Mick Clifford: Padraig Nally's death a reminder that old prejudices haven't gone away
Nally Courts He The At Guilty In Dublin Ward In Of File Of Padraig Four October Found 2004 The 2006 Maddaloni/collins In Photo: John Manslaughter Was Where Chris Not
Padraig Nally was laid to rest in Cross, Co Mayo, last Monday. He was 81 years of age and died after an illness having led a typical rural farming life.
He was well-regarded by friends and neighbours alike. If he hadn’t shot dead John ‘Frog’ Ward whom he believed to be intent on robbing his farm it’s highly unlikely he would ever have been known outside a scattered community in rural south Mayo.
That event saw him imprisoned and ultimately vindicated in the eyes of the law. The case led to the Oireachtas passing a new law, the Defence of the Dwelling Act 2011. For many, Mr Nally was something of a hero, representing the ordinary person taking a stance against criminals.
In death, Mr Nally was responsible for another unprecedented development. The RIP.ie condolence page on his death notice had to be taken down after being live for only 24 hours.
A huge volume of people had posted in sympathy but the problem was the inclusion of a number of anti-Traveller comments that were described as “vile” and “racist”. It is believed to be the first time it was deemed necessary to disable a condolence page because it was attracting inappropriate or highly offensive comments.
Some people, who most likely didn’t even know Padraig Nally, were using the occasion of his death to air bigoted opinions about a group of people who, collectively, are among the most marginalised in the state.
John ‘Frog’ Ward did not lead a blameless life but his killing was highly controversial. He was a father of 11 and like many in the Travelling community, he lived on a halting site in circumstances ill befitting a so-called developed society.
Like many in his community, he suffered mental health difficulties. According to research by the National Suicide Research Foundation in UCC, Traveller men have a “6.6 times more risk to suicide than settled men”.
There is copious research the world over on the increased risk of people in marginalised communities engaging in crime. John Ward was one such individual. His background is not an excuse for criminal behaviour and the vast majority, of those who grow up in marginalised communities are law-abiding.
But equally, it could be posited that had he been born in different circumstances he would have taken a different path.
He had a string of convictions, some for violent behaviour. On the day he died, October 14, 2004, he showed up at the Nally farm in the company of his son, Tom. There is every likelihood that he was intent on robbery. The property would have been targeted on the basis of its isolated location and the knowledge that Mr Nally lived there alone most of the time.
Padraig Nally was a textbook case of somebody suffering the worst ravages of rural isolation. His sister lived with him in the home they grew up in but she was away in Ballina during the week. Their parents had died in the decade preceding the events of October 2004.
He had been robbed before and lived in fear of a recurrence. He kept his shotgun in his bedroom but came to the conclusion that robbers could overpower him and use the gun against him. So he removed it to a shed.
In the months before October 2004, he spent many long hours, including during the night, in the shed with the gun, awaiting intruders.
On the day in question, he came out into his farmyard and saw John Ward.
Padraig Nally located his shotgun and shot Ward at close range, resulting in the Traveller sustaining injuries to his hand and hip.
Mr Nally then grabbed a stick and beat the injured man up to 10 times with it.
Ward tried to flee. Nally followed him down a lane and shot him again, this time through the back of the skull.
The state pathologist told a murder trial that the shot was on a downward trajectory, suggesting that Ward was crouched or crawling away at the time.
At the subsequent trial, Nally was found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter. The presiding judge told the jury the facts were such that they had to find him guilty of one of the two offences. He was sentenced to six years in prison.
An appeal court found the judge should have allowed the possibility of a not guilty verdict. Nally was retried on the manslaughter charge and found not guilty.
At the second trial, which I attended, there was a constant stream of people approaching him offering support. It was obvious that some felt the killing was justified, irrespective of the victim having been shot in the back of the head as he was fleeing.
Nally didn’t take lightly the fact that he had killed another human being. “It was a tragic event in my life, “ he told the later.
He said: “I think about it every day. My mind takes me through the events as they unfolded.
Irrespective of how John Ward conducted himself, he did not deserve to die, shot as he crawled away in fear for his life. His 11 children did not deserve to grow up fatherless.
What occurred was a tragedy, but at the time it was used instead among a cohort as an exhibit to confirm base prejudices against a marginalised community.
Some will point to the Travelling community and comment that many among them are big on rights but go missing when it comes to responsibilities to wider society. Such an accusation could be directed at all levels of society in different ways, including at some among those born with the greatest advantages.
What is really at issue is prejudices as old as the hills that have not, as evidenced by the reaction on RIP.ie, been shaken despite great developments in this society in recent decades.
Would the reaction to the events of October 2004 have been the same if John Ward was not a Traveller? How would the reaction differ if a member of the Travelling community had shot dead a settled person who was trespassing?
All of these matters were aired at the time. Now, 20 years later, in marking the passing of a man at the end of life’s natural span, some use the occasion to spit bile at Travellers rather than simply remember Nally as one who was caught up in a dreadful situation.
In recent years this country has seen the rise of hatred directed towards asylum seekers. The language that used is designed to dehumanise people who arrive here, some of whom have fled desperate and life-threatening circumstances. Broadly it is considered a new phenomenon.
In reality, it’s just different targets.
The depth of that prejudice was starkly illustrated this week by the disfigurement of a forum designed to comfort the bereaved and remember the life of a recently deceased person.