A Co Galway farmer has been found guilty of using threatening and abusive language towards a neighbour in a long-running row that he says centres on his missing dog, but he has avoided a criminal conviction.
At Gort District Court, Judge Adrian Harris found Brian Gill (44), of Cahermore, Kinvara, guilty of engaging in threatening, abusive and insulting words against Brian Murphy with intent to provoke a breach of the peace in two separate incidents, on May 21, 2025 and on February 2 this year.
The judge did not convict Gill of either offence. Instead he applied the Probation Act for one year and told Gill that he must complete an anger management course if the Probation Service recommends one.
Judge Harris said there was a context to the offences and that ill feeling between the two men clearly went back some time. He told Gill he should not engage in behaviour amounting to such offences.
Dispute over a missing dog
Gill told the court that his dog went missing on May 19, 2025, and that he received a phone call on July 1 saying the animal was 35km away. He said the dog could not have walked that distance.
Giving evidence about the May 21, 2025 incident at Caherawoneen South, Kinvara, Mr Murphy said the two met at around 9pm as they were both driving on a narrow road, and that Gill accused him of stealing the dog and warned that he would get him. Mr Murphy told the court 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 two men had fallen out in the past over fences and similar matters. In cross-examination he asked Mr Murphy whether there was animosity between them and whether they were the kind of neighbours who exchanged Christmas cards. Mr Murphy replied that Gill caused trouble every time he was on the road.
Accusations denied
In his own evidence Gill denied threatening Mr Murphy. He said he had only asked him where his dog was, that Mr Murphy had called him a fool, and that he replied by saying Mr Murphy was the only fool who sold topsoil from his farm.
Gill said he had been told by three different people that the dog was seen in the back of Mr Murphy's yard, but he declined to identify any of the three. He said Mr Murphy had a sarcastic smile, as he usually did, and that this raised his suspicions. He added that he believed Mr Murphy knew something about the dog, though he did not think he had taken it, because the animal would not have gone to him.
He described the dog as a one-person animal that wanted only him, and spoke of a sentimental attachment and what he called a bit of history that he did not wish to go into.
Under cross-examination by Insp Daragh Browne, Gill said he was angry because the matter had been going on for the past 10 years. He told the judge it was the 15th time he had been in court over the man, directly or indirectly.
Insp Browne said Gill remained very frustrated and still believed someone had removed the dog. Mr Durack said that while his client's language may have been brusque, there was no threat and no intention to cause a breach of the peace.