Shooting victim had contacted gardaí

A 30-YEAR-OLD man shot dead by his new neighbour had contacted gardaí in the days before his death, fearing trouble last Saturday when he went to erect a fence on land he’d bought from his killer’s family.

As the remains of Jim Healy were brought from his family home in Paulstown, Co Kilkenny, to the local church, it emerged he had recently been granted an injunction against 38-year-old farmer Mick Kehoe.

Mr Healy’s family insisted there was no row between the two men on Saturday morning. The computer expert and his brother, Brian, a teacher, were putting up a fence on land bought from the Kehoe family about a year ago when they were approached by Mr Kehoe.

“On Saturday morning, James and Brian were carrying out an agreement with Michael Kehoe that they would fence the land before they took vacant possession. There was no row at the scene,” a family spokesman added. But moments later, the farmer returned with a shotgun. He shot at Mr Healy three times. The first shot missed him. The second hit him under his arm.

It is believed the third and fatal shot hit him in the back. His brother escaped and raised the alarm. A number of hours later Mr Kehoe shot himself.

Mr Kehoe had always opposed the sale of the land and locals say he had been particularly upset in the past five weeks when the sale finally went through.

Last night, local priest Fr Lawrence Malone, said he was looking for strength to deliver one of the most difficult homilies of his career. He’s only been in the parish a year but knew the Healy family very well. “I met James a few times. He was a fine fella, there to help everyone. He had a good sense of humour and wouldn’t harm anyone. He was the type of fella that people turned to a lot. He was a very strong man that way.”

Mr Kehoe’s remains were last night brought from Waterford Regional Hospital to Glynn for his funeral Mass this morning at 11am.

Meanwhile, the sister of John Carthy said the tragedy shows not much has changed since her brother died in a siege in Abbeylara, Co Longford, in 2000.

“We haven’t come very far resource-wise for the gardaí have we? It’s scandalous. In situations like this, the gardaí need to have non-lethal weapons available. They also need trained negotiators at the very least.

“It’s terrible that the negotiators didn’t get to the scene at the time. They would also have needed a field phone. That wasn’t available to John at the time of his death. It doesn’t look like we have come too far.”

The investigation into the death continues.

Chief Supt Pat Murphy said gardaí did everything they could do to try to get Mr Kehoe to surrender.

“Every possible and conceivable request he may have had would have been fully met within the rules of safety and ensuring that human life was protected. We know a certain amount now and it is our job now to establish the facts in a most comprehensive, full and accurate manner and to report these facts to the Director of Public Prosecutions,” he told KCLR 96 FM.