‘He took his gun with him’ - Weeks of threatening phone calls led to rural Kerry stand-off, court hears
A jury at Tralee Circuit Court has heard that weeks of threatening phone calls culminated in members of the Garda Armed Support Unit positioning themselves in the mountains around a south Kerry property only to see the accused walking down the mountain with a black lamb cradled in his arm.John Foley (57), formerly of Tullig, Kenmare, pleaded not guilty to three charges of threatening to kill or cause serious harm to Pat Harney and a charge of criminal damage.There were three alleged incidents at the beginning of the pandemic at Mr Harney’s residence in Kilgarvan, the court heard. The third threat directed at him was made to Mr Foley’s former partner, Margaret ‘Peggy’ Delaney, at their rural residence in Tullig, Kenmare.The court heard that Ms Delaney and the defendant, Mr Foley, had children together and lived together at the time, but Ms Delaney said they were not in a relationship at that time.Taking the stand, Pat Harney (64) explained how he knew Mr Foley from working on a site together and knew Ms Delaney from installing, and occasionally repairing, broadband in their family house.Mr Harney testified that he received a brief phone call from an unknown number on the morning of March 12, 2020, while driving.“He told me, he’d kill me and burn the house,” said Mr Harney.When asked if the caller said why he had made the threat, Mr Harney responded, “It’s so long ago”.The court heard he received another call on the morning of March 22, 2020 where he alleged Mr Foley told him, “It’s time to get the petrol”.Mr Harney said he was on a ladder installing surveillance cameras at 2.35pm when he received a third phone call from Mr Foley, who said in a low voice, “cameras won’t save you at all”.Mr Harney testified that there was “a clattering and banging” and he found cream-coloured paint strewn across the footpath, door and wall of his house.Read more‘They do everything together’ - Identical twins sentenced to community service“I rang the gardaí at that stage,” said Mr Harney. “I said, ‘Jesus, this is getting out of hand, it’s gone too far altogether’.”On April 2, he said three gardaí came to his house from Kenmare and they escorted him out of Kilgarvan for his safety.Barrister for the defence Katie O’Connell, instructed by solicitor Eimear Griffin, questioned his relationship with Ms Delaney.Mr Harney explained he was divorced years before 2020 and maintained he had no relationship with Ms Delaney until “many, many” months after the threats.He said she cleaned his house about once a week and he had given her a key because he was usually out when she came.Ms O’Connell questioned why he had “completely wiped out” Ms Delaney from his initial testimony, although he had previously told gardaí that threats related to their friendship.“No,” he replied. “This is about me on the day he threatened me with my life. He was thinking there was something happening with me and Peggy.”Ms Delaney began her testimony by stating she was in a relationship with Mr Foley from 1999 to Christmas 2018, when they “finished as a couple” due to an unrelated event.She confirmed Mr Harney was seldom at his house while she cleaned, adding he would phone her afterwards with thanks.She said Mr Foley’s jealousy was “irrelevant” because they were not a couple.“We were in the same house because I couldn’t go,” she said.Mr Foley willingly drove her to Mr Harney’s house to clean, even as his jealousy grew, she claimed. But, at one point, she said Mr Foley claimed someone ‘owed him a favour’ and he planned to have Mr Harney assaulted.Ms Delaney said her former partner nicknamed Mr Harney ‘lover boy’ and deliberately made the threatening calls from the kitchen so she would overhear.Mr Foley referred to her by a range of misogynistic slurs, she told the court. As she listed these insults, she began to cry and recalled how his demeanour changed before others.Read moreWoman charged with stealing nearly €90k from Bord GáisShe told the court he had promised to “sort Pat out once and for all” and threatened suicide, while alleging she would be responsible for his death.She alleged Mr Foley was “fuming” on the morning of April 2, 2020 and threatened to murder Mr Harney before driving away.“That day, when he went out of the door, he was going killing Pat and he took the gun with him, a big rifle with a scope on it,” she said, “He had it on his shoulder.”Before Mr Foley left, she alleges he threw a carving knife “across the kitchen” at her and threw a steel knife onto the floor, which stuck between her feet.Once he was gone, she rang a garda in Kenmare and emergency services.“I truly believed he was going to kill Pat,” she testified.She later left the house with two female relatives, including a child.In cross-examination, she explained that she had sought Mr Foley’s permission to clean for Mr Harney because it made life “easier” in their “volatile house”.“John and I were not together,” she said. “We were living in the same house. But John still believed he had some, I don’t know, rights over me or something.”Her brothers, Patrick Joseph ‘PJ’ Delaney and John Delaney, testified they drove to Kilgarvan looking for Mr Foley on March 22.PJ Delaney said he found the defendant’s vehicle parked ‘just above’ Jackie Healy-Rae’s Bar on what is known as ‘the bog road’ at about 3.30pm.Mr Foley drove off when they approached him.On the second day of the court hearing, testimony moved on to the culmination of events.The court heard that the Garda Armed Support Unit, based in Limerick and Cork, was called to Mr Foley’s property on April 2 after he left the house with his rifle. Eight gardaí positioned themselves around the property, said Sergeant Ian Kelly.“They arrived unseen, as well, from Tralee and took up positions just below the house marked as John Foley’s,” Sgt Kelly told the jury.After numerous calls, contact was made with Mr Foley by 3.30pm.On the property, gardaí recovered a wallet and licensed firearms, including a .243 rifle found under a trailer, a shotgun in a gun safe and a .22 rifle at PJ Delaney’s.In cross-examination, Sgt Kelly described watching Mr Foley walk down the mountain with a black object in the crook of his arm.To onlookers’ relief, it turned out to be a lamb.Garda James Hendrick testified that he saw paint “splattered” on the footpath, front door and wall of Mr Harney’s house on March 22.Read moreHow gang foot soldier targeted neighbour who was in dispute with Hennessy brothersMr Foley watched every testimony from the dock.He did not go under oath but his two gardaí interviews from weeks following the events were read in court.In the first, he said Mr Harney texted and rang Ms Delaney “every five minutes”.He admitted to throwing a quarter gallon of paint from his car onto Mr Harney’s driveway and that, on April 2, he broke a coffee mug in anger before leaving for work.“I got my gun, as I do every morning,” he said, “I got the bales of hay, I fed the horses in Kilgarvan, I feed the sheep in Tullig.”He told gardaí he had “about 20” missed calls that day from an unidentified number but never answers unknown callers.“And where I was, I was with the sheep,” he said.He admitted to calling Mr Harney.“I didn’t threaten anyone, I just said, ‘please, I wanted to keep the family together’,” he told gardaí. “I’d say Peggy panicked when I left the house when I was in a bad mood.”In his concluding remarks, Barrister Rice reminded the jury that conviction was a question of Mr Foley’s intent to make others believe he would execute the alleged threats.Barrister O’Connell concluded by saying Mr Foley had gone to work, as usual, to tend the flock near his home.“He comes down the mountain from his sheep and what does he have in his hands?” she asked. “A lamb. Is that what we’re trying to kill people with these days?”The jury will deliberate on Friday after a statement from Judge Alec Gabbett.Funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme
