LAST UPDATE | 26 Jun 2023

FARMER MICHAEL SCOTT, who drove over his elderly aunt Chrissie Treacy in an agricultural teleporter, showed “no compassion” to her in the immediate aftermath of the killing, has been jailed for six years.

Ms Justice Caroline Biggs said that had Scott “thought about it at all” he would have realised the risk caused by him reversing the machine across the yard while his view was obstructed.

“He didn’t think of her at all,” the judge said, “an elderly lady, his aunt, living alone.”

She said that Ms Treacy was entitled to feel safe outside her home and she put Scott’s culpability higher than in a case of dangerous driving causing death.

Ms Justice Biggs also pointed to a number of lies told by Scott to Gardaí after the killing when he said that his relationship with his aunt had been “the finest” and they only ever argued over small things.

She said he also lied when he said that following the collision his aunt was still alive, he heard her breathing, saw her moving, didn’t notice any injuries on her and didn’t think she would die.

Ms Justice Biggs said these lies were told for “self preservation” and that he showed little care for his aunt at that time and showed “no remorse” in the immediate aftermath of the killing.

However, the judge also accepted that Scott has more recently expressed genuine remorse and reports from the probation services suggest he has insight into the impact the killing has had.

He had no previous convictions and the judge described him as a hard-working family man who was responsible in his business affairs. The judge also noted that Scott has indicated that he accepts the jury’s verdict.
Chrissie Treacy, the judge said, was “by all accounts a terrific lady, ahead of her time on farming knowledge and expertise and a boss in a house of men.”

She recalled witnesses who had described Ms Treacy’s “wonderful Irish sense of humour” and her love of animals, in particular her dog Bradley who went missing two months before Ms Treacy’s death.

Ms Treacy loved people and loved engaging with her neighbours and friends and “lived life to the fullest”, the judge said. She also commended Ms Treacy’s community for the care and support they gave to her during her final years.
 
The judge set Scott’s headline sentence at eight years but reduced that to six years having taken into account a number of mitigating factors. Members of Scott’s family cried and comforted one another when the sentence was revealed. Scott sat with his head in his hands for much of the hearing. He has been in custody since a sentencing hearing two weeks ago.

Michael Scott (59) of Gortanumera, Portumna, Co Galway had pleaded not guilty to murdering his aunt Christina ‘Chrissie’ Treacy (76) outside her home in Derryhiney, Portumna, Co Galway on April 27, 2018.

Following a trial earlier this year, a jury found Scott not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter on the basis of gross negligence.

The prosecution case was that Scott deliberately reversed over Ms Treacy following a long-running dispute over land. The trial heard that the Health Service Executive and gardai had been informed of concerns regarding Ms Treacy’s welfare due to her relationship with Scott.

The jury were told that Ms Treacy and her brothers farmed about 140 acres at Derryhiney and that she owned another farm at nearby Kiltormer. Following the deaths of Ms Treacy’s brothers, Michael Scott came to own half the land at Derryhiney and Ms Treacy owned the other half. She leased her land at Kiltormer and Derryhiney to Michael Scott.

In early 2017, Mr Scott did not bid to continue leasing the land from Ms Treacy in Kiltormer when it went up for auction. Ms Donohue told the trial that by Christmas 2017, the deceased had made an application through her solicitor to split the land at Derryhiney and put a new lease on the half that she owned.

On the day of Ms Treacy’s death Scott received a letter from an agricultural consultant telling him not to claim payments for parcels of land on the farm he jointly owned with his aunt.

Scott told gardai that he was not concerned about the letter and drove to the yard outside his aunt’s home to do some work on the farm. He said he got into the teleporter and was reversing across the yard when he felt a “thump”, thought he might have hit a trailer and moved the teleporter forward to level ground.

He said that when he got down from the cabin he saw his aunt lying on the ground. He described her death as a tragic accident.

Verdict

Ms Justice Biggs said the jury’s verdict meant they had a “reasonable doubt about the requisite intent” for murder. She said that she would proceed on the basis that he did not have any intent to kill or seriously injure his aunt.

She said the prosecution had made the case that Scott “must have looked over his left side” when reversing and had he done so he would have seen his aunt and therefore had the knowledge and intent necessary for murder.

Ms Justice Biggs said the jury’s verdict meant they accepted that it was reasonably possible that Scott’s own account was true – that he was looking to his right where his view was obstructed by the body of the teleporter.

She said the aggravating features in the case include that Scott was driving a “lethal weapon, a JCB teleporter, which is far more dangerous than a car.”

She said more care must be taken when driving such a vehicle.
Had Scott driven while looking over his left shoulder rather than to his right, he would have seen his aunt, the judge said.

She noted that besides the obstructions on the right side of the vehicle, Scott was “almost entirely blind in the right eye save for peripheral vision”, according to the evidence of an optometrist. Scott knew of the weakness in his right eye, the judge noted.
The left hand mirror of the vehicle was missing, a problem which could “easily have been remedied” and the view to the rear was further obstructed by a dirty windscreen that “could have been cleaned with a J-cloth and Fairy Liquid,” she said.

She further noted that the offence happened in Ms Treacy’s yard outside her home. On Scott’s own statement to gardai, he was aware that she would occasionally be in the yard, the judge said.

“Had he thought about it at all, he would have realised the risk he was causing,” she said. She put Scott’s culpability at a level higher than dangerous driving causing death and added: “He didn’t think of her at all, an elderly lady, his aunt, living alone.”

Scott’s main mitigation was that he had no previous convictions, worked his entire life and in the course of a 20-year marriage he raised four children. But, the judge noted, in the immediate aftermath of the killing, Scott had “no remorse”.

At the scene, the judge noted that Scott’s friend Francis Hardiman said Scott was hysterical and was “roaring about the misfortune that happened to him” and was saying “I can’t live with what has happened to me”.

The judge said Scott later lied to gardai when he said that he did not believe his aunt was dead and that he heard her breathing and saw her moving.

Ms Justice Biggs pointed to the evidence of State Pathologist Dr Linda Mulligan who said Ms Treacy would have died within one to two seconds of being run over.

She added “You don’t need to be a doctor to know that going over somebody with a JCB will inevitably result in death.”

His claim that he didn’t see any injuries on his aunt could also not be true given that the skin and flesh had been removed from her hand and there were tire tracks running across her body.
The lies told by Scott were done for “self-preservation”, the judge said, and showed that at the time he had “little care for Chrissie Treacy”.

She described as a “fundamental lie” his claim that his relationship with his aunt was “the finest” and that they only ever argued over small things, such as dirt in the yard from his tractor or leaves that hadn’t been cleared. She said this lie was “only made in the interests of self and self-preservation.”

The judge pointed out a number of parts of the evidence which she said rebutted those lies, including the testimony of Mr Hardiman who recalled a number of incidents where Scott became upset due to arguments with his aunt about land.

Ms Treacy’s friend Regina Donohoe had also detailed ongoing problems between the victim and Scott which culminated in Ms Treacy seeking to partition the land they jointly owned at Derryhiney.

There was also evidence from a care worker who overheard Scott speaking in a loud voice to his aunt and banging a table.

A solicitor acting for Ms Treacy told the trial that he was “shocked by the vehemence” of Scott’s anger towards him during one phone call. Ms Treacy’s agricultural consultant Declan McHugh gave evidence that his dealings with Scott regarding Ms Treacy’s affairs were “explosive”.

Another agricultural consultant who acted for Scott said that Scott was “enraged” at his aunt’s proposal to divide the land.

Ms Justice Biggs said those factors were not relevant to Scott’s state of mind at the time of the killing but they “show that he lied continually in interviews with gardai.”

She said this was relevant to the fact that he showed “no compassion” to his aunt in the immediate aftermath of the killing.

She noted that he did not call Ms Treacy’s friend Regina Donohoe but instead called his own friend and confidant, Francis Hardiman.

He also did not say the act of contrition although he knew that his aunt was a religious woman.

However, the judge noted that a probation report indicates that Scott “has an understanding now of what he has done”.

A psychiatric report also referred to the “shame” that he feels and expressions of remorse. Scott has a number of mental health issues including anxiety, high levels of negative emotionality, feelings of hopelessness, sadness and suicidal ideation.
She said the reports submitted suggest Scott has insight but also has “limited intellectual ability”.

Of late, the judge said Scott has “lost interest in farming” and is considering training in other areas. His interest in the land at Derryhiney is now tied up in litigation which “may have had a stressful impact on him and his business,” the judge said.

She said she accepts his recent expressions of remorse and that his custodial sentence will cause difficulties for his family.