A farmer who shot and injured a neighbour over a dispute about the use of passageway linking their lands had nine months earlier produced a knife during a row with the son of another neighbouring farmer’s son, a court heard.

Ted O’Donoghue, (74), admitted firing a shot from his legally held shotgun at 66-year-old John Hayes, but said he did not mean to harm the victim.

Mr O’Donoghue, of Kilmoreen, Kildimo, pleaded guilty at Limerick Circuit Court, to one count of assaulting Mr Hayes causing him harm, one count of reckless discharge of a firearm and one count of animal cruelty.

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The offences all occurred at Ballycasey, Kildimo, around 10.30am on 16 June 2017.

As Mr Hayes went to open a gate at the laneway, he was met by Mr O’Donoghue holding a shotgun.

Limerick Circuit Court heard Mr O’Donoghue told Mr Hayes, “you are never coming in here again” before he fired the shotgun.

A single shot discharged from the gun blasted through the window of Mr Hayes’s tractor, killing his sheepdog.

Mr Hayes was injured when the same shot grazed his shoulder.

Right of way

The right of way is located on Mr O’Donghue’s land, but a number of farmers, including Mr Hayes, use it to gain access to their own lands.

Mr O’Donoghue’s barrister Anthony Salmon SC told his client’s sentencing hearing on Thursday that he had become obsessed about the ancient passageway, which the court heard dated back to the “horse and cart” era.

He said Mr O’Donoghue was concerned the laneway was being destroyed by tractors driving on it.

After he was arrested over the shooting, Mr O’Donoghue told gardai: “They have it tore asunder with tractors...but I’ll stop them.”

The dispute specifically involving the defendant and the victim had gone on for “10 years”, the court heard. However, one neighbour told gardaí there were issues in the farming community over the right of way going back 40 years.

Anthony Salmon SC, representing Mr O’Donoghue, told the court that his client had “tried to deal with it through solicitors, but he wasn't getting anywhere with it.”

“It was festering away. It was like an obsession boiling over.”

Mr Salmon described Mr O’Donoghue as “a decent hardworking man”, and, he added, “consequences for him are very serious”.

“These disputes have a way of turning right-minded people into obsessive fools. Incidents of a minor nature can become obsessive and overshadow their lives.”

He said Mr O’Donoghue “deeply deeply regrets his actions”.

Dispute

The defendant told gardaí that, on the morning in question, he saw Mr Hayes heading for the passageway, and he “drove up ahead of him”.

“He wanted to open the gate. I blazed at him,” Mr O’Donoghue told gardai.

“I fired a shot at him, and that’s that.”

“I shot at him. He was outside the gate, but, it’s my land. He shouldn’t have been there. He was trespassing.”

When gardaí asked Mr O’Donoghue if he had deliberately tried to hurt Mr Hayes, he replied: “Not exactly...I don’t know...I don’t think so.”

Mr Salmon stressed that the DPP’s view was there had been “no intent” to endanger life.

In his victim impact statement, Mr Hayes said he had become “withdrawn socially, fearful, and stressed”.

“I was sure he was going to kill me. He had an angry look about him.”

“He fired the gun.”

“I was shocked.”

“I heard Lass [his dog] scream.”

“I was terrified.”

Knife

Evidence was heard that Mr O’Donoghue had appeared in court in 2016, charged with producing a knife during the course of a dispute with the son of another neighbour.

At the time, he escaped a conviction after the court applied the Probation Act.

Mr O’Donoghue is facing up to a maximum five years in jail in relation to the shooting charge, as well as receiving a possible fine of up to €250,000 for the animal cruelty offence.

Mr Hayes has begun civil proceedings against Mr O’Donoghue, the court heard.

Judge Tom O’Donnell said he needed to “consider [the evidence] carefully”.

He remanded Mr O’Donoghue on continuing bail to appear before Limerick Circuit Court for sentencing on 19 December 2018.