‘He impaled Anthony... and we fear killer could snap again’
Farmer’s family speak out
THE family of a farmer who died when his neighbour impaled him with the prongs of a teleporter live in fear that his killer will come after them.
Michael Ferris ‘snapped once – what is to stop him snapping again?’, the family of Anthony O’Mahony asked in a victimimpact statement ahead of sentencing yesterday.
They added that Mr O’Mahony’s good character was ‘shredded’ during his killer’s trial and that Ferris never showed any remorse for what he did.
Last month, Ferris, 63, was found guilty of the manslaughter of his neighbour, Mr O’Mahony, who suffered horrific injuries when the farm vehicle’s prongs were rammed into his car.
The violent attack was the result of a 30-year dispute between the Kerry men over the late Mr O’Mahony’s use of loud ‘bangers’ to scare off crows.
The deceased farmed land near Ferris’s home at Rattoo, Ballyduff, where the killing occurred on a small country road.
In his statement, the victim’s brother Séamus O’Mahony said that the family now ‘live in fear’ knowing that Ferris will eventually be released from prison and they will have to pass each other on the road again.
‘He [Ferris] said he snapped once – what is to stop him snapping again and doing something similar?’ asked Mr O’Mahony.
The victim’s sister Angela Houlihan said that the family have not seen any evidence of regret or remorse from the man who killed him since her brother’s death.
‘There was no justification to what was done to my brother on April 4, 2017,’ she said. ‘My family and I will never be able to come to terms with the way Anthony died, and will live the rest of our lives with the pain and loss.’
Mr O’Mahony suffer five penetrating wounds and had some of his vital organs ripped out when Ferris ploughed the teleporter into him on April 4 last year.
When questioned by gardaí, Ferris said at the time: ‘I just snapped I suppose.’ Asked if he intended to kill Mr O’Mahony, he said ‘yes’, adding: ‘He had to be stopped and that was it.’
As the family spoke to the court, Ferris looked straight ahead, remaining emotionless.
At Mr Ferris’s sentencing hearing yesterday, the O’Mahony family hugged each other and sobbed as they described the ‘living nightmare’ they have endured since Mr O’Mahony’s death.
Séamus O’Mahony, whose statement was read out by his son at the Central Criminal Court, said that as well as hearing the ‘grotesque details’ of his brother’s death during the trial, ‘the way his good character was shredded was equally stressful’.
Mr O’Mahony said his brother was not there to defend his ‘good name’ and that neighbours had ‘only good things to say about him’, but added: ‘People will remember my brother the way he was depicted in the trial and this hurts us greatly.’
Mr O’Mahony added that his family could not give the deceased an open casket because of his catastrophic injuries.
Ann O’Carroll, the victim’s niece, read out the statement on behalf of Ms Houlihan, who said what happened to her brother is something the family will ‘never come to terms with’. ‘Rattoo Road has such an eerie feel to it now,’ she said. ‘Every time I pass it, I bless myself and my eyes fill with tears when I think of how he was tortured... Eighteen months have gone by and the pain is as raw today as that first day.
She added that her brother was a ‘hard-working, kind and generous man’ who had his faults but never deserved to pay the ultimate price with his life. ‘Anthony was physically torn apart that day and his character has been constantly attacked since.’
Defence counsel apologised to the O’Mahony family on behalf of Ferris and his family.
Sentencing for the case was adjourned until next Monday.
Denied an open casket funeral