A farmer who is accused of murdering his aunt following a long-running dispute over land, took a shotgun from his jeep and repeated “I can’t deal with this” after he ran over the 76-year-old in his agricultural teleporter, the Central Criminal Court has heard.
It is the prosecution case that Michael Scott (58) of Gortanumera, Portumna, Co. Galway deliberately ran over his aunt Christine ‘Chrissie’ Treacy.
Scott has pleaded not guilty to her murder on April 27, 2018 outside her home in Derryhiney, Portumna. The defence says that Chrissie Treacy’s death was a tragic accident.
Shotgun from jeep
Neighbour, Francis Hardiman told prosecution senior counsel, Dean Kelly yesterday (Thursday, January 19) that he grabbed the gun after the accused man, Michael Scott, tripped over a tyre.
He said the accused was hysterical, roaring and crying and saying “I can’t live with what happened to me”.
Hardiman told the court that he was a neighbour and cousin of Chrissie Treacy. He also knew the accused well all his life and had worked for him many times. They would often talk and were friendly to one another, he said.
The day of Chrissie Treacy’s death, the witness was in Eyrecourt, about 10 to 12 miles away, when he received a phone call from Scott at 3:26p.m.
Scott told him that he was “setting back out with the teleporter” and he “hit Chrissie”. The accused was clearly upset and asked Hardiman to “come down to me quick”.
Hardiman made his way to Derryhiney and straight to Chrissie Treacy’s house. There he saw the woman lying face down on the concrete near her home close to the teleporter.
Hardiman checked her wrist but found no pulse and said the act of contrition into her ear. Her hands were “pretty smashed up,” he said and there were tyre marks on her trousers.
There was blood around her legs and face, but not a lot. He knew she was dead.
Francis Hardiman called gardaí and emergency services and went looking for Michael Scott. He said he found him “in a hysterical way of crying and shouting” inside a shed.
Scott “just cried more” when Hardiman told him that he had said a prayer over Chrissie and that she had passed away. The witness recalled Scott then “jumped up and went for his jeep and he pulled out a gun, a double barrel shotgun”.
He heard Scott repeating “I can’t deal with this” as he stepped backwards with the gun while Hardiman shouted at him.
The witness said: “He was getting near where the tyres were on the ground and he tripped over a tyre and lost his balance. I grabbed the gun and took the cartridge out”.
He said Scott continued “roaring and crying” saying “I can’t live with what happened to me”.
Court evidence
Earlier in court, Garda Geraldine Doheny told prosecution counsel, barrister Conall MacCarthy that she took photos of the scene where Chrissie Treacy’s body had been found.
In one photograph, Garda Doheny said the woman can be seen lying on a concrete pavement with the tractor or teleporter that had been driven by the accused behind her.
The witness said tyre impressions can be seen on Chrissie Treacy’s blue trousers.
Detective Sgt. David Conway told MacCarthy that he also took photographs at the scene including a photo of the clothing the deceased was wearing which showed the tyre impressions on her trousers.
Under cross-examination, Det. Conway agreed with senior defence counsel Mícheál P. O’Higgins that one of the images was a “distressing photo” of the lower half of Chrissie Treacy’s body.
He further agreed that the windows of the tractor driven by the accused were “very dirty”.
Before the first witness was called in the case, Justice Caroline Biggs told the jury that the defence case is that Chrissie Treacy’s death was a tragic accident, while the prosecution says it was murder.
She said that what makes a killing murder is the intention at the time and “that is what the focus of the case is”.
The trial continues in front of Justice Biggs and a jury of seven men and eight women.
By Eoin Reynolds