, the bill is expected to top $200m. Lorelei Mason, ONE News. A young man with critical injuries is in Waikato Hospital tonight after surviving a high-speed crash that killed three of his friends. Police say the car, which was packed with alcohol, smashed into a tree on Gordonton Road just north of Hamilton at 5 o'clock this morning. Ruth Wynn-Williams has been at the scene. The impact of a journey fuelled by alcohol that ended at speed. It's another case, I think, of rural Waikato roads claiming another three lives at this point in time, possibly four. The car they were travelling in was crushed in less than a second ` so quick, it didn't even wake the neighbours. We didn't hear it. The police indicated the initial impact we wouldn't have heard, it wouldn't have woken us, and there was no other noise after it. The young driver, believed to be in his teens or early 20s, and two of his friends were killed on impact. Another passenger was rushed here to Waikato Hospital with critical injuries. It was lucky there was another motorist that came across it. At 5am Gordonton Rd was quiet, but conditions were wet. It was dark when the boys were travelling through here. Their car left the road at high speed and was stopped by this tree. You can only imagine how massive the impact must have been. There's glass shattered for metres, and you can smell petrol and alcohol on the ground. One of the major concerns, of course, is the amount of alcohol found in the vehicle and the smell of alcohol within the vehicle. It's not known whether the driver himself had been drinking. It's understood the boys were travelling to Auckland. Police say a deadly mixture of speed, tiredness and alcohol are the likely cause. The last alcohol-related fatal crash we had in the Waikato was on the 8th of December last year, so effectively we've gone seven months without an alcohol-related fatality, so it's very frustrating for us. Picking up the pieces of a road trip gone terribly wrong. Ruth Wynn-Williams, ONE News. A prominent Auckland banker's been found guilty of injuring another motorist in a road-rage attack. Analyst Guy Hallwright denied deliberately driving into Song-Jin Kim on Mt Eden Rd two years ago. Mr Kim needed surgery on his legs after the incident. Hallwright is out on bail and is till to be sentenced. Sticking with the motoring theme, a Dunedin father says he's relieved after getting his young children back alive after a high-speed joy ride through Dunedin last night. The toddlers were in the back of the family car when it was stolen at a petrol station and later crashed on a motorway. Max Bania reports. Ben Bryant appreciates fatherhood all the more on days like this. < Was there a time there you were worried you might not get them back? Yeah, pretty much that was what was running through my head the whole time. Last night the 22-year-old had been celebrating the birth of his third child when he and a friend went inside this South Dunedin service station. And, yeah, I got the drink out of the fridge and turned around and realised that he'd come in as well. Asked him what he was doing. He was supposed to be watching the kids. Asked him what he was doing. He was supposed to be watching the kids. And looked out the window to see, yeah, my car driving off. What are you thinking? Just thinking the worst mainly, yep. The thief fled with Ben's two boys, aged 3 years and 18 months, still inside. What did you say to him? I said, 'Piss off.' The drama started here at Hillside Rd. The car then made its way south. From there it was taken on a 10km ride down the Southern Motorway. Witnesses say it reached speeds of 150km/h before crashing on a hill near Mosgiel. As far as I'm concerned, those seat belts or safety restraints have saved those children's lives. We're looking at a high-speed crash; black ice on the road; driver was very much intoxicated. A 25-year-old local man appeared here at the district court this afternoon charged with excess breath alcohol. Further charges are likely. Police say he was so drunk he didn't realise there were children in the back of the car. Ben Bryant has learned a valuable lesson ` never take your eye off your kids. Max Bania, ONE News. Vanuatu police have arrested a local man in relation to the death of NZer Hanz Christian outside a bar in the capital, Port Vila. It's understood Mr Christian stepped in to stop a fight when he was assaulted. He later died in hospital. Just ahead ` why a judge is calling for Pacific communities to wake up to high rates of suicide and criminal behaviour among their youth. A giant leap for China's space programme as its first female astronaut comes back to earth. A judge has called for Pacific communities to wake up to high rates of suicide and criminal behaviour among their youth. New research shows how violent young offenders with Pacific Island backgrounds differ from Maori and European. Kim Vinnell has this exclusive report. Granted rare access to the Manukau Youth Court. It is a remand under 238(1)d... It's clear Judge Ida Malosi has her work cut out. On any given day, there would be a disproportionate number of Pacific Island youth appearing and on violent charges. What she's seeing at the coalface has been backed up by new research into Pacific Island violent youth offenders. They will not offend within their family, but they will quite easily offend against somebody else outside of their family. The common excuse will be, 'Well, that wasn't my sister or that wasn't my mother.' Psychologist Julia Iaone's three-year study followed 600 Maori, European and Pacific Island violent youth offenders. It shows first-time Pacific Island youth offenders will commit the more violent crimes and usually at around age 17, putting them on the cusp of Youth Court jurisdiction. They will miss out on the youth offending and the rehabilitation programmes that are available. The research showed a strong connection between exposure to family violence and the likelihood young people will become offenders themselves, possibly ending up at a youth court like this. Over 50% of all youth violent offenders involved in the study had been exposed to family violence at some point. Pacific community leaders agree prevention is key. There's unemployment. There's a lot of pressures Pacific Island. They're larger families. This is just symptoms of what is happening overall. Giving them the opportunity to be reminded, or perhaps learn for the first time, what it is to be Samoan, what it is to be Tongan, and if you truly understand those things, then the rest of life makes sense. A cultural approach to youth offenders it's hoped education and justice officials will take note of. Kim Vinnell, ONE News. Barack Obama's rival for the American presidency is cashing in on what's been dubbed Obamacare. More than $2m of donations poured into Mitt Romney's campaign after the landmark health laws were upheld by the Supreme Court. Our US correspondent Jack Tame has more. They've waited two years for a final decision, but after surviving divisive political squabbling and a lawsuit from 26 states, the defining legislation of Barack Obama's first presidential term was upheld. It should be pretty clear by now that I didn't do this because it was good politics. I did it because I believed it was good for the country. It'll certainly be good for the 30 million Americans who couldn't previously afford health insurance. I just think it's a great thing. Everybody needs health care at one point in their life. From a tax perspective, it's going to affect us all the way up the food chain. No matter their age, income or pre-existing health conditions, from 2014 every American will be guaranteed coverage in a country that spends more on healthcare than any other nation on earth. As it stands, a simple check-up with your GP costs on average more than NZ$110. Still, better that than hospital. The average visit here costs $19,000. All up, healthcare spending makes up nearly 20% of America's entire economic activity. The law only survived on a technicality. I The chief justice actually ruled he d government can't force people to However, he said it can tax people if they don't. Presidential nominee Mitt Romney promises the first thing he'd do with a win in November would be to repeal the bill. Obamacare was bad law yesterday. It's bad law today. So although the President will chalk up today's decision as a victory, there's no point in winning a legal battle if it leads to defeat in November's war. Jack Tame, ONE News, New York. US President Barack Obama's declared a disaster in Colorado, where massive wildfires, believed to have been deliberately lit, are burning out of control. A body's also been found in a burnt-out house, making it the first fatality of the fires. 35,000 people have been forced to flee their homes, with hundreds of properties destroyed. Firefighters say lighter winds and cooler temperatures are helping, but they fear lightning storms could trigger new blazes. Kiwi war veterans have gathered in London to watch the Queen unveil a memorial to their efforts in the Bomber Command squad. It's taken years to build, partly because of fears it would be seen as celebrating a campaign that killed hundreds of thousands of German civilians. Europe correspondent Garth Bray reports. Their faces are lined. Their war has been over for 67 years. But as the Queen pulled the cord, this was the moment the men of Bomber Command won their battle for official recognition. To see everybody ` all the Royal family go past, and so on ` and then all the others sitting amongst the veterans who have been through so much, was just absolutely awesome. Means a lot to all of us. Something, you know, people can say, 'Well, I was part of that.' ARCHIVE: Contact number three. Their raids over Germany from 1942 to 1945 were the original 'shock and awe' campaign. Military historians now debate whether they hurried the German surrender at all. It is thought they killed perhaps 600,000 people. An inscription on the monument acknowledges those deaths, but that terrible toll meant at the time, the airmen were given scant recognition, and some are only just getting over that. We feel it was a slap in the face for, you know, Bomber Command. Because that's, I think, where political correctness first started. Was the fact that, 'Well, we've got to give reconciliation with our enemies.' The 31 veterans of Bomber Command flew here with NZ government assistance, but the British government hasn't paid a penny towards this memorial. In fact, it was the veterans themselves who had to put their hands into their own pockets to see it built. These guys are in their late 80s and 90s. It's been one hell of a fight. They've been helped by multimillion-dollar donations from several wealthy men. One is the same Conservative peer who posted the reward for the medals stolen from our National Army Museum. (PLAYS 'LAST POST') As the core of the British Royal family paid their respects, Britain's last airworthy Lancaster bomber ` the fear of the Ruhr ` sowed the sky with poppy petals, while a more lasting tribute looked on below. Garth Bray, ONE News, London. A Chinese space capsule with three on board has touched down after a 13-day mission. As the crew landed in Mongolia, China declared the mission to its orbiting space lab a stride ahead in its space programme. The crew included the country's first female astronaut, Liu Yang. Just ahead ` we check out the new national training centre for the country's top athletes. In sport, the Super 15 season has kicked off again after the international Test break. The top-of-the-table Chiefs took out the Highlanders in Dunedin 27-21 this evening. In sport the new national training centre for the country's top athletes has been officially opened on Auckland's North Shore. The $29m upgrade has helped our Olympians preparing for London, including decathlete Brent Newdick. But as Toni Street explains, he still has a nervous flight ahead of him. It was light duties only for Brent Newdick today. That's because tomorrow he leaves for London. But that doesn't necessarily mean he's going to the Olympics. I'm hopping on a plane tomorrow, so I'm gonna sleep through most of that flight, and that'll get me through the weekend. He expects it to be a nervous flight. When he touches down, he could know his Olympic fate. Despite meeting the qualifying standard already, Newdick can't be named until his rival Scott McLaren has had a chance to qualify this weekend. Yeah, I'd be lying if I said I didn't think about it a little bit, you know. Realistically, I think I should be fine. I've done everything I can do. I've qualified a year and a half ago, and then I requalified again this year. He's been doing his final preparations at the new AUT Millennium campus. The last couple of months everyone's been doing their build-up, so I've had the Breakers come in for the basketball, then you turn left and you've got hockey, men's and women's Blacksticks teams, the rowers. Every sport you can pretty much name is down there. Today it was the Olympic swimmers. and to cooperate and coordinate and to invent new ways of doing things, better ways of doing things, so it becomes a real hothouse of innovation and improvement. Brent Newdick is now hoping he'll be given confirmation to put his improvements into practice in London. Toni Street, ONE News. Weather time now with Renee. Thanks, Greg. The cool sou'wester faded out on us today, but there could still be a few snow flurries on higher areas overnight. The Desert Road is the road to watch tonight ` up to 4cm could settle on higher parts of the road and then clear early tomorrow morning. A slender ridge of high pressure moves over the country from the Tasman Sea tonight. It should cover the country tomorrow, before being pushed away to the south-east by an approaching low north-west off the country late tomorrow. Another low and associated fronts near Tasmania look to link up with a low that comes down from the north-west during Sunday. For weather, see onenews.co.nz And that's your weather. Have a great weekend. That's it from us here on Tonight. You can stay up to date by logging on to our website at onenews.co.nz Thanks for watching. Goodnight. Captions by Glenna Casalme and Angela Alice. Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright TVNZ Access Services 2012