A 44-year-old Co Galway farmer has been found guilty of using threatening, abusive and insulting words against a neighbour with intent to provoke a breach of the peace in two incidents. Brian Gill of Cahermore, Kinvara, was found guilty at Gort District Court over confrontations on May 21, 2025 and February 2 this year. Judge Adrian Harris did not convict Gill of either offence and applied the Probation Act for one year.
Judge Harris said the offences had a context and that there was clearly ill feeling between Gill and Brian Murphy going back some time. He told Gill he should not engage in behaviour amounting to the offences. The judge also said that if the Probation Service recommends an anger management course, Gill must complete it.
Murphy told the court that on May 21, 2025 at Caherawoneen South, Kinvara, he and Gill met while both were driving on a narrow road at around 9pm. He said Gill accused him of stealing his dog and told him he would get him. Murphy said he knew nothing about the dog and did not say a word to Gill.
Gill's barrister, Martin Durack, said there was an agrarian background to the incident and that the men had disputed fences and other matters in the past. In cross-examination, Durack asked Murphy whether there was animosity between them and whether relations were so poor that they did not exchange Christmas cards. Murphy replied that Gill caused trouble every time they met on the road.
Gill denied threatening Murphy. He said he only asked where his dog was and that Murphy called him a fool. Gill said he replied that Murphy was the only fool who sold topsoil from his farm. He told the court he did not threaten Murphy at any time.
Gill said his dog went missing on May 19, 2025 and that he received a phone call on July 1 saying the dog was 35km away. He said the dog did not walk 35 kilometres. Gill told the court that three people had said the dog was seen in the back of Murphy's yard, but he declined to identify any of them. He also said Murphy had a sarcastic smile that raised his suspicions, adding that he believed Murphy knew something about the dog. Gill said he did not think Murphy had the dog because the animal would not have gone to him, and described the dog as attached to one person, with sentimental value.
Under cross-examination by Insp. Daragh Browne, Gill said he was angry because the matter had been going on for 10 years. He told Judge Harris that it was the 15th time he had been in court over Murphy, directly or indirectly. Insp. Browne said Gill remained very frustrated and still believed that someone had removed the dog.
Durack said Gill's language may have been brusque, but there was no threat and no intention to cause a breach of the peace. The court's order leaves Gill without a conviction on either offence, subject to the Probation Act and any recommended anger management course.