Farmer ‘haunted’ after seeing marksmen shoot his cattle

The High Court has been asked to extend by up to 10 years the bankruptcy of a Co Monaghan farmer whose cattle were shot by members of the Defence Forces nearly four years ago.

John Hoey, from Carrickmacross, opposes the application and told the court he remains “haunted” after witnessing the shooting of his cattle in July 2016.

Mr Hoey was declared bankrupt in February 2016 on foot of a petition brought by John Kelly Fuels Ltd for €262,000.

He was due to exit the process 12 months later but the official bankruptcy trustee Chris Lehane claims Mr Hoey failed to cooperate with the process, and he has asked the High Court to extend the farmer’s bankruptcy.

Mr Lehane claims that Mr Hoey has failed to co-operate by failing to provide a statement of affairs detailing all of his assets. He claims that in attempting to recover Mr Hoey’s assets he has had to take various steps including issuing several warrants in 2016 allowing him to search a number of locations and seize items including farm machinery and vehicles belonging to Mr Hoey.

Mr Lehane said that on two separate occasions cash, totalling €17,000 that was detected by sniffer dogs, was recovered following searches of Mr Hoey’s property.

The court also heard that Mr Lehane obtained freezing orders in respect of monies paid by cheques from a meat processor to Mr Hoey, and had to take steps using army marksmen to humanely destroy five cattle on Mr Hoey’s farm.

Difficult to catch

Mr Lehane said at the time that most of the herd was removed from the farm but five animals proved difficult to catch.

Mr Hoey denies not co-operating with the trustee and says he did furnish Mr Lehane with a statement of affairs. He says that between the date of his bankruptcy adjudication in February 2016 and May 2016 everything that he had worked for over 35 was “literally wiped out and destroyed” by Mr Lehane and his agents who he described as “a band of rented thugs”.

He said he was bullied and intimidated by an agent of the trustee. He rejects claims that his cattle were put down humanely. He says he could have been contacted to remove them from the land and that they were shot without warning to him.

Mr Hoey also claims that assets in his estates have been sold at an undervalue, and that his reputation has been damaged by the trustee and his agent’s actions.

As part of the application Mr Hoey’s lawyers are cross-examining Mr Lehane on his attempt to extend the bankruptcy.

In reply to Mr Hoey’s counsel, Eanna Mulloy, Mr Lehane said he had attended Mr Hoey’s farm after the bankruptcy adjudication with members of the Garda, including some from the Emergency Response Unit, but had done so on the advice of the force. He accepted that then and on other subsequent occasions he attended at the farm he had not felt threatened by Mr Hoey.

The case continues.