Dispensing justice is not meant to be easy. Revenge is easy. But justice - the administration of the law in a fair and reasonable manner, reflective of popular will but not unquestionably subservient to it - is no simple task.
According to Mr Justice Paul Carney, the case of Pádraig Nally resulted in the most difficult sentencing he has had to deal with in 14 years as a judge of the Central Criminal Court. Given the flotsam of badness, misery and dysfunction which passes through the criminal courts, Mr Justice Carney is due some sympathy when he speaks so frankly. He is also deserving of praise for his handling of what was indeed a difficult case in which he managed to get the balance about as right as one could reasonably hope.
The Nally case was not about Travellers per se, although tensions between some Travellers and some members of the settled community formed a backdrop to events and were part of the case. The facts, summarised here, are these: Pádraig Nally, a 61-year-old bachelor farmer living in Co Mayo, is law-abiding but has been the victim of several thefts for which he blames Travellers. As a result, he felt isolated, vulnerable and lived in fear.
John Ward was a 42-year-old man, a husband and father who happened to be a Traveller. He had a lengthy criminal record and was due to face charges for allegedly swinging a slash-hook at gardaí. Shortly before his death, he had been a psychiatric in-patient at a Galway hospital.
The court was told yesterday that Nally saw Mr Ward entering his home by the back door and, in the light of the evidence heard in this case, it is reasonable to deduce that he did so for nefarious purposes. What happened next is not disputed in substance. Nally challenged Mr Ward; Nally got a shotgun, which was discharged, injuring Mr Ward; there was a brawl in which Mr Ward was beaten severely; Nally left the scene to get more cartridges and reload his shotgun; Mr Ward ran off, but Nally gave chase; when he caught up with him, Mr Ward was bent over or crouching, but Nally shot him again, killing him then dumping his body over a wall.
This final sequence of events - with Mr Ward wounded and retreating - was the most damaging in the case against Nally. In such circumstances, and in the context of a conviction for manslaughter, a sentence of six years is within the parameters of what might be expected. No life is worth less under the law than any other and only in the most extreme conditions does a citizen have the right to take the law into his or her own hands and, with it, the life of another. Even accepting Nally's state of mind and his fears, the unfortunate reality is that such conditions were not manifest in this case.