Paul Williams: 20 years on from Padraig Nally – is Rural Ireland still being plagued by crime?
When a 60-year-old farmer shot dead the career criminal who had broken into his isolated Mayo home, his trial put the spotlight on the criminal gangs that were terrorising the country. And a recent survey shows 55pc of farmers have been the victim of crime
Padraig Nally at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Dublin, where he appealed his conviction and sentence of the manslaughter of John Ward. Photo: Garrett White / Collins
Two decades ago a quietly spoken, law-abiding citizen called Padraig Nally unexpectedly became a household name at the centre of a furious public debate over people’s rights to defend themselves in their own homes.
In an incident with echoes of the recently concluded Diarmuid Phelan case, on October 14, 2004 the 60-year-old bachelor farmer – who died last November after a long illness – shot dead a Traveller and career criminal called John ‘Frog’ Ward who broke into his isolated home in Mayo.
