A Central Criminal Court murder trial has heard that dairy farmer Michael Scott was set to lose around 50% of his total holding and face a possible herd reduction, after his aunt, who he is accused of murdering, decided to take back land that he was farming
Agricultural consultant and auctioneer Declan McHugh was hired by Chrissie Treacy in early 2017 to lease 40ac that she owned at Kiltormer in Co. Galway, which were previously been farmed by Scott and his brother.
Shortly before Treacy died in April 2018, McHugh said he received further instructions to write to Scott asking him not to request a single farm payment in respect of three portions of land on the 140ac farm he jointly owned with his aunt at Derryhiney, Co. Galway, as Treacy was going to claim the payment for herself.
These areas combined equated to “in the region of 50% of Scott and his wife’s total holding”, said McHugh, before adding that under farming regulations, the loss of 110ac would cause a potential herd reduction and would reduce the land available to him for drawing down the payment.
“With the loss of such a vast area of land, you are going to have massive problems in terms of stocking density and compliance with nitrates directives, and that has huge financial implications for any farmer,” he said.
Michael Scott (58) of Gortanumera, Portumna, Co Galway has pleaded not guilty to murdering his aunt Chrissie Treacy outside her home in Derryhiney, Portumna, Co Galway on April 27, 2018 by running her over with a teleporter.
It is the prosecution case is that Scott deliberately did so following a long-running dispute over land. However, his lawyers have said her death was a tragic accident.
Solicitor letters on land division
The court also heard that Scott told Gardaí that his relationship with the deceased was “fine” and that he gave “a deaf ear” to solicitor’s letters looking to partition the land they jointly owned, as he didn’t know how it could be divided.
Detective Garda Padhraic Healy who said he was present for Scott’s first interview told the court that Scott said he and his aunt only ever argued about “simple things”.
He said that when he asked the accused about letters from his aunt’s solicitors blaming him for damage done to the Kiltormer land, Scott said he believed it was McHugh who had blamed him and said “he had a grudge into me”, adding that he didn’t think the letters seemed like they were from Chrissie Treacy
Scott said that he gave another solicitor’s letter about dividing up the land at Derryhiney that he jointly owned with Treacy “a deaf ear” because he didn’t understand how you could divide up the land. They were tenants in common, he said, and neither of them knew which part they owned.
Detective Sergeant Paul Duane told Conall MacCarthy BL, for the prosecution that he was present for the second interview when Scott told him that the letter about dividing up the land “didn’t mean anything, really”.
He said his relationship with the deceased was “fine” and he didn’t know why she had hired a solicitor to divide the land at Derryhiney.
Teleporter
Sergeant Duane asked if Scott would be good at operating farm machinery. He said he “wouldn’t be top class” and that he had started driving machines 40 years ago and had the teleporter five about seven years.
He accepted that he was “well used to driving it” and that if he drove over a piece of silage he would probably feel it.
However, he said that he didn’t see Chrissie Treacy when he was reversing the teleporter and when it happened, he though he might have hit the tow bar of the trailer.
Scott said that he “would be so used to driving and reversing”, that he “didn’t realise there would be anyone out there” as ordinarily there wouldn’t be anyone in the yard.
Earlier, Robin Acheson told Dean Kelly SC for the prosecution that he works with JCB machinery and is familiar with the JCB teleporter that caused the deceased’s injuries.
He said that if the machine changed direction suddenly, it would cause “a tearout” whereby the wheel would bite into the surface to get momentum to change direction. This could be achieved using the “shuttle box” which switches the teleporter from forward to reverse or vice versa by pushing a single lever, he added.
He agreed with defence counsel Paul Greene SC that the change of direction can be “very sudden” and that the handbrake on this machine was broken. He also agreed that leaving the JCB in gear would not prevent it from moving in the way that it might prevent an ordinary car from moving.
He further agreed that since Mr Scott’s JCB was made in 1999, steps have been taken by JCB to improve visibility by lowering the position of the boom.
The suspension in the seat of the JCB, he said, would “assist in a smoother journey”.
The trial continues in front of Ms Justice Caroline Biggs and a jury of seven men and eight women.
By Eoin Reynolds