The manslaughter trial of Mayo farmer Pádraig Nally resumed at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin yesterday after he was released from hospital where he was being treated for a medical condition.
The trial of Mr Nally (62), who denies the unlawful killing of Traveller John Ward, was adjourned on Friday after the jury heard tests were being carried out on Mr Nally in hospital.
Prosecution witness Det Sgt James Carroll yesterday gave evidence of a statement he had taken from Mr Nally, Funshinaugh, Cross, Claremorris, Co Mayo, after the killing on October 14th, 2004. In it Mr Nally admitted beating Mr Ward 20 times with a piece of wood and shooting him as he walked along the road from the farm. He said: "I was out of my mind for these lads calling to my house all year."
Reading from the statement, Det Sgt Carroll said Mr Nally told him that after meeting Mr Ward's son Tom in a car in his driveway, he saw John Ward going in the back door of his farm.
He said he went back to his shed and took a gun, which was already loaded, out of a barrel there. He said he recognised Mr Ward snr from a Saturday a fortnight before, when he had driven a black car and asked Mr Nally for directions to the lake to go fishing.
Speaking about the day of the killing Mr Nally told gardaí: "I said 'what are you doing in there, you rogue?' " He said he was not sure if he aimed the gun but it went off with excitement, hitting Mr Ward in the right hip.
At this point he said Mr Ward went straight for him and a fight began. He kicked Mr Ward on the broad of his back and he said the pair exchanged blows. He said Mr Ward had tried to grab the gun, but Mr Nally said he put him up against the jam in the kitchen door in a "real movie-type effort". He said he then beat him about the head with a piece of ash wood.
"I struck him on the head and hands and feet. I must have struck him 20 times anyways." He said Mr Ward was shouting "Tom, Tom," for his son, whom he could hear revving the car. He gave him a push and kicked him on the broad side of the back as he lay in a heap of nettles.
He said he then went into the shed to get more cartridges and when he came out, he said he saw Mr Ward walking along the road towards the village of Cross.
He pulled up the gun and shot him again. He said Mr Ward died instantly and he lifted up the body and threw it over a wall. Det Sgt Carroll said the reason Mr Nally had put the body over the wall was in case it was seen, because he feared there might be reinforcements. He had reloaded the gun after firing the second shot and took it in his car when he drove to his neighbour's house.
Det Sgt Carroll agreed there was a fear among elderly people in the area of people coming over to their houses. In 2004, he said, there had been 20 crimes against property in the local Garda sub-district, including burglary and theft from the person or a vehicle. However he agreed this had dropped to three, up to November 1st this year.
He said Mr Ward had been known to gardaí and had approximately 80 previous convictions over 38 dates for offences including burglary, trespass and assaulting gardaí.
He said there was an incident in May 2004 in which Mr Ward produced a slash hook and threatened gardaí at Carrowbone halting site in Galway, where he lived. Gardaí had also been threatened with a slash hook during another incident in April 2002. Mr Ward was arrested for both offences but never prosecuted.
The prosecution in the trial has almost concluded its case and the jury of eight men and four women is expected to rise to consider its verdict shortly.