Less than one month before Chrissie Treacy was run over by a teleporter driven by her nephew Michael Scott, a care worker had concerns for Ms Treacy’s welfare arising out of ongoing difficulties between Mr Scott and Ms Treacy over land, the Central Criminal Court has heard.
Susan Keane told Mr Scott’s trial that after telling her co-ordinator of her concerns she sent an email to her employers telling them that she would have to move on from her duties at Ms Treacy’s home because it was inconvenient, she no longer wanted to be in that environment and she found it “draining”.
Another care worker told the trial that she once heard Mr Scott using a loud voice and banging the table during an argument with Ms Treacy. Caitriona Starr also said that less than two hours before her death Ms Treacy was in “good form”, listening to “jazzy music” on her kitchen radio and looking forward to going shopping with her friend Regina Donohue.
The trial also heard that Ms Keane had remarked to Mr Scott “it was strange” that Ms Treacy’s missing dog Bradley got out of her home when the doors were locked, while the local priest had prayed at Mass for Bradley’s safe return.
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It is the prosecution case that Michael Scott deliberately ran over Ms Treacy following a long-running dispute over land. Mr Scott (58) of Gortanumera, Portumna, Co Galway, has pleaded not guilty to her murder on April 27th, 2018, outside her home in Derryhiney, Portumna. The defence says that Ms Treacy’s death was a tragic accident.
Ms Keane became upset when she told prosecution counsel Dean Kelly SC about the day Ms Treacy’s beloved dog Bradley “vanished off the face of the earth” on February 23rd, 2018, about two months before her death. Ms Keane was with Ms Treacy that morning until a bus arrived to bring Ms Treacy to a daycare centre.
Bradley would usually be lying on a cushion in the kitchen or sitting on a cushion under the range and before leaving Ms Treacy would tell him: “Bye Bradley! Mind the house.” As they left that morning, Ms Keane said the door of the house was locked and Bradley was inside. He was missing when Ms Treacy returned home that evening. The following morning Ms Treacy was “utterly devastated”, the witness said. “She was grieving for her best friend. She was very upset, he had just vanished off the face of the earth basically.”
Ms Keane spoke to Ms Treacy about an alarm pendant that she wore around her neck because, she said, Ms Treacy was “obviously afraid”. The locks on Ms Treacy’s doors were changed after that and an alarm system with cameras was installed. Some time after Bradley went missing Ms Keane said to Michael Scott that “it was strange” that Bradley got out when the doors were locked.
She said Mr Scott told her that Bradley had been in the yard 15 minutes before the bus arrived to take Ms Treacy to daycare. Ms Keane said she was at the house throughout that time and did not think Bradley had been in the yard.
Ms Keane also noticed that up until a few months before Ms Treacy’s death, Mr Scott would take his aunt’s rubbish away but that had stopped and it was piling up in the yard. Mr Scott’s wife had also stopped taking Ms Treacy to daycare, she said. On one occasion, Ms Keane was trying to encourage Ms Treacy to be more active by walking outside her home but, she said, Ms Treacy “didn’t want to go out in case Michael was there”.
On March 23rd, 2018, just over one month before Ms Treacy’s death, Ms Keane spoke to her co-ordinator at Family Carers Ireland about concerns she had “arising from ongoing difficulties between Chrissie and Michael Scott over land”.
She said she had concerns for Ms Treacy’s welfare. Her co-ordinator, she said, was grateful and thanked her for her concern. About three weeks later, Ms Keane emailed her employers telling them that she was going to have to move on from her duties with Ms Treacy, saying she no longer wanted to be in that environment and she found it draining.
Caitriona Starr told Mr Kelly that she started caring for Ms Treacy in 2016, doing light housework and preparing her dinner. Ms Starr noticed “tension” between Mr Scott and Ms Treacy in the year or two before her death and she knew that the tension was “around the issue of land”.
About six months before Ms Treacy died, Ms Starr heard Mr Scott arguing with Ms Treacy. He left when Ms Starr arrived but said something to her about land as he left. Ms Treacy was “quite upset”, Ms Starr said.
When asked how she knew they had been arguing, Ms Starr said: “I could hear his loud voice and I heard him banging on the table.” On the day that Ms Treacy died, Ms Starr called to Ms Treacy’s home at about 1.50pm. She had her dinner and a cup of tea with two biscuits that had been bought by Ms Treacy’s friend Regina Donohue.
“Regina used to buy cheap biscuits in Aldi and she used to call them mouldy biscuits but she still ate them,” Ms Starr said. As Ms Starr was leaving at 2.17pm, she recalled that Ms Treacy was listening to “jazzy music” on Galway Bay FM and waiting for Ms Donohue to take her shopping.
The trial continues on Tuesday in front of Ms Justice Caroline Biggs and a jury of seven men and eight women.