Kerry farmer Michael Ferris, who drove the prongs of a teleporter into his neighbour after a decades-long row about a noisy bird-scarer, has been jailed for five years at the Central Criminal Court for manslaughter.

Ms Justice Carmel Stewart called the killing "truly gruesome" and said Mr Ferris had inflicted "horrific and horrendous" injuries on the deceased which defied belief and imagination.

“I have to say the manner of Mr O’Mahony’s death was unique and particularly gruesome and the effect it has and continues to have on his extended family is difficult to quantify,” she stated.

A jury sitting in Tralee found dairy farmer Michael Ferris (63) not guilty of murder but guilty of the manslaughter of his neighbour Anthony O’Mahony (73) by a majority verdict of 10 to two.

'Catastrophic injuries'

The two-week trial, which ended on 19 October, heard evidence that tillage farmer Anthony O’Mahony suffered "catastrophic injuries" after he was repeatedly stabbed with the prongs of the teleporter while he sat in his car.

Mr Ferris of Rattoo, Ballyduff, Co Kerry, had denied murdering neighbouring land owner Mr O’Mahony over the use of a crow-banger for scaring birds at Rattoo on the morning of 4 April 2017. The trial was told that the noise from it “would wake the dead".

At a sentence hearing this Monday morning, Ms Justice Stewart sentenced Mr Ferris to six years in prison with one year suspended.

Remorse and sorrow

Brendan Grehan SC, defending bachelor farmer Mr Ferris, said at last week’s sentence hearing that his client had asked him to express his remorse and sorrow for his actions that day.

"Mr Ferris did not want this opportunity to go by without conveying these sentiments," he added.

Outlining the facts of the case, Ms Justice Stewart said the only consolation for the O'Mahony family was that his death would have been instantaneous in what was a “truly gruesome and horrific” attack.

Ms Justice Stewart said she wanted to reassure Mr O’Mahony’s family that she had taken account of the obvious grief they had suffered.

Degree of provocation

The judge said the maximum sentence for this offence was life in prison but she told the court that she had to look at other factors, including the fact that the defendant admitted what he had done immediately after the tragic event, as well as telling gardaí of his actions that morning.

The judge said in estimating the degree of provocation which resulted in Mr O’Mahony’s death, she had to look at the nature of the conduct and its cumulative effect on the offender.

Evidence had been heard during the trial of the impact the crow banger had on people in Rattoo and the court could not fail to notice the distress and anguish on those individuals, as well as the impact it had on their lives, she said.

Ms Justice Stewart said Mr Ferris's brother was more "sanguine" when he gave evidence that he was not happy about the crow banger, but he did not think much could be done about it.

“It is a matter of profound regret to the O’Mahony and Ferris family and other individuals of the area that the matter was not dealt with otherwise,” she commented.

However, the judge said provocation was a subjective test and the jury had to consider the impact it had on Mr Ferris at that particular time, as the conduct had occurred for 30 years.

A good man who did a bad thing

Mr Ferris’ defence barrister said in his closing speech to the jury of seven men and five women that he made no apology for speaking ill of the dead, which was not a normal thing to do, but the community in Rattoo was being "oppressed" by Mr Mahony and living in fear of a "totally unreasonable person".

The defence argued that there had been cumulative provocation because of the behaviour of the deceased and the fair and just verdict would be manslaughter.

Mr Grehan said that Mr Ferris was a good man who did a bad thing.

The judge said she would place the offence at the lower end of the upper range of manslaughter and the headline sentence was 12 years, but this was not the end of the matter.

Other mitigating factors included the fact Mr Ferris was otherwise a man of good character with no previous convictions, the court heard.

The judge noted that he had also expressed his extreme remorse to Mr O’Mahony’s family.

“Some people might think that an apology at this juncture is self-serving, but the court must consider it by way of evidence and the overall personality of Mr Ferris,” she said, adding that the court accepted the genuine nature of the apology and his remorse.

Sentence

Before delivering her sentence, Ms Justice Stewart said the court also had to take into account the fact that Mr Ferris would be 64 years of age next January.

The judge said in light of all the mitigating factors she would reduce the headline sentence by one third.

“And in light of other mitigating factors there will be a further two-year reduction,” she said.

Ms Justice Stewart sentenced Ferris to six years' imprisonment with the final year suspended, backdated to 4 April 2017 when he first went into custody.

The final year was suspended for a period of three years to allow for the prospect of rehabilitation and to allow Ferris back into the society from which he came.

The defendant did not react when the sentence was revealed.