HomeIreland‘He was never the same man. It shattered his peace of mind’ – 20 years after Padraig Nally shot dead trespasser at his home, ripples from case are still felt (paywall)
‘He was never the same man. It shattered his peace of mind’ – 20 years after Padraig Nally shot dead trespasser at his home, ripples from case are still felt (paywall)
October 14, 2024
‘He was never the same man. It shattered his peace of mind’ – 20 years after Padraig Nally shot dead trespasser at his home, ripples from case are still felt (paywall)
This man was failed by our society. Repeated attacks on his home by the same few, and when he eventually took the law into his own hands, he was jailed.
Career criminals with no fear of the law continuously harassing and causing fear.
Edit: to add some context. John ward had 80 convictions and 38 court appearances. He should not have been a free man.
Nally was harassed by the same few for a prolonged period.
He took to sleeping in his hay shed out of fear his house would be raided at night.
A bachelor farmer, who said in an interview he had nothing but the house over his head, that his parents left to him when they passed away.
I often think about him and the hand he was dealt.
I wonder, did home invasions drop after this incident? Does the fear of death / being shot dissuade intruders?
I remember this. Poor man. Repeatedly terrorised by the usual suspects. They deserved what they got. Perfect example of FAFO.
He should have gotten a medal
Fella is an absolute legend where I used to live.
There was a very similar case in England, Tony Martin was his name, whose farm kept being burglarised by members of a criminal family. One night, he stayed up late and shot them, one dead. I’m not saying he was right, but he was an autistic man, living by himself and had absolutely no support from his community or the police for the previous burglaries. It’s no wonder he took matters into his own hands.
He defended himself & his home. Where were the Gardaí while he was getting harassed?
He did society a favour
Nally for President
A legend of this country.
If you don’t want to get shot dead, don’t go trespassing other peoples homes!
The gardai didnt do their job so he did it for them, fair play to him.
John Ward was a 43-year-old with approximately 80 convictions from 38 separate court appearances and had convictions for burglary, larceny and assault. John “Frog” Ward had twice been committed to hospital for psychiatric treatment. In 1999, he threatened a barman with a Stanley knife. Ward attacked a car with a slash hook while a woman and two children were inside. Ward had threatened Gardaí in an incident in May 2002 and with a slash, in April 2002. At the time of his death he was facing charges of attacking Gardaí with a slash hook.
Sounds like an outstanding member of society /s
I’d have done the exact same thing if I were in his shoes
I met Padraig quite a few times when I lived in the area about a decade ago. A very quiet man, always smelled of turf from the fire, kept to himself. My opinions on the case definitely solidified after getting to know him. Can’t imagine the fear he had been living in.
So according the law he is supposed to just sit around while waiting for them to come back. They might as well ask him to hold a welcome party for th each time
Scumbags. The man did the world a favour that day. And spent his life in fear for it.
The fact he was put in jail is a stain on our country. If an elderly man isn’t safe in his own farm house then we really have lost our way. That those bastards were allowed to terrorise him the way they did and are allowed to do the same to others like him.. it just beggars belief.
It’s not just a question of more Garda it says something terrible about our society that we tolerate this.
Should have been given an award not jailed.
Of course no consequences for the judge who blatantly lied to the jury and told them they weren’t allowed find him innocent. Absolute miscarriage of justice. It seems strange that undermining the idea of jury like that doesn’t at least lead to dismissal.
If there’s one good part of this story, its how the community rallied around Padraig. Anytime he needed to go in to town, there’d be someone with him to keep an eye out for any of that criminal’s family coming for revenge.
It hasn’t been the last time something like this has happened, there was also that Brazilian Deliveroo rider who was acquitted of killing Josh Dunne in I would say similar circumstances of self defence and defending their property.
And all of this is caused by the lax attitude of our gardaí/judiciary. They wait until the problem explodes and there’s a body on the ground before they intervene.
Ireland desperately needs stand your ground laws.
Every time there’s a case like this where a victim harms an aggressor. The state is overly obsessed with the victims use of violence to protect themselves as opposed to the violence used by the aggressor .
If you enter a persons home with the express intent of carrying out a crime. Then I am not worried about that persons rights. I am worried about the safety and security of the victim.
I used to have a shotgun and a rifle, and I took a year out to go travelling, sold the guns and by the time I came back and decided to buy new ones this had all happened and things had changed quite a bit, I guess they always wanted to tighten up gun laws but this was definitely the excuse they were looking for, it’s still possible to get guns but there’s so much hassle involved that you really need to be big into shooting to justify it and not be like me just a casual shooter who just liked going target practicing and clay pigeon shooting 1 or 2 times a month, I didn’t bother getting them in the end.
Legend
A man of integrity who did the right thing to protect his home even though he knew what would happen. Guys a hero.
From the article: Padraig Nally lived alone and he lived in fear. He had been targeted by thieves previously and was so convinced he would be again that he spent hours every day sitting beside a shotgun in his shed waiting for them to return. Every time he left the house he emptied a bucket of water over the soil at his gate in order to record footprints or tyre prints of anyone who came. He told gardaí he became afraid and panicky and could not sleep after a new chainsaw was stolen from his farm in February 2004, eight months before the killing.He also told gardaí he used to cry on Sunday nights when his sister Maureen would leave the house to return to her job in Ballina.He became so worried about being burgled and attacked in his home that it consumed him. He intended to protect himself and his property.
This needs to be a movie, would be a modern-day The Field
Pity he didn’t finish the whole family off.
Pádraig Nally was a man tormented and driven to an extreme action that wouldn’t have been necessary had either his tormentors been afraid of the consequences of their actions (ie a swift, decisive trial and a guaranteed significant amount of prison time) or the legislation supported the use of lethal force in cases like this one.
But, unfortunately, we have created a country which has allowed cabals of robbers and thugs to prey upon elderly people in isolated rural areas. How many stories have there been, since the McNally case, where elderly men and women living alone on farms in rural areas have been brutalised by thugs only for those same criminals to disappear without fear of prosecution?
In the two years of his life, my widowed grandfather, who lived alone for 13 years until his death at 97, was terrified that the robbers who had broken into his house a few years previously would return in the middle of the night, take his few previous belongings and kill him. As a result he went to bed every night wearing a coat with three shotgun shells in each pocket and the gun rested by the bedside lockers. No elderly person should have to live in that state of fear.
29 comments
This man was failed by our society. Repeated attacks on his home by the same few, and when he eventually took the law into his own hands, he was jailed.
Career criminals with no fear of the law continuously harassing and causing fear.
Edit: to add some context. John ward had 80 convictions and 38 court appearances. He should not have been a free man.
Nally was harassed by the same few for a prolonged period.
He took to sleeping in his hay shed out of fear his house would be raided at night.
A bachelor farmer, who said in an interview he had nothing but the house over his head, that his parents left to him when they passed away.
I often think about him and the hand he was dealt.
I wonder, did home invasions drop after this incident? Does the fear of death / being shot dissuade intruders?
I remember this. Poor man. Repeatedly terrorised by the usual suspects. They deserved what they got. Perfect example of FAFO.
He should have gotten a medal
Fella is an absolute legend where I used to live.
There was a very similar case in England, Tony Martin was his name, whose farm kept being burglarised by members of a criminal family. One night, he stayed up late and shot them, one dead. I’m not saying he was right, but he was an autistic man, living by himself and had absolutely no support from his community or the police for the previous burglaries. It’s no wonder he took matters into his own hands.
He defended himself & his home. Where were the Gardaí while he was getting harassed?
He did society a favour
Nally for President
A legend of this country.
If you don’t want to get shot dead, don’t go trespassing other peoples homes!
The gardai didnt do their job so he did it for them, fair play to him.
John Ward was a 43-year-old with approximately 80 convictions from 38 separate court appearances and had convictions for burglary, larceny and assault. John “Frog” Ward had twice been committed to hospital for psychiatric treatment. In 1999, he threatened a barman with a Stanley knife. Ward attacked a car with a slash hook while a woman and two children were inside. Ward had threatened Gardaí in an incident in May 2002 and with a slash, in April 2002. At the time of his death he was facing charges of attacking Gardaí with a slash hook.
Sounds like an outstanding member of society /s
I’d have done the exact same thing if I were in his shoes
I met Padraig quite a few times when I lived in the area about a decade ago. A very quiet man, always smelled of turf from the fire, kept to himself. My opinions on the case definitely solidified after getting to know him. Can’t imagine the fear he had been living in.
So according the law he is supposed to just sit around while waiting for them to come back. They might as well ask him to hold a welcome party for th each time
Scumbags. The man did the world a favour that day. And spent his life in fear for it.
The fact he was put in jail is a stain on our country. If an elderly man isn’t safe in his own farm house then we really have lost our way.
That those bastards were allowed to terrorise him the way they did and are allowed to do the same to others like him.. it just beggars belief.
It’s not just a question of more Garda it says something terrible about our society that we tolerate this.
Should have been given an award not jailed.
Of course no consequences for the judge who blatantly lied to the jury and told them they weren’t allowed find him innocent. Absolute miscarriage of justice. It seems strange that undermining the idea of jury like that doesn’t at least lead to dismissal.
If there’s one good part of this story, its how the community rallied around Padraig. Anytime he needed to go in to town, there’d be someone with him to keep an eye out for any of that criminal’s family coming for revenge.
It hasn’t been the last time something like this has happened, there was also that Brazilian Deliveroo rider who was acquitted of killing Josh Dunne in I would say similar circumstances of self defence and defending their property.
And all of this is caused by the lax attitude of our gardaí/judiciary. They wait until the problem explodes and there’s a body on the ground before they intervene.
Ireland desperately needs stand your ground laws.
Every time there’s a case like this where a victim harms an aggressor. The state is overly obsessed with the victims use of violence to protect themselves as opposed to the violence used by the aggressor .
If you enter a persons home with the express intent of carrying out a crime. Then I am not worried about that persons rights. I am worried about the safety and security of the victim.
I used to have a shotgun and a rifle, and I took a year out to go travelling, sold the guns and by the time I came back and decided to buy new ones this had all happened and things had changed quite a bit, I guess they always wanted to tighten up gun laws but this was definitely the excuse they were looking for, it’s still possible to get guns but there’s so much hassle involved that you really need to be big into shooting to justify it and not be like me just a casual shooter who just liked going target practicing and clay pigeon shooting 1 or 2 times a month, I didn’t bother getting them in the end.
Legend
A man of integrity who did the right thing to protect his home even though he knew what would happen. Guys a hero.
From the article:
Padraig Nally lived alone and he lived in fear. He had been targeted by thieves previously and was so convinced he would be again that he spent hours every day sitting beside a shotgun in his shed waiting for them to return. Every time he left the house he emptied a bucket of water over the soil at his gate in order to record footprints or tyre prints of anyone who came. He told gardaí he became afraid and panicky and could not sleep after a new chainsaw was stolen from his farm in February 2004, eight months before the killing.He also told gardaí he used to cry on Sunday nights when his sister Maureen would leave the house to return to her job in Ballina.He became so worried about being burgled and attacked in his home that it consumed him. He intended to protect himself and his property.
This needs to be a movie, would be a modern-day The Field
Pity he didn’t finish the whole family off.
Pádraig Nally was a man tormented and driven to an extreme action that wouldn’t have been necessary had either his tormentors been afraid of the consequences of their actions (ie a swift, decisive trial and a guaranteed significant amount of prison time) or the legislation supported the use of lethal force in cases like this one.
But, unfortunately, we have created a country which has allowed cabals of robbers and thugs to prey upon elderly people in isolated rural areas. How many stories have there been, since the McNally case, where elderly men and women living alone on farms in rural areas have been brutalised by thugs only for those same criminals to disappear without fear of prosecution?
In the two years of his life, my widowed grandfather, who lived alone for 13 years until his death at 97, was terrified that the robbers who had broken into his house a few years previously would return in the middle of the night, take his few previous belongings and kill him. As a result he went to bed every night wearing a coat with three shotgun shells in each pocket and the gun rested by the bedside lockers. No elderly person should have to live in that state of fear.