A court in County Galway has found a farmer guilty of using threatening and abusive language towards a neighbour in a long-running dispute centred on a missing dog.
At Gort District Court, Judge Adrian Harris found Brian Gill, 44, of Cahermore, Kinvara, guilty of using threatening, abusive and insulting words towards Brian Murphy with intent to provoke a breach of the peace, in two incidents on 21 May 2025 and on 2 February this year.
The judge recorded no conviction on either count, applying the Probation Act for one year, and told Gill he must complete an anger management course if the Probation Service recommends one.
Judge Harris said the offences had a context and that there was clearly ill feeling between the two men going back some time. He told Gill he should not engage in behaviour amounting to these offences.
Gill told the court his dog went missing on 19 May 2025 and that he received a phone call on 1 July saying the animal was 35km away. He said the dog did not walk 35 kilometres.
Giving evidence about the 21 May incident at Caherawoneen South, Kinvara, Brian Murphy said the two men met while driving on a narrow road at about 9pm, and that Gill accused him of stealing the dog and told him he would get him. Murphy said he knew nothing about the dog and had not spoken to Gill.
Martin Durack, barrister for Gill, said there was an agrarian background to the incident and past disputes between the men over fences. Cross-examined on whether animosity existed between them, Murphy said Gill caused trouble every time they met on the road.
Gill denied threatening Murphy and said he had only asked where his dog was, and that Murphy called him a fool; he replied that Murphy was the only fool who sold topsoil from his farm. He said three people had told him the dog was seen in the back of Murphy's yard but declined to identify them.
Under cross-examination by Insp. Daragh Browne, Gill said he was angry because the dispute had run for ten years, and that he had been in court over the matter 15 times. Insp. Browne said Gill remained frustrated and still believed someone had taken the dog. Durack said his client's language may have been brusque, but there was no threat and no intention to cause a breach of the peace.