An east Clare man who shot a neighbouring farmer when discharging eight shotgun blasts in his direction in the dark has avoided serving jail time.
At Ennis Circuit Court, Judge Francis Comerford imposed a suspended two-year prison term on Adrian Collins, aged 48, of Enagh, Kilkishen for the reckless discharge of a shotgun where he shot a farming neighbour, Andrew Cotter who was herding cattle at the time.
As part of his sentence, Judge Comerford also ordered that married father of four, Adrian Collins pay Andrew Cotter €8,000 compensation and also pay a fine of €4,000.
Court
The court heard that Adrian Collins discharged the shotgun eight times after attending a Christening earlier that day on February 26, 2023 when he drank four or five pints.
Collins surrendered his gun to gardaí in the aftermath of the reckless discharge and Judge Comerford has also ordered that he have his gun licence revoked “for abusing the entitlement to hold a licence”.
Judge Comerford said that neighbouring farmer Andrew Cotter was hit by three pellets from Collins’s eight shots.
The judge has also ordered Collins to sell his €1,000 shotgun and the proceeds are to go towards the €8,000 compensation order.
The court heard that Collins is a social drinker and does not have a drink problem.
In sentencing, Judge Comerford said: “If Mr. Collins had a drink and formed the view he could fire a gun in the direction of people, I am of the view that he does have a drink problem.”
Judge Comerford added that Collins had engaged in “very serious offending”.
In suspending the prison term, the judge said that he was taking into account Collins’s plea of guilt, cooperating with gardaí, having no previous convictions and his grudging remorse towards Andrew Cotter.
Judge Comerford said that the case was at the very high end of recklessness with intent but “I do accept there was no hint of personal animus towards Mr. Cotter”.
Collins pleaded guilty to the reckless discharge of a firearm contrary to Section 8 of the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act on February 26, 2023 at Enagh, Kilkishen.
Shotgun
Andrew Cotter, a married 65-year-old father of four grown-up children – was checking his cattle when shot.
At the time, it was dark and was around 7:30 at night. One gunshot pellet lodged in his skin just below the eye of Andrew Cotter.
In his victim impact statement, Andrew Cotter said: “I was lucky that I didn’t lose the sight of my eye.”
He has a 5ac out-farm close to Collins’s home and was out herding five cattle.
Andrew Cotter told the court: “I was herding cattle when I was shot about eight times by Adrian Collins. The left side of my face was badly hit and I had to be hospitalised and I had numerous visits to the hospital and doctors.
“He was obviously aiming at and firing at the light in my head. It bothered me greatly why he would do this to me.
“I have no idea why Adrian Collins would do this to me – he inflicted severe pain upon me and more than that, he has made me nervous and afraid every time I go near the land. I wish this never happened as it has caused great upset to me personally and to my family.”
In evidence, Det. Garda Colm Moriarty said that on the night, Andrew Cotter was wearing a headlamp and wearing a fluorescent jacket.
Det. Moriarty said that the victim was there to herd five cattle and saw that one was in difficulty in a ditch adding that Andrew Cotter felt a volley of shots on his jacket while trying to get the cow back over to the feeder in a field.
The detective garda said that Collins fired another two shots and Andrew Cotter “got an awful belt to side of his face and it was bleeding”.
Det. Moriarty said that the farmer phoned his son, Michael and they went to the Collins house and the conversation got heated where Adrian Collins “accused them of snooping around the back of the property”.
The court heard two pellets lodged in Andrew Cotter’s left temple and another 1cm under his eye and he had them removed in April and May of last year at hospital.
Det. Moriarty said that at interview, Collins said that he didn’t intentionally go out to hurt someone.
The accused – who works in construction – told gardaí that he was shocked when the Cotters came to his door later that evening. He told gardaí that the penny had dropped and he was embarrassed, angry and sorry for what he did.
Barrister for Adrian Collins, Patrick Whyms (instructed by solicitor, Stiofan Fitzpatrick) said that his client has no previous convictions and the incident “is a bizarre entry into the arena of being in trouble”.
He said that “it was the most unfortunate sequence of events”.
The barrister added that his client wishes to apologise unreservedly and accepts that his behaviour was completely wrong, adding that Collins became aware of activity and light at the rear of his property.
“He believed that there were people there who shouldn’t have been there and not thinking clearly he discharged shots in direction of those who were there,” the barrister said.