A Galway farmer will be sentenced today for the manslaughter of his elderly aunt.
Michael Scott, of Gortanumera, Portumna, was accused of murdering her following a long-running dispute over land, but a jury acquitted him of the more serious charge.
76 year old Chrissie Treacy died when Michael Scott’s JCB teleporter reversed over her in the yard outside her farmhouse.
He insisted he didn’t see her, but the prosecution claimed it was a deliberate act of murder driven by a sense of entitlement and revenge over a dispute about prime farmland they co-owned at Derryhiney in Co Galway.
He was acquitted of her murder but found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence.
His barrister pleaded for leniency and asked the judge to take his remorse into account as well as the impact his actions will have on his life. He claimed his client had been described as a “pariah” in his community over what happened.
Scott will be sentenced later this morning.
