Two life sentences for man who murdered neighbouring couple after six-year feud

A Co Westmeath man began two life sentences last night for the murder of his next-door neighbours following a six-year feud that climaxed in an argument over pebbledash stones.

Seamus Dunne (43) from Turin, Mullingar, shot husband and wife Vincent and Mary Cully twice in the back in November 1997 after what he felt was the final straw in a series of minor disputes.

Dunne told gardai he "flipped" because he believed labourers who were pebbledashing the front of the Cullys' home had thrown stones at his house. Dissatisfied with attempts by local gardai to resolve the dispute, Dunne walked the short distance to his neighbours' house after the gardai left the scene, raised his double-barrelled shotgun to his shoulder and shot Mr Cully twice. He then reloaded his gun from a belt containing 20 cartridges and shot Mr Cully's wife, Mary. Both died within minutes.

Dunne reloaded his shotgun again and pointed it at one of the workmen but Dunne's wife came out of the house and intervened to stop him. When gardai arrived, he surrendered without a struggle.

The court heard Dunne had built up an intense frustration and a sense of being "under siege" because of a number of minor disagreements with his neighbours.

Dunne made a series of complaints about his neighbours to local gardai between 1991 and 1996. One complaint was about hedges and trees which the Cully family had replaced on their land. Another centred on a discharge of effluent from one of the Cullys' fields, which was rectified later by Mr Cully.

There were ongoing complaints to the local Garda station up to 1996, culminating in a complaint from Dunne about the noise of bangers and crackers the Cully family used at Halloween. However, there had been "relative calm" in the 12 months or so before the pebbledash incident, save for a confrontation shortly before the shootings over a pillar, Det Sgt Gerry Nohilly told the Central Criminal Court yesterday. Dunne broke down in the Garda car after his arrest and expressed grave regret at his actions. In his statement, he told gardai: "I did not want any of this to happen, I was minding my own business. I have two children and a wife that I adore." However, he added that he "could not allow the abuse to continue."

The court heard that Dunne's wife is pregnant with their third child.

In a report submitted to Mr Justice O'Sullivan, the director of the Central Mental Hospital, Dundrum, Dr Charles Smith, said that Seamus Dunne clearly did not belong to either the psychopathic or sociopathic personality groups. While he wouldn't excuse Dunne's action he said that "when people are enraged they don't see red necessarily, but they do get distorted perceptions alongside distorted responses".

Mr Justice O'Sullivan said the circumstances of the case were "extraordinarily tragic" and imposed the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment after Dunne changed his plea from not guilty to guilty of the double murder. Dunne's double life sentence is to run concurrently, taking into account two weeks already spent in custody.