By Paddy Clancy

Freed farmer Padraig Nally has said just days after his acquittal of the manslaughter of a traveler trespassing on his farm that, given similar circumstances, he would consider doing the same again.

The 62-year-old bachelor was acquitted by a jury that took almost three days considering its verdict at the end of a retrial ordered earlier this year when Nally was jailed for six years for the manslaughter of father-of-11 John “Frog” Ward.

The re-trial was ordered after a ruling that the first trial judge erred in not giving the jury the option of finding Nally not guilty, that they had to decide that he was either guilty of murder or manslaughter.

Controversy again greeted the latest decision. Nally’s supporters -- backed by a majority of middle-Ireland, according to snap opinion polls -- say he was justly acquitted because he was in fear of his life and was defending himself and his property when he discharged a shotgun at Ward.

Critics of the decision, including the dead man’s family, have argued that justice has not been served and that the decision underlines their view that society has one law for itself and another for the traveler community.

Nally, who returned to his farm at Cross, Co. Mayo, the day after the verdict, said, “If it happened all over again, I would consider doing the same thing. You’d have to consider it.

“I’m not looking forward to Christmas and I’m not looking forward to the New Year. I have a worried mind.

“I’m lucky I had the shotgun in the shed that day. I would have been found dead otherwise.

“I have a heart problem which was brought on by all of this and I will be on medication for the rest of my life. But it’s better that I’m on medication than to be dead.”

Ward’s brother, Jimmy, said travelers now believe they cannot get a fair trial in Ireland.

“If I went to a farmer's house today and knocked on the front door and nobody answers, I go to the back door and a man comes out with a gun and shoots me in the backyard. He'll say tomorrow I was there to rob the house and he'll get off,” the brother said.

Ward’s widow Marie, who has married a Ghanaian-born asylum seeker since the incident two years ago, has said she intends to pursue a civil action for compensation against Nally.