A FARMER has been sentenced to three years in jail with 18 months suspended for attacking two elderly brothers with a fencing post.
A son and a nephew of the farmer both received suspended sentences for the same assault which arose over a land dispute.
Connie O’Sullivan (58), Annagannihy, Rylane, pleaded guilty to assault causing harm to Patrick Twomey (70) and his brother John Joe (65), who later died from a heart attack on his way to hospital following the assault at Mount Rivers, Rylane, Co Cork, on August 19th, 2008.
O’Sullivan’s son Finbarr (25) from Dripsey and his nephew Thomas Byrne (25) from Rylane also pleaded guilty to the same charges but were given two-year suspended sentences by Judge Patrick Moran at Cork Circuit Criminal Court.
Garda Sgt Paul Lynch of Macroom station told how there had been a dispute going back years between the Twomeys and O’Sullivan’s sister, Carmel Byrne, over a boundary between their farms at Mount Rivers in Rylane.
The Byrnes maintained that the boundary was a ditch while the Twomeys claimed that the boundary was a stream on the Byrnes’s side of the ditch and that they owned half the stream and as such were entitled to allow their cattle drink from it.
On the day in question, John Joe Twomey began working to remove part of the ditch with an excavator while his brother Pat accompanied him. When Ms Byrne saw what was happening, she rang her son Thomas, who was with his uncle and cousin in Macroom.
The O’Sullivans and Mr Byrne drove to Rylane where they confronted Patrick Twomey. After an exchange of words, Connie O’Sullivan hit him with a fencing post while Finbarr O’Sullivan and Thomas Byrne punched him.
John Joe Twomey got down from the excavator and ran towards the altercation. He then ran back towards his house but his pants fell down around his ankles and Connie O’Sullivan caught him and hit him with the fencing post, the court heard.
Finbarr O’Sullivan and Byrne followed on, kicking and punching John Joe Twomey as he lay on the ground before Patrick Twomey got into his car and drove at the O’Sullivans to try to protect his brother.
The Twomeys returned home and called gardaí who, when they saw that the brothers were injured, called for an ambulance. They were on their way to Cork University Hospital when John Joe Twomey had a heart attack and died.
Tom O’Connell SC, prosecuting, said the three defendants had originally been charged with Mr Twomey’s manslaughter but the medical evidence revealed he had had a serious heart condition and could have died at any time.
Patrick Twomey suffered breaks to his wrists and a finger and bruising to his chest as well a wound to his right forearm. He spent more than 30 days in hospital.
In a victim impact statement, Mr Twomey said: “The fact that my brother died left me lonely and I have never gone back to live in my old house to live on my own since this assault . . . I could not go back to live in my own house on my own again or anywhere away from people or isolated areas because of fear.”
Judge Moran noted all three men had expressed regret but he believed Connie O’Sullivan was the ringleader of what was a brutal attack. He said the appropriate sentence was three years but he suspended the last 18 months.