Loss of aunt’s farmland would have caused ‘massive problems’ for murder accused, court told

A man who denies murdering his aunt following an alleged dispute over land was facing “massive problems” and “huge financial implications” due to the possible loss of his lease on farmland that she owned, his trial has heard.

Agricultural consultant and auctioneer Declan McHugh told the trial of Michael Scott that Chrissie Treacy hired him in early 2017 to lease 40 acres she owned that had previously been farmed by the accused and his brother, Thomas Scott.

Some two weeks before Ms Treacy died in April 2018, Mr McHugh received further instructions to write to Mr Scott asking him not to request a single farm payment in respect of three portions of land on the 140-acre farm he jointly owned with Ms Treacy at Derryhiney near Portumna, Co Galway. Ms Treacy intended to claim the payment for herself.

Mr McHugh sent the letter to Mr Scott’s home address by post at about 4pm on April 26th, 2018, the day before Ms Treacy died. The 70 acres at Derryhiney and 40 acres at Kiltormer would have equated to “in the region of 50 per cent of Mr Scott and his wife Cora Scott’s total holding,” Mr McHugh said.

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Under farming regulations, the loss of 110 acres would have caused a potential reduction in Mr Scott’s herd of 110 cows, Mr McHugh explained. It would also reduce the amount of land available to him for drawing down the EU single farm payment.

‘Massive problems’

“With the loss of such a vast area of land, you are going to have massive problems in terms of stocking density and compliance with nitrates directives and that has huge financial implications for any farmer,” he said.

Mr Scott (58), of Gortanumera, Portumna, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Treacy outside her home in Derryhiney on April 27th, 2018. The prosecution’s case is that Mr Scott deliberately ran over Ms Treacy in an agricultural teleporter. Mr Scott’s lawyers have said that her death was a tragic accident.

Solicitor Brendan Hyland previously told the trial that by April 2018 Ms Treacy had begun legal proceedings to have the Derryhiney farm partitioned so that she and her nephew could be independent of one another.

Mr McHugh told prosecution counsel Dean Kelly SC that Ms Treacy consulted him as an agricultural adviser and auctioneer in the 10 years before she died. Mr McHugh would submit Ms Treacy’s applications for single farm payments, which he said would have amounted to less than €3,000 per year by the time she died.

The auctioneer said he would decide with Ms Treacy which of her lands they would use for her application but “typically” he would get a phone call from Mr Scott telling him to remove certain lands from her application. Mr McHugh said he would refuse and the “conversation would get heated”.

“He tried to tell me what to do in terms of lands I should be putting in or should not put in and I would make it clear that Chrissie was my client. With him it was not negotiable. It was his way or the highway,” he said.

The last time Mr McHugh spoke to Mr Scott was in 2014 when they had what he described as an “explosive” exchange. He said Mr Scott “f****d and blinded down the phone” for about 90 seconds before Mr McHugh “gave him a dose of his own medicine back”.

‘Derogatory comments’

Mr McHugh said Mr Scott had, prior to 2014, been his client and on occasion would speak about Ms Treacy in a “very derogatory fashion”. These comments would typically happen around the time of the single farm payments or when Ms Treacy’s small flock of sheep would be in lamb and Mr Scott was required to “give a hand”.

After he was asked to let the Kiltormer land in 2017, Mr McHugh said he made a number of requests to Tom Scott that were not complied with to remove livestock from it.

On March 27th, 2017, Mr McHugh said Tom Scott approached him at Kiltormer and started “shouting and roaring that this was his land”, that Mr McHugh had “no authority to let it” and indicating that he would shoot Mr McHugh.

Between April and July 2017, after it had been let to a new tenant, gates, fences and troughs were removed from the land at Kiltormer. Electric fencers were damaged and broken apart with batteries were left exposed where cattle might lick them and be poisoned by the lead components, he said.

During that time it became common for Ms Treacy to phone Mr McHugh late at night “crying and upset”. Mr McHugh said he had “very serious concerns” and contacted Portumna and Ballinasloe garda stations a number of times about ongoing difficulties between Michael Scott and Ms Treacy.

In March 2018, Ms Treacy told Mr McHugh that her dog Bradley had gone missing and never returned. Mr McHugh agreed that was a “devastating blow” for her which he believed was “akin to losing a child”.

Letter posted

On April 26th, the day before Ms Treacy died, Mr McHugh posted the letter to Michael Scott’s home address asking him not to include portions of the land at Derryhiney in his single farm payment application for 2018.

As part of his job, Mr McHugh valued the 140 acres at Derryhiney, including a milking parlour, house and various sheds, at €918,500.

Solicitor Brendan Hyland told Conall MacCarthy BL, for the prosecution, that he began proceedings on Ms Treacy’s behalf to partition the land at Derryhiney. Shortly before her death he received a letter from Michael Scott’s solicitor saying that a new lease agreement had been made between his clinet and Ms Treacy on the Derryhiney lands “pending final resolution of all matters”. 

Mr Hyland responded on April 25th saying that Ms Treacy “has not agreed to enter into any lease arrangement pending the final resolution of all matters”. He said that he was willing to meet to settle the court proceedings and partition the land “so that both parties can be free and independent of each other”. He said Ms Treacy would then consider the question of leasing her land. Mr Hyland found out about Ms Treacy’s passing three days after sending that letter.

The trial continues in front of Ms Justice Caroline Biggs and a jury of eight men and seven women.