THREE MEN are to appear at Macroom District Court in Co Cork today in connection with the death of a farmer from a heart attack following an incident during a dispute about land more than a year ago.
The men, one of whom is in his late 50s and two of whom are in their mid-20s, were arrested at their homes in Rylane and Dripsey yesterday evening and charged over the death of John Twomey (65).
Mr Twomey and his brother Pat (68), from Aghabullogue, were allegedly assaulted during an altercation with three other men while the brothers were carrying out reclamation work at Mount Rivers, Rylane, on August 19th, 2008.
John Twomey had been operating a mechanical digger at the time. He and his brother complained to local gardaí that they had been assaulted and had suffered injuries.
They were initially not thought to be life-threatening but gardaí called an ambulance.
John Twomey suffered a heart attack en route to Cork University Hospital and was pronounced dead on arrival. Pat Twomey was treated for his injuries and later interviewed by gardaí.
Just over a week later, three men were arrested and brought to Macroom and Bandon Garda stations where they were questioned before being released without charge.
A postmortem carried out on Mr Twomey by Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster confirmed that he had died from a heart attack.