A farmer accused of murdering his elderly aunt is said to have ‘deliberately run her over with a tractor’.
Michael Scott has gone on trial for allegedly murdering Christine ‘Chrissie’ Treacy, his own aunt, after a long-running land dispute.
The family feud culminated in Scott driving a JCB tractor over Chrissie, 76, some time after 3pm on April 27, 2018, outside her home at Derryhiney, Co Galway, Ireland, a court heard.
The 58-year-old, of Gortanumera, Portumna, Co Galway, pleaded not guilty to murder.
Opening the trial for the prosecution, Dean Kelly SC told the jury that Chrissie was murdered in a crime of the "most terrible and dark sort".
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He continued: "The prosecution case is that Michael Scott was driving the tractor and far from being a tragic accident, he deliberately drove over her intending to cause her serious harm in the context of a long-running dispute with her."
Chrissie died after being hit by a tractor, the court heardThe prosecution added that the family row was familiar to many people in Ireland and was “a dispute over land”.
Chrissie had lived at Derryhiney all her life with her brothers Willie and Michael and had farmed the 120 acres of land for years.
The siblings were well-liked in the local community and considered to have done a “fine job” of farming the land, the court was told.
But Michael died in 2003 and Willie died in 2009, leaving the farm to Chrissie and Scott.
It was the nephew who continued to farm the land as, in the years leading up to her eventual death, Chrissie's health gradually declined until she was no longer able to.
Mr Kelly said that Chrissie had been seen by her carer and a local postman on the afternoon she died.
The prosecution said that the postman left Chrissie's home and passed Scott heading towards her property at around 3:05pm.
A short time later a phone call was placed to the effect that Chrissie had been hit by a tractor.
Mr Kelly said that by April 2018, the relationship between between the deceased and accused had broken down almost entirely.
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He added that Scott had a sense he had been “wronged and disentitled”, The Irish Mirror reported.
The prosecution continued it was "with a powerful sense of anger and resentment in response to the changing position on the ownership of the land they shared that he drove to Derryhiney that afternoon" and in the ten to 12 minutes available to him, he "callously and wilfully drove over his aunt".
If what happened was an accident Mr Kelly said the accused is a victim who has lost his last surviving aunt.
He added: "If not a tragic accident, it is a crime of the most terrible and dark sort and it is the prosecution case that it is the latter."
Mr Kelly asked the jury to put emotion and sympathy out of their minds and try the case on the evidence.
A 15-person jury consisting of seven men and eight women was sworn to hear the trial, which began yesterday and could last up to ten weeks.
Ms Justice Caroline Biggs explained to the jury that the extra jurors are required due to the risk that some may become ill due to flus, viruses and Covid. She told them that when it comes to their deliberations, 12 of them will be randomly selected.
The trial continues tomorrow.
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