A COURT has heard how a County Limerick pensioner repeatedly rammed a jeep with the sharp prongs of a tractor, as a teenager sat inside, in a row over payment for silage bales.
Convicting Harry Williams (70) of Clooncaura, Kildimo of criminal damage, Judge Patricia Harney said he was lucky he wasn’t facing more serious charges.
Kilmallock District Court heard evidence that after repeatedly slamming into the jeep, Mr Williams then drove the tractor at Pat Cahill (69) of Callow House, Askeaton.
Mr Cahill was also before the court on charges of entering as a trespasser at the home of Harry and Kate Williams with intent to demand money with menaces.
In evidence, Mr Williams immediately admitted “shunting” Mr Cahill’s jeep twice with the prongs of the tractor on September 10, 2021.
Earlier the court heard there had been an issue between the two men over a deal gone wrong in the sale of silage bales, in which Mr Cahill believed he was owed money by Mr Williams.
There was a dispute going back four years about the amount involved, the Judge heard, but no money had ever been paid.
In evidence, Mr Williams said he and his wife, Kate, were working in the tractor when they saw the jeep pull up on their lawn and Mr Cahill get out.
“I told him to get the jeep off my lawn and he just folded his arms and laughed at me,” Mr Williams said.
He told the court he wanted the jeep and Mr Cahill gone as Mr Cahill had on previous occasions threatened him, upset his wife, and come uninvited to his home, refusing to leave and demanding money until Gardaí had to be called to remove him.
Mr Williams said the incident has left such a “sour taste” that the couple have put their house on the market.
Mr Cahill’s step-son, Conor Harrington, who had just turned 18 at the time, then “jumped out of the jeep, shouting and swearing”. There was a chainsaw in the cab of the tractor, the Judge heard, and he grabbed it and tried but failed to start it.
“He threw the chainsaw on the ground and Cahill grabbed it and started it up. He came at me in the cab with the chainsaw going and I hit him on the hand with a wrench to make him drop it,” Mr Williams told the court.
Both Mr Cahill and Mr Harrington denied doing anything with the chainsaw, claiming instead that Mr Williams was himself trying to start it in the cab.
Judge Harney saw a phone video clip of the damage to the vehicle and of Mr Williams in his tractor.
“He rammed into my jeep about five times,” Mr Cahill told the court. “At one stage he had it up off the ground.”
Mr Cahill agreed that he opened the door of the tractor cab but said he was trying to stop Mr Williams from further damaging the jeep.
He said he threw a can of water over Mr Williams to make him drop the chainsaw after which “he (Mr Williams) turned the tractor round and tried to pin me to the apple tree but I got away.”
Judge Harney said that she did not believe that it was proven beyond reasonable doubt that Mr Cahill’s actions “reached the criminal threshold” as he was “demanding payment of a debt”.
She convicted Mr Williams of criminal damage, noting that he “rammed the jeep with a young person inside. He is very fortunate indeed not to be charged with anything more serious. The prongs on that tractor are a very, very dangerous thing.”
Hearing that Mr Williams had no previous convictions, Judge Harney put sentencing back to allow “at the very least for compensation for the damage to the jeep to be paid”.
“If an all-encompassing settlement were to be reached, that would find favour with me,” she said.
Mr Williams was ordered to appear before the court again on January 17.
