Co. Galway farmer, Michael Scott, told Gardaí that when he found his 76-year-old aunt lying on the ground after he had run over her in his agricultural teleporter, he did not see any injuries on her body.

He also told Gardaí that he thought his aunt, Chrissie Treacy, was going to be okay when he heard her breathing, the Central Criminal Court has heard.

Scott has denied murdering his aunt and told Gardaí that what happened was an accident.

In Garda interviews following his arrest on suspicion of murder, Scott said he did not know he could call 999 for an ambulance and he did not think his aunt would die.

The Co. Galway farmer said he did not help Chrissie Treacy up off the ground because he needed someone with him.

He told Gardaí that he called his friend, Francis Hardiman, because he did not know who else to call and did not know the number of any doctors. 

Dairy farmer

Scott, a dairy farmer, denied that he murdered Chrissie Treacy and said he did not want her to die. He also denied that he was in a temper and deliberately rolled over her a second time after initially reversing over her.

Scott (58) of Gortanumera, Portumna, Co Galway has pleaded not guilty to murdering Chrissie Treacy outside her home in Derryhiney, Portumna, Co Galway on April 27, 2018.

The prosecution case is that Scott deliberately ran over Chrissie Treacy following a long-running dispute over land.

Scott’s lawyers have said her death was a tragic accident.

Interviews

Detective Garda Barry Carolan told Dean Kelly SC, for the prosecution, that he was present for the third of Scott’s four interviews at Loughrea Garda Station on December 12, 2018.

Det Gda Carolan asked Scott what he did after getting off the JCB and finding Chrissie Treacy on the ground.

Scott said he “went over beside her and said, “are you all right Chrissie? Oh God. What misfortune.”

He said she was “breathing heavy” but was not able to talk.

Scott said he could see her face and when asked if she could recognise him, Mr Scott said: “I don’t know. Shocking, your only aunt.”

He said he did not notice any injuries and when asked if he tried first aid, he said: “I wouldn’t know anything about that.”

Ambulance

Det Gda Carolan  asked why he did not call an ambulance. Scott replied:

“I’m not very well up on technology. I didn’t know you could ring an ambulance as well as the fire brigade on 999. I thought you would have to ring the hospital in Ballinasloe and I had no number for a doctor.”

The only person he could call, he said, was Francis Hardiman, his friend.

Hardiman has given evidence that he drove directly to Derryhiney after receiving a call from Scott and found Chrissie Treacy on the ground. He said the act of contrition into her ear and phoned emergency services.


Scott said he did not think of pressing the panic button around Chrissie Treacy’s neck and he could not remember if he stayed with his aunt.

Det Gda Carolan  asked if he was with her when his aunt took her last breath.

Scott said he may have “blanked out”.

When asked if he thought Chrissie Treacy was “in a bad way”, he said: “I didn’t pass any remarks. I didn’t think Chrissie was going to die. I could just hear her breathing.”

Garda Carolan asked why, if he did not think his aunt was going to die, did he not help her up?

Scott said:

“I needed someone with me. When I heard her breathing I thought she was going to be okay.”


Det Gda Carolan also asked the Co Galway farmer why he did not check his aunt’s injuries.

Scott replied:” I just didn’t”.

He also said he that he did not see any blood or injuries on her body.

Det Gda Carolan  asked Scott: “Did you want Chrissie to die?” Scott replied: “No”.

Central Criminal Court

The trial at the Central Criminal Court has previously heard that Co. Galway farmer, Scott, had leased about 40 acres from Chrissie Treacy at Kiltormer but she was told by an agricultural consultant that she could get higher rent and leased it to someone else.

The court also heard that Chrissie Treacy and Scott jointly owned a 140-acre farm at Derryhiney but in the months before her death Chrissie Treacy had asked her solicitor, Brendan Hyland, to bring proceedings to have the land partitioned.

On the day of her death Scott received a letter from an agricultural consultant telling him not to claim farm payments for three plots on the Derryhiney farm as Chrissie Treacy was going to claim those for herself.

Sergeant Gerard Cleary told prosecution counsel, Conall MacCarthy, that he was present for Scott’s fourth and final interview.

Sergeant Cleary said that he told Scott that Chrissie Treacy was born at Derryhiney and lived there all her life.

She and her brothers farmed the land and were award winning farmers. She was entitled to live in the house and only wanted to be properly compensated for her land by the accused, he said.

Scott said that he “paid Chrissie”.

Sergeant Cleary said CCTV footage showed that Scott was in the yard no more than eight minutes before Chrissie Treacy died.

He said that she knew he was to receive the letter [about farm payments] that day and she “didn’t want to be in your way”.

She had decided, Sergeant Cleary said that she did not want to leave her half of the land to Scott and so she left it to Regina Donohue, her close friend who owns a farm nearby.

Sergeant Cleary referred to forensic reports and said: “You murdered your aunt and drove over her twice.”

“No way,” said Mr Scott.

Land

The sergeant asked why Scott was not respecting his aunt’s wishes to have her half of the land left to her friend Regina Donohue.

Scott said he does respect her wishes but it would “have to be sorted out”.

Sergeant Cleary asked why he had put locks on gates into some of the fields now jointly owned by him and Regina Donohue.

In reply Scott said he was waiting for the mediator to divide the land.

“You murdered Chrissie that day,” Sergeant Cleary said.

“That’s an awful thing to say,” Scott replied.

The Co. Galway farmer of Gortanumera, Portumna, denied forcing his aunt, Chrissie Treacy, to sign over the land to him in her will.

Scott said it was not true that his plans were “falling down” around him after Chrissie Treacy decided she wanted to partition the farm.

He said he was not concerned about the letter from Chrissie Treacy’s agricultural consultant and questioned how she could make an application for payments when she did not have any livestock.

Scott said that he did not think his aunt, Chrissie Treacy, was “behind the letter” and said that he was regularly talking to his aunt at that time and he could not understand why she had contacted a solicitor instead of talking to him.

He said his aunt would get confused but he had an understanding that the land would go to him when she died.

“I have two witnesses to that,” Scott said.

Derryhinney

He said he had invested a lot in Derryhiney.

Scott said: “Why do all that risk and work if someone else is going to take it over?”

He said he only realised that Chrissie Treacy had left the land to her friend, Regina Donohue, a few months after his aunt had died.

“It was a very big shock,” he said.

Sergeant Cleary also put it to Scott that on April 22 and April 24, 2016 he had dialled 999.

Scott said he had to call 999 because he was burning bushes and was required to call the fire brigade to let them know.

He said he did not know the 999 number could also be used to call an ambulance and accused gardai of trying to “make an idiot of me”.

The trial continues next week at the Central Criminal Court.

By Eoin Reynolds