Farmer Michael Ferris guilty of neighbour's manslaughter Published duration 19 October 2018

image copyright Rte image caption Michael Ferris said he attacked his neighbour over the use of a crow-banger

A County Kerry farmer has been found not guilty of murder, but guilty of the manslaughter of his neighbour.

Michael Ferris, 63, of Rattoo, Ballyduff, had denied murdering 73-year-old land owner Anthony Mahony over the use of a crow-banger for scaring birds.

Mr Mahony suffered "catastrophic injuries" after he was stabbed with the prongs of a teleporter.

Ferris will be sentenced on 26 November.

The verdict came after a two-week trial at the Central Criminal Court, sitting in Tralee.

The trial heard Mr Mahony was in his car on the morning of 4 April 2017, on a narrow road leading to Rattoo, when the incident happened.

His car was lifted "clear of the ground" by a teleporter, a heavy industrial machine resembling a forklift.

The forks of the boom of the teleporter had slid along and pierced the roof of the Peugeot car "like you'd open a can of beans", Garda (police) expert witness James O'Brien told the trial.

The use of a crow-banger, a funnel type object used to scare birds, was at the centre of issues between Mr Mahony and his neighbours.

image copyright RTE image caption Ferris drove his teleporter into Mr O'Mahony's car

The court was told the noise from it "would wake the dead".

The jury was told that in interviews with police on the morning of the incident Ferris said he had blocked the road with his teleporter.

He agreed he had driven the forks onto the car and he also said: "It was about the crow-banger."

In closing speeches on Thursday, the defence told the court that "the fair verdict, the just verdict" would be manslaughter, not murder.

Defence counsel Brendan Grehan said the community in Rattoo was being oppressed by Mr Mahony and living in fear of a totally unreasonable person.

Mr Grehan said he rejected the prosecution claim the killing was intentional and deliberate.

Patrick McGrath, for the prosecution, told the jury the actions of Ferris were not consistent with a sudden loss of self-control, or acting in a fury.

He said the accused had been thinking about it for a number of days.

"What is remarkable is his behaviour afterwards, the absence of regret, the absence of remorse, the absence of shock," Mr McGrath said.