A retired farmer who accidentally shot a five-year-old schoolboy in the head escaped a prison sentence today.
Fergus Cleary (73) was fined £5,000 at Omagh Crown Court, Co Tyrone, after an incident which left the child critically ill and needing three operations to remove bullet fragments and repair the damage.
Darragh Somers was shot in April 2005 when he was playing with friends in the schoolyard at St Patrick's Primary School near Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh.
Cleary had pleaded guilty to maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm.
Cleary, who attended the school at Mullanaskea himself and had been a past vice-chairman of the board of governors, said nothing during the hour-long hearing today.
He lives close to the school at Ballydoolagh Road.
