Jury yet to reach verdict in case of Galway farmer accused of murdering aunt

The jury in the trial of a farmer who denies murdering his 76-year-old aunt by driving over her in an agricultural teleporter will return to the Central Criminal Court on Wednesday for a fourth day of deliberations.

Michael Scott (58), of Gortanumera, Portumna, Co Galway, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Christina ‘Chrissie’ Treacy outside her home in Derryhiney, Portumna on April 27th, 2018.

The prosecution case is that Mr Scott deliberately reversed over Ms Treacy following a long-running dispute over land. Mr Scott’s lawyers have said that her death was a tragic accident.

Ms Justice Caroline Biggs previously told the jury that there is no doubt that Mr Scott was the cause of his aunt’s death, but for a murder verdict the jury must be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that at the time he ran over her, or the “nanosecond before that,” he intended to kill or cause serious injury to her.

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If the jury has a reasonable doubt about his intent, if it reasonably could have been an accident, they must acquit him of murder and then consider a verdict of manslaughter.

For a manslaughter verdict, Ms Justice Biggs said the jury must be satisfied that Mr Scott was driving in a “grossly negligent” way. If the prosecution has failed to prove murder or manslaughter to the required standard, Ms Justice Biggs said the jury must acquit.