The family of a 73-year-old farmer, killed when another farmer drove the prongs of a farm vehicle into his car last year, have said his character was shredded during the criminal trial and they are now in a living nightmare.
Anthony O'Mahony was killed by 63-year-old Michael Ferris of Rattoo, Ballyduff in Kerry in a row about the noise from a device used to scare crows.
Ferris was convicted of manslaughter last month, he will be sentenced next Monday.
Michael Ferris told gardaí he "just snapped" on the morning of 4 April 2017.
He said Anthony O'Mahony had been using a crow banger to scare birds for 30 years, and paid no heed to anyone asking him to stop.
He told gardaí he intended to kill his neighbour, adding that "he had to be stopped".
Ferris blocked the small country road with his teleporter, a type of forklift, and then rammed Mr O'Mahony's car with the prongs of the vehicle, causing him horrific, catastrophic injuries.
A jury took four and a half hours to find Ferris not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Tralee.
Both men were bachelor farmers, each of them living with a brother in Ballyduff.
Ferris was a dairy farmer and Mr O'Mahony grew vegetables and cereal.
In victim impact statements read to the court, on behalf of Mr O'Mahony's sister Angela and brother, Seamus, the family said they would never recover from the horrendous ordeal they had been through.
James O'Mahony, the victim's nephew, read a statement on behalf of his father Seamus.
He said it had been difficult to hear grotesque details of how Anthony's life ended, but the way his good character was shredded during the trial was more harrowing and emotionally stressful.
He said Anthony was not in court to defend his good name and show the kind of man he was.
He said Anthony's neighbours had been described as living in fear of him, but they had visited the family to say how hurt they were by these comments.
Mr O'Mahony described Anthony O'Mahony as a man of immense honour and pride, a hard worker, an upstanding member of the community with impeccably high moral standards and a passionate farmer.
He said the family knew there was an issue with the banger, but they did not know the extent of the issue.
No one approached them about it he said, and it could have been worked out.
He said to be killed by a crow banger, so commonly used by farmers in Ireland, beggared belief.
Mr O'Mahony said his brother did not stand a chance and was ambushed.
He continued to farm the land near where his brother was killed and had to pass the scene where his life was ended so savagely.
He said they felt cut off in the community and were afraid of the future when Michael Ferris would be released and they would have to pass him on that small country road.
Mr Ferris had snapped once, he said, what was to stop him snapping again.
He said Michael Ferris had not expressed any remorse.
In a statement read on behalf of Anthony O'Mahony's sister, Angela Houlihan, she said what had happened would haunt her for the rest of her life.
She said her brother was hit repeatedly before being abandoned. She said crow bangers were a common sound in the country but apparently not acceptable in Rattoo.
She said the pain was as raw 18 months later as on the first day.
Ms Houlihan said her brother was a hard working, kind, generous man who was extremely knowledgeable about horticultural matters.
She said he had been physically torn apart and his character had been constantly attacked since. There was no justification for what had been done to him, she said.
Defence Counsel Brendan Grehan said he had been instructed to express his client's remorse and sorrow and to apologise to the O'Mahony family.
He said members of Mr Ferris' family also wanted to express their sorrow.
He said the most rational way to deal with the crow banger would have been to contact gardaí or the county council or take legal action.
He described his client as honest, placid and easygoing and this was something that had built up inside him over many years.
He urged the court to be as lenient as it could be.
Ms Justice Carmel Stewart said she would impose her sentence next Monday.
She expressed her sympathies to Mr O'Mahony's family and said she acknowledged and appreciated how painful the criminal process must be for them.
