[ad_1]
The death of Tadgh O’Sullivan and his two adult sons Mark and Diarmuid near Kanturk in North Cork is not the first time that living and dying from an inheritance has led to a ‘murder-suicide’ incident reaching the Headlines.
Fifteen years ago, the community in quiet and picturesque Coolyhune, nestled beneath the Blackstairs Mountains on the Carlow / Kilkenny border, privately believed that 38-year-old bachelor Michael Kehoe shot and killed 30-year-old Jim Healy , on September 3, 2005, in the early hours of the morning after Mr. Healy mocked that he had bought the land behind Mr. Kehoe’s back “for a song.”
Locals said at the time that it was, perhaps, the death of Michael’s father, Simon, who passed away 15 years before the fatal shootings without making a will for his three young children, that ultimately led to the development of a bitter dispute over the property. .
Part of the 30-acre farm that had belonged to the Kehoe family for generations had been publicly auctioned in 2004 by Kehoe’s older sister Catherine and younger brother John, and was estimated to be worth around € 60,000 each for the three brothers. at the time.
“This land is not for sale.” These words, spoken by Kehoe before his death, stopped the auction in Kilkenny City of a small parcel of the farm that would later play a central role in both his own tragic death and that of a neighbor.
Amid the confused silence that followed his statement, the united community loyally supported him and no one bid for any of the 30 acres of premier dairy farmland in Coolyhune Cross, Co. Carlow that day.
Unfortunately for two grief-stricken families, the matter did not end in the assembly hall of the small rural hotel where the auction was to take place.
What happened next, an alleged family dispute over the sale of land in a context of passion and bitterness, was a twisted tragedy as bleak, dark, and recognizably local as the events in the John B. Keane drama. .
At the time it was understood that Kehoe’s sister and brother later privately sold part of the land to Jim Healy after the auction was discontinued.
It also emerged that there were some ongoing legal actions between Jim Healy and Michael Kehoe.
On that fatal morning in September, Mr. Healy was working in the fields with his brother Brian when the events unfolded. Mr. Kehoe shot him in the back.
Mr. Kehoe then hid in a barn, refusing to come out even when the gardaí moved out. Seven hours later, seeing no way out of the situation, he pointed his gun at himself.
A double investigation conducted two months later revealed the details the morning the two men died.
The investigation heard from Mr. Healy’s brother, Brian, that the two had been fencing off land that they had purchased from the Kehoe family.
They arrived at the land at 10.40 in the morning and began to fence.
Mr. Kehoe came out and asked to move his tractor and they said they had no objection. However, some time later, Kehoe came back with a shotgun and screaming. He fired a shot.
“I was terrified and I was afraid they would kill us both,” said the dead man’s brother. Both men started to flee and Mr. Healy later said he heard a second gunshot and his brother screamed.
Michael Kehoe was about 40 meters behind them at the time, stopped and reloaded the gun. Mr. Healy said he then heard a third shot and saw his brother fall.
Later, the state pathologist, Dr. Marie Cassidy, said that Mr. Healy had died from gunshot wounds to the head and back.
[ad_2]