The wife of Skye rampage murderer Finlay MacDonald was robbed at knifepoint in London years before she met her killer husband.
Rowena Fellows, as she was in 2012, believed she would have a safer life on the island after twice being attacked while she was a student in 2012.
A friend told the Record that the mum of four displayed huge strength of character to come through the earlier attacks only to face an even more vicious assault from her then husband, who tried to kill her.
Rowena, 34, was the first victim of unhinged MacDonald, who stabbed her repeatedly in front of their children at their home in August 2022, before turning his attention to others.
He was jailed for 28 years last week after being found guilty of murdering his brother-in-law and attempting to kill three other people.
A friend of Rowena, who is now divorced, said: “She has had so much to put up with and was already carrying mental scars from the trauma of the attacks in London when the horrors erupted on Skye.
“She had been walking on the street when a man randomly grabbed her and robbed her at knifepoint.
“Rowena said she was mentally scarred by that and it made her very careful about walking alone at night.
“She was very discouraged from setting down any roots in London because of it and believed that Skye would be a far better place to raise a family.
“She could never have imagined that the man she married could unravel with such terrible consequences.
“But she is doing miraculously well under the circumstances.”
In the robbery in Islington, London, in March 2012, Rowena, then 19, was approached as she made her way home following a night out with friends.
She had her mp3 player, mobile phone and money taken, worth a total of £500.
Adeboye Agoro, 21, was later jailed for eight years for attacks on women walking home late at night.
He would approach his victims with a knife and threaten to stab them or punch them in the face if they failed to give him their handbags.
Rowena had also been mugged two weeks earlier. She said at the time that the attacks left her so scared that she had to move house.
After MacDonald, 41, was sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh last month, Rowena posted on Facebook: “I am glad the jury saw through his lies and found him guilty.
“Life sentence of 28 years is as much as we could have asked for (but will never be enough).”
Last week she posted from her hospital bed in Inverness, revealing she’d just had her gall bladder removed but there were complications due to internal scarring from the stab wounds. It meant she needed five hours of open surgery.
She added: “It means I’ll have a longer recovery time ahead but glad to have had the operation over and done with.”
Her ex-husband’s trial heard how the former marine engineer blamed others including his wife for his rampage on Skye and Lochalsh in 2022.
He also tried to argue his autism diagnosis was an excuse.
MacDonald was jailed for the gunshot murder of John MacKinnon, repeated stabbing of Rowena and also attempted murder of his osteopath John Donald MacKenzie and wife Fay, both 65, by shooting them.
It emerged that MacDonald owned six shotguns and one air rifle he had inherited.
The attack on Rowena took place in the MacDonalds’ family home in Tarskavaig.
He then went to sister Lyn Anne MacKinnon’s home in Teangue and shot her husband, distillery worker John, 47.
MacDonald then headed for Dornie, in Wester Ross, to the home of the MacKenzies.
Scottish Courts confirmed it had received an “intimation of intention to appeal” both MacDonald’s conviction and sentence.
Rowena Fellows did not comment yesterday.
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