Chilling echo of another family row that ended in bloodshed

SHOT Tadg O’sullivan died on his farm

THE shocking double murder comes just months after three men were killed in a horror murder-suicide on a farm in nearby Kanturk.

A father and his two sons lost their lives after a dispute over land inheritance took a deadly turn.

It is believed Tadg O’sullivan, 59, and his son Diarmuid, 23, were involved in killing his other son Mark who was 26.

It is thought the eldest son was to be left the vast majority of the 110-acre farm owned by his mother.

Mark died first from multiple gunshot wounds in an upstairs bedroom of the family farmhouse.

Mechanic Tadg and his younger son were later found with single gunshot wounds to the head beside two legally held rifles in a field 600 metres away.

A lengthy letter found strapped to Diarmuid’s body led gardai to investigate the possibility that the killings were prompted by a dispute Tadg had with his wife over the inheritance, which had been festering for months.

Seriously ill Ann O’sullivan raised the alarm after running barefoot to a neighbours’ house to say she had heard gunshots in her house.

Gardai recovered the three bodies and three legally-held shotguns and rifles at the isolated farm.

Mark was a trainee solicitor and had recently completed a Masters in corporate law at UCC.

It is understood he had previously attended the University of Limerick for his undergraduate degree, where he earned an award from the president of the university.

Diarmuid O’sullivan had been due to be conferred with a first-class honours degree in Accounting after completing his studies last summer.

VICTIM

Mark DEAD Diarmuid