A GALWAY man has been sentenced to life in prison at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Galway for the murder of his grandfather following a row over ownership of the family farm.
Gearóid Fahy (24), Carrowmona, Ardrahan, had pleaded guilty before Mr Justice Barry White to killing his grandfather, Finbarr Fahy (78), on November 10th, 2009, at Ballinduff, Ardrahan.
Det Insp Gerry Roche gave evidence that Mr Fahy had been hit eight times over the head with a nail bar.
The following day, Fahy told his brother, friends and two psychiatric nurses, from whom he had been receiving treatment in Gort before the offence, that he had murdered his grandfather and was sorry for doing it. “I done it, I killed my grandfather. I done it,” he told his brother, Martin Fahy.
Det Insp Roche said the Fahys were a fine, quiet, decent family in the area. They were devastated by what had happened but did not want to give victim impact statements.
A possible motive for the murder, Det Insp Roche said, was that the grandfather was in the process of settling his affairs at the time and a solicitor’s letter, received by all family members, had been misconstrued by Fahy. “He had mistakenly believed his grandfather was about to sign over his house and land that his father was already on to a relative, but that was not the case.”
When he was first interviewed, Det Insp Roche said Fahy said he had been looking for money from his grandfather and had got €20.
However, in subsequent interviews, he said he believed his grandfather was going to put land, which he had initially given to his father, into the name of another relative. “This was a mistaken belief. His grandfather was putting his affairs in order, about title of his house and site, and letters were sent to the family and this was misconstrued by the defendant that the land was going to another relative.”
He said Fahy had been sniffing butane gas and abusing alcohol since he was a teenager and had developed psychiatric problems as a result.
A friend of his had died by suicide in 2003, and he had attempted to take his own life too and had been receiving treatment since then, the detective added.
Martin Giblin SC, defending, said the Fahy family was very close and the victim’s three sons and their families lived on sites provided by him within a stone’s throw of the grandfather’s own house.
Mr Giblin said that while his client had been deemed legally sane and fit to plead, he had requested access to psychiatric services while in prison and was on a waiting list for treatment since he was detained in 2009.
Fahy nodded when Mr Justice White said he had no doubt but that the whole matter had been a tragedy for him and his family.
“Your legal advisers have explained to you that in relation to the offence of murder, the sentence is life in prison. It’s a mandatory sentence and I have no discretion in the matter.”
Mr Justice White backdated the sentence to November 13th, 2009, when Fahy was first taken into custody.