Farmer accused of shooting neighbour in row over land is remanded on bail
A FEUD between two farmers over a small dirt track linking their farms led to one man shooting the other and killing his dog, a court heard yesterday.
Ted O’Donoghue, 72, of Killmoreen, Kildimo, Co. Limerick, appeared before a special sitting of Limerick District Court, charged with assault causing harm to John Hayes, 65, at farmlands at Ballycasey, Kildimo on Friday.
Despite strenuous Garda objections to bail, Judge Marie Keane, remanded Mr O’Donoghue in custody with consent to bail on a number of ‘very strict conditions’, including that he stay away from his farm at Ballycasey.
Garda Jason Mitchell, of Newcastle West Garda station, told the court that the accused ‘allegedly fired a shot’ from a single-barrel shotgun at Mr Hayes, ‘wounding him in the right shoulder’ in a ‘dispute over a right of way’.
Garda Mitchell said gardaí had been called to lands at Ballycasey on ‘five occasions since June 2014’ and that the shooting last Friday was the ‘latest in an ongoing long-running feud’.
He added: ‘Further, more serious charges are anticipated.’
The court heard that the right of way is on Mr O’Donoghue’s land, but that three other landowners, including the injured party, have to access it in order to get to their lands.
William O’Donoghue, the accused man’s brother, told the court that the dispute had been ongoing ‘for seven or eight years’ and that tensions would ‘flare up’ from time to time.
Gardaí told the court that a conviction, on indictment, for section three assault carried a maximum five-year prison sentence.
‘The injured party has stated (to gardaí) that the accused fired a shot at him, injuring him, and killing his dog,’ Garda Mitchell said.
The court heard that gardaí had recovered a gun believed to have been used in last Friday’s shooting.
Judge Keane remanded Mr O’Donoghue on bail to appear before Limerick District Court on June 21.