Castlemartyr man sat outside home with shotgun and threatened to shoot neighbours

It was established that the complainants – against whom threats had been made - had said factually baseless things about the accused to neighbours

Judge Helen Boyle said at Cork Circuit Criminal Court she could not see the accused posing a threat now due to various mitigating factors and considerable health challenges and she imposed a fully suspended three-year sentence. File picture: Larry Cummins

A Castlemartyr man who was never in trouble in his life was so upset by a couple in his neighbourhood expressing baseless concerns about him that he sat in his mobility scooter outside his house with a shotgun on his lap telling others he was going to shoot the couple and himself.

51-year-old William Collins of Tuairin Alainn, Castlemartyr, County Cork, pleaded guilty to making the threats to kill the couple on a sunny afternoon on August 26 last year.