A 43-year-old Aran islander who cut his brother four times with a fish knife following an ongoing dispute over land was given the benefit of the Probation Act - which does not record a conviction - at Galway District Court this week.
Mike Faherty, Mainistir, Kilronan, Inis Mór, had pleaded guilty to assaulting his older brother, John Faherty, causing him harm, at Oatquarter, Kilronan, on July 22nd last.
Sgt Christy Joyce, Kilronan Garda station, gave evidence that at 8pm on July 22nd, Mike Faherty went to his brother's home at Oatquarter, where a scuffle broke out between them.John Faherty sustained several superficial cuts to his upper body.
Insp Pat McHugh said Mike Faherty had been left two small farms on the island by the brothers' late uncle, Pádraig Faherty, who died in 2006.
The court was told John Faherty was very unhappy with his uncle's decision to leave both farms to his younger brother and he put his own cattle on to the land. Mike Faherty had put the cattle on to the road on a number of occasions and had told his brother to keep them off his land.
On the evening of the assault, he heard his brother's cattle were back on his land and he again put them out on the road. He then went to his brother's house to tell him the cattle were out on the road again.
It was then the scuffle broke out between the brothers in the dining room.
Sgt Joyce told the court that John Faherty was lucky there had been two doctors on the island that evening to tend his wounds as he had lost a lot of blood. He was later removed to hospital in Galway and remained there for a few days.
John Faherty told Judge Mary Fahy the assault had a very bad effect on him as he had been attacked by his own brother, who is 15 years his junior, with a knife in his own home.
He admitted he had been aggrieved by the fact their late uncle had left both farms of land to his younger brother even though he had been caring for the uncle for 10 years. "I minded him for 10 years and all I wanted was a bit of thanks but all I got was four stabs of a knife," the victim said.
Judge Fahy told the victim it was his uncle's decision to leave the farms to his younger brother and that he would have to get over it.
She asked the victim if he had forgiven his brother.
"I was stabbed in my own home and it's very hard to forgive that," he replied.
Valerie Corcoran, defending, said her client was truly sorry for what had happened and he wanted to offer his sincere apologies to his brother in court. She said her client had never intended to harm his brother but words were exchanged and he lost his temper. Her client was of limited means as he had been unable to go fishing in his boat for the last two years, but he had €5,000 in court to offer to his older brother in compensation.
John Faherty refused to accept the money and indicated his brother was not as poor or as remorseful as he was making out.
Judge Fahy asked Ms Corcoran and Sgt Joyce to bring both men outside to see if they could agree to make up their differences and she told John Faherty she had no intention of sending his brother to prison, adding that if he didn't want to accept the €5,000, she could think of plenty of charities that could benefit from it.
Sgt Joyce later returned and informed the court that slow progress was being made between both parties and he said he would keep working on them to bring about a reconciliation.
Judge Fahy then applied the Probation Act and directed the €5,000 be paid over to John Faherty.