Achill sheep farmer given suspended sentence for assault on neighbour

Achill sheep farmer receives suspended sentence for assault on neighbour


AN Achill sheep farmer who was found guilty of assaulting his neighbour during a dispute over access to land received a 12 month suspended sentence at last week’s sitting of Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court.
Martin Calvey (73) of Keel, Achill was found guilty by a jury last June of the charge of assault causing harm to Christy Gallagher at Slievemore Road, Keel on December 27, 2012. Mr Calvey’s daughter, Martina, with an address of Ceol na n-Ean, Bunacurry, Achill was found not guilty of the offence.
Following the assault, Mr Gallagher was left with 30 various superficial lacerations to his face, and in a victim impact statement said he was constantly reminded of the offence when he looked in the mirror and now has to ‘wear a beard to cover up the scars’.
The trial which was heard before Judge Rory MacCabe earlier this year heard that the two neighbours were in dispute in the time leading up to the incident. The court heard that the day before the incident, St Stephen’s Day, Mr Gallagher’s trailer was left blocking access along the road.
The counsel for the Calveys argued that Mr Gallagher had deliberately left it there to block in Martin Calvey’s jeep, which was further down the road.
Gardaí were called to the scene the following morning after the trailer was not removed and that afternoon the incident occurred, before the trailer was moved.
Christy Gallagher told the court that Martin Calvey ‘ran at me’ and Mr Gallagher fell to the ground. He said Martin Calvey was ‘trying to tear out my right eye’.
In delivering his judgement, Judge McCabe said he was satisfied the injured party, Mr Gallagher, had acted ‘disgracefully’ and had ‘caused serious distress and upset to Mr Calvey’. However he added that Mr Calvey had reacted excessively, had lost control and now had to deal with the consequences.
In his victim impact statement which was read out in court by Patrick Reynolds, counsel for the prosecution, Mr Gallagher said that for six months following the incident he got flash backs whenever he passed the location.
Mr Gallagher added that the incident was more difficult to deal with because it had occurred in his own village and the perpetrated was his neighbour who he said he sees most days.
He explained he was afraid to sleep alone in his home after the incident and lived with his brother for a while and was taking sleeping tablets because his sleeping patterns were disrupted.
Mr Gallagher explained he considered leaving Achill but decided not to as he felt he had done nothing wrong. He added that he also sought counselling on a number of occasions.
Mr Michael Bowman, counsel for Mr Calvey said his client was a well-known sheep farmer and successful businessman and was a local person ‘from the top of his nose to the tip of his toes’. He had no previous convictions and he understood the consequences of his behaviour on the day in question.
Mr Calvey, the court heard, was the father of ten children of which eight lived in the general Achill area and he was involved in contributing to the community.
Judge MacCabe noted that there was a low risk of Mr Calvey reoffending and given his age and circumstances he did not consider a custodial sentence to be appropriate. He sentenced Mr Calvey to 12 months imprisonment but suspended the entire sentence for 12 months.