A Galway farmer has been found guilty of using threatening, abusive and insulting words against a neighbour in a long-running dispute over a missing dog, but he was not convicted.
At Gort District Court, Judge Adrian Harris found Brian Gill, 44, of Cahermore, Kinvara, guilty over two incidents, on 21 May 2025 and 2 February this year, involving Brian Murphy. The words were used with intent to provoke a breach of the peace.
Judge Harris did not convict Gill. He applied the Probation Act for one year and said Gill must complete an anger management course if the Probation Service recommends it. The judge noted clear ill feeling between the men and warned Gill against behaviour amounting to the offences.
Gill told the court his dog went missing on 19 May 2025 and that a phone call on 1 July said it was 35km away. He said: “That dog did not walk 35 kilometres.”
Murphy said that during the 21 May incident at Caherawoneen South, Kinvara, Gill accused him of stealing the dog and said “I will get you” as they met while driving at around 9pm on a narrow road. Murphy said he knew nothing about the dog.
Gill denied threatening Murphy. He said he only asked where his dog was and that Murphy called him a fool, to which he replied: “You are the only fool who sells top soil from his farm.” Gill said three people told him the dog had been seen in Murphy’s yard, but he declined to identify them, and that Murphy’s “sarcastic smile” raised his suspicions.
Under cross-examination by Insp. Daragh Browne, Gill said he was angry because the matter had gone on for 10 years. He told the judge: “This is the 15th time I have been in court over this fella – directly or indirectly.” Gill’s barrister, Martin Durack, said there was an agrarian background and past disputes over fences, and that Gill’s language may have been brusque, but there was no threat and no intention to cause a breach of the peace.