Jury deliberating case involving a Moygownagh farmer accused of assaulting two sergeants on his farm



A MOYGOWNAGH farmer was accused of attempting to bite a garda sergeant’s testicles when he resisted arrest on his farm in 2013.

Seamus Murphy of Garrynagran, Moygownagh, Ballina, pleaded not guilty to charges of assault on Sgt James Murphy and Sgt Maria Hayes, and also to obstruction of traffic and dangerous driving in the early hours of July 14, 2013.

The 40-year-old married man is accused of attacking the two gardaí when they arrived at the entrance of his farm to investigate an alleged incident of dangerous driving earlier that night.

It is alleged that Mr Murphy ‘lost the plot’ when approached by Sgts Murphy and Hayes and drove his tractor up his driveway while Sgt Murphy was standing on the step of the cab. When the tractor stopped, Mr Murphy allegedly resisted arrest and had to be pepper sprayed on a number of occasions before he was eventually handcuffed and taken from the tractor.

‘Wild animal’

During the scuffle, which Castlebar Circuit Court heard took approximately 30 minutes, Mr Murphy was described as acting ‘like a wild animal’ as he scraped at Sgt Murphy and tried to bite at him. On one occasion, the court heard, he tried to bite Sgt Murphy’s testicles.

Mr Murphy denied the allegations, claiming that when Sgt Murphy arrived at the entrance of his farm he smashed the glass on his tractor’s cab door with his baton and started to strike him with it. He claimed he was dragged from the cab ‘like a calf’ and was beaten with the baton.

The two sergeants were described as ‘dishevelled’ and ‘spent’ when Garda colleagues arrived at the scene to take Mr Murphy to Ballina Garda Station.

Audio

Mr Murphy’s wife, Helen, recorded audio of the incident on her phone, which was played to the court. During the recording, the two sergeants and Mr Murphy could be heard scuffling with each other and Mr Murphy being told to stop kicking and biting.

Sgt Haynes could also be heard telling Mr Murphy that she would break his legs, while Sgt Murphy warned the defendant that if he tried to bite him in the testicles he would ‘f***ing die on the spot’. Mr Murphy could also be heard claiming that he was going to pass out, to which Sgt Murphy responded: ‘The sooner you pass out, the sooner we sort it out.’



Family dispute

The evidence in the case was heard over three days before a jury, which started deliberating on Friday afternoon. When the jurors failed to reach a decision, Judge Rory MacCabe asked them to retire. They return today (Tuesday) to resume their deliberations.

The trial heard that Mr Murphy and his brother have been in a dispute over the family farm following the death of their father in 2008. Mr Murphy accused some neighbours of taking the side of his younger brother and using the family situation to benefit for their own gain.

Both sides in the trial, prosecution and defence, have been accused of telling lies and fabricating and exaggerating the incidents that occurred.

‘I feared for my life’

On the night in question, the Gardaí received a report of dangerous driving at approximately 1am from JJ Heffron and his son Darragh, who accused Mr Murphy of stopping his tractor and reversing it at them on a number of occasions. The Heffrons met the two sergeants and agreed to show them where the tractor had gone.

Mr Heffron said they caught up with the tractor about ten yards from the entrance to Mr Murphy’s gate. He claimed Mr Murphy stopped his tractor at his gate, blocking the road and jumped out of his tractor shouting, ‘I have you now’. Mr Heffron said when he saw, Sgt Murphy he said ‘Ah fu*k’ and ran back to his tractor.

Sgt Murphy mounted the tractor, and was still holding onto the door when the tractor started and drove into the farm yard. He claimed that if he hadn’t held on, he would have been trampled by the mower that was attached to the tractor.

The court heard that the tractor drove 40 yards into the yard before stopping, and the scuffle ensued. In his evidence, Sgt Murphy told the court it the only time in over 20 years as a garda that he thought he would be killed.

“I feared for my life. The violence on the night took me by surprise. I have been in dangerous situations many a night … but this was the one night I felt I would not get home, such was the way he behaved. It was one of the worst types of personal violence I endured.”

Sgt Murphy denied smashing the glass on the door and claimed it broke when Mr Murphy closed it forcefully.

Sgt Hayes told the court that Mr Murphy kicked out violently at them and that the pepper spray had ‘zero effect on him’. Sgt Hayes defended her use of profanity during the incident, saying it was a highly tense situation.

Mr Leo Mulrooney, counsel for the defence, said that the words heard in the audio were not written in the sergeant’s statements, and he suggested they would have denied using them if the audio had not been captured.

GSOC investigation

In his evidence, Mr Murphy said he was returning home from Ballycastle when a jeep came behind him and started flashing its lights and blowing the horn. He said he stopped because the tyre was flat and he phoned his wife Helen to bring a hose to pump it up.

When she could not find the hose, he said he decided to drive home, but had to drive slowly. When he got to his farm, he said he drove in his gate and noticed the Heffrons behind him and decided to close the gate. When he saw the garda car, he said he decided against closing it and went into his tractor.

He said that after he got back into the cab, ‘out of nowhere’ the glass on the tractor door smashed.

Mr Murphy denied laying a hand on Sgt Murphy and also denied allegations of biting and kicking the gardaí. He said he was hit by the two gardaí, and sustained a fractured wrist.

The court was told the incident had been investigated by GSOC, which found no wrongdoing by the two sergeants.