Retrial adjourned after Nally hospitalised

PADRAIG Nally, the Mayo farmer on trial for shooting dead a Traveller, was under observation in hospital yesterday after being taken ill with chest pains.

Mr Nally, 62, was unable to attend court on what was to have been the fifth day of his retrial for the manslaughter, in October 2004, of John ‘Frog’ Ward.

Friends who were with Mr Nally when he took ill in a Dublin hotel on Thursday night called a doctor who examined him.

An ambulance later brought him to St James Hospital in the city. Mr Nally, who is from Funshinaugh, Cross, Claremorris, Co. Mayo, is on bail and responsible for his own accommodation for the duration of the trial.

He has been staying in an hotel with the help of the Padraig Nally Support Group, set up after he was first charged with the killing.

Paddy Rock of the support group, who was present when Mr Nally became ill, said friends had been concerned about his health for several days.

“He had been complaining of feeling unwell during the week but it came to a head on Thursday night,” he said.

“I think the stress of the whole thing had been building up on him. We’ll have to see what the doctors say and how he gets on.”

Mr Nally has pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter of Mr Ward, a father of eleven from Carrowbone Halting Site on the outskirts of Galway city, who died after being shot twice and beaten by the accused, close to Mr Nally’s isolated farmhouse.

Mr Justice Kevin O’Higgins adjourned the hearing yesterday until Monday morning.