Farmer 'felt suicidal' after shooting man dead
A bachelor farmer who beat up and shot dead a Traveller on his property in Co Mayo felt suicidal afterwards, a court heard today.
Padraig Nally, 61, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of John Ward, 42, on his 65-acre farm in Funshinaugh, Co Mayo, last year.
On the third day of the trial in the Central Criminal Court, Detective Garda Michael Conway said he had spoken with Mr Nally when he arrived at the scene. “He said he wasn’t feeling that well, that he was thinking of ending it altogether,” he said.
Mr Nally told him in an interview the following day that he had waited for 15 minutes on the road outside his house for gardaí to arrive, after having alerted them by phoning from a neighbour’s house.
“I was suicidal at this stage. I did not know if I would shoot myself or not. I was out of my mind with these lads calling all year,” he said.
The court has heard that Mr Nally had become obsessed with cars which were calling to his house, taking down their numbers, and had begun to spend several hours in his shed every day with his shotgun.
He told Det Gda Conway that he had cried when his sister Maureen had left after her weekend visit before the incident on October 14 last year.
“I said there will be changes by the time you come back again. I had a premonition and I had a good idea this was going to happen,” he said.
When he met John Ward coming out of the back of his house, he said he became enraged and shot him from a distance of around four to five yards.
He said that Mr Ward, who was living at the Carrowbrowne halting site on the outskirts of Galway city, rushed at him, saying: “You will kill me.”
The two men became involved in a struggle and after Mr Ward tried to grab hold of the gun, Mr Nally grabbed him by the neck and shoved him up against the side of his house.
“It was a real movie-type effort,” Mr Nally told gardaí.
He then beat Mr Ward around 20 times with a two foot ash stick, which he had used to mix food for his dog.
When Mr Ward ran out of his yard and down the road he went to his shed, reloaded his single barrel shotgun and shot him for a second time, wounding him fatally.
“I was out of my mind. I did not know what I was doing,” said Mr Nally.
The court heard evidence from Garda Peadar Brick, who arrived at the scene and dealt with Mr Ward’s 18-year-old son Tom, who had driven him to the house.
Mr Brick said that Tom Ward had been very upset and had got physically sick at one stage. He then pointed to Mr Nally, who was standing further down the road, and asked gardaí what they were going to do about him.
“He said that if nothing was done about it, he would do something about it,” said Mr Brick.
Tom Ward, who gave evidence on the first day of the trial, was recalled to the stand for a cross-examination by Mr Nally’s defence team.
Senior counsel Brendan Grehan asked him if he had been present in a town in Mayo in April 2002 when his father threatened three gardaí with a slash hook.
“I believe that’s lies. I did not see no slash hook,” replied Mr Ward.
But Mr Grehan then pointed to the officer sitting behind Mr Ward, Garda Padraig Deery, who was in charge of the trial exhibits.
He said that Gda Deery had been the person who grabbed hold of Tom Ward himself to stop him throwing out evidence from a van relating to the theft of a fireplace.
“Then your father jumped out of the van with a large slash hook in his hand and threatened to kill three gardaí,” he said.
He added that the gardaí had to leave the halting site and returned with armed officers to arrest John Ward.
Mr Ward said he could not remember this because it was a long time ago.
Mr Grehan also asked him about his involvement in three burglaries in two separate towns in Galway on the same day. Mr Ward said he had been present when they took place but added that he had no involvement in them.
“I was sitting down. I was minding my own business, trying to keep out of trouble,” he said.
Mr Conway agreed with junior counsel Michael Bowman, representing Mr Nally, that the elderly farmer’s version of events was consistent with a man living in fear.
