Family of farmer killed in row over bird-scarer say manslaughter verdict is another example of ‘victim blaming’

Michael Ferris, 63, who drove the prongs of a teleporter into his neighbour Anthony O’Mahony, 73, at the culmination of a decades-long row about a noisy bird-scarer, was jailed for five years at the Central Criminal Court yesterday for manslaughter.

Speaking outside the court, the victim’s niece, Ann O’Carroll, said: “Our family strongly believe that justice was not served in this case. The just outcome would have been a conviction for murder given that the crime was clearly deliberate and premeditated as outlined during the trial.”

She added: “The defence legal team’s use of alleged provocation in this case allowed the jury to return a conviction for the lesser charge of manslaughter.

“To our family it felt like they were using this for a justification for the killing of Anthony and as a result we believe it denigrates the value of Anthony’s life. Victim blaming occurs daily in other courts cases in Ireland and this is clearly another example of it in our criminal justice system.”

Mr O’Mahony suffered “catastrophic injuries” after he was repeatedly stabbed with the prongs of a teleporter while he sat in his car on the morning of 4 April 2017.

Mr Ferris, a bachelor farmer, had denied murdering Mr O’Mahony, a tillage farmer and neighbouring land owner in Rattoo, Co Kerry, over his use of a crow-banger - said to be loud enough that it “would wake the dead” - for scaring birds. A jury in Tralee found him not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter by a majority verdict of 10-2.

At a sentence hearing yesterday, Ms Justice Carmel Stewart sentenced Mr Ferris to six years in prison with one year suspended, backdated to 4 April 2017 when he first went into custody.

The judge said she was required by law and the Constitution to impose a sentence which meets the particular circumstances of the offence and also of the offender. There was no definitive guideline from the appellate court as to an appropriate sentence where the verdict is not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.

The judge noted that Mr Ferris had offered a plea of manslaughter prior to the trial which had not been accepted by the DPP.

In estimating the degree of provocation which resulted in Mr O’Mahony’s death, she said she had to look at the nature of the conduct and its cumulative effect on the offender. The trial heard evidence about the impact the crow-banger had on people in Rattoo and the court could not fail to notice the distress and anguish on those individuals as well as the impact it had on their lives.

However, the judge said provocation was a subjective test and the jury had to consider the impact it had on Mr Ferris at that particular time, as the conduct had occurred for 30 years.

Defence barrister Brendan Grehan SC, instructed by Frank Buttimer Solicitors, said in his closing speech to the jury that locals were being “oppressed” by Mr O’Mahony and living in fear of a “totally unreasonable person”. He argued that there had been cumulative provocation because of the behaviour of the deceased and the fair and just verdict would be manslaughter.

The judge said she would place the offence at the lower end of the upper range of manslaughter and the headline sentence was 12 years.

Mitigating factors in sentencing, Ms Justice Stewart said, was the fact Mr Ferris admitted all along that he had unlawfully killed Mr O’Mahony and there had been prior correspondence to plead guilty to manslaughter which was not acceptable to the DPP.

Other mitigating factors included the fact Mr Ferris admitted his involvement from the outset and he was otherwise a man of good character with no previous convictions.

Referring to the defendant, the judge noted that he had also expressed his extreme remorse to Mr O’Mahony’s family. She also noted that he would be 64 years old in January.

In light of all the mitigating factors, Ms Justice Stewart said would reduce the headline sentence by one third and a further two-year reduction.

Mr Ferris was sentenced six years imprisonment with the final year suspended for three years, backdated to 4 April 2017 when he first went into custody.

Alison O’Riordan, Ireland International News Agency Ltd.