The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has lodged an appeal in the case of the Kerry farmer recently sentenced to jail for killing a neighbour with a teleporter last year, according to reports.

The DPP is appealing against the leniency of the sentence handed down earlier this month to Michael Ferris for his part in the incident, according to RTE.

When contacted by AgriLand, the DPP refused to confirm or deny this, stating that it does not comment on individual cases.

Ferris, a 63-year-old dairy farmer, was jailed for five years for manslaughter on Monday, December 3, at the Central Criminal Court.

A Tralee jury found Ferris not guilty of murder but guilty of the manslaughter of his neighbour Anthony O’Mahony by a majority verdict of 10 to two.

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

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

Ferris was sentenced to six years in prison with one year suspended, backdated to April 4, 2017, when he originally went into custody.

O’Mahony’s family voiced their frustration at the leniency of the sentence in early December, describing it as “another example of victim blaming” in Irish courts.

Speaking after the sentence hearing, O’Mahony’s niece, Ann O’Carroll, said: “Our family strongly believe that justice was not served in this case.

“The just outcome would have been a conviction for murder given that the crime was clearly deliberate and premeditated as outlined during the trial.”