A man who was given the Probation Act from court after shooting a farmer in a row over a right-of-way is to have his sentence appealed by the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Donegal man PJ Friel was charged with assault and discharging a firearm at farmer Gerard Sweeney.

Sweeney was hospitalised as a result of the attack, which resulted in him being shot in the face.

Friel (48) of Ballynakillew, Churchill, was charged with the offences on 3 January 2015.

Friel was given the benefit of the Probation Act by Judge John O’Hagan on the charges of assault and the discharge of a firearm when he appeared at Buncrana Circuit Court.

The DPP had recommended that Friel be trialled by jury.

Firearms seized

Judge John O’Hagan applied the Probation Act “in the hope that it diffuses the situation”.

The judge also ordered that three firearms belonging to Friel be seized and disposed of.

Judge O’Hagan said: “As they say in Alice In Wonderland, hopefully they will all live happily ever after.

“In light of what has happened, the poison is out of the chalice. In my view, this is the fairest way to discharge the matter.”

It was a very unfortunate affair, brought about in the heat of the moment. A pellet went into Mr Sweeney’s eye and he has had difficulty with that.

Friel faced a possible five years imprisonment for the two charges.

The first was a Section 3 assault under the Non-Fatal Offences Against The Persons Act.

The second was that he did discharge a firearm being reckless as to whether any person was injured or not contrary to Section 8 of the Firearms Offenses Weapons Act 1990.

Judge O’Hagan said: “Mr Sweeney brought a digger into the land and was preparing what he considered a right of way to which he thought he was entitled.

’This is my land’

“He was seen by Mr Friel and Mr Friel saw red. He thought: ‘This is my land. He has no right to do that’. There had been a disagreement before and this led to the final straw.

“Mr Friel took the law into his own hands. He had a shotgun and discharged a cartridge past the digger and Mr Sweeney was injured.”

However, the DPP has now applied to have the case and the leniency of the sentence appealed.

No date has yet been set for the appeal hearing, which will be heard at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Dublin.