"Gross negligence" conviction for shooting wife dead is upheld

The Court of Appeal has upheld the conviction and sentence of Oliver Kierans, a man from Bailieborough, County Cavan, for the manslaughter of his wife Patricia in September 2013. Kierans had appealed against both his conviction and the nine-year custodial sentence imposed at trial, but the appellate court rejected his submissions on 12 April 2019. Kierans was found guilty by majority jury verdict of manslaughter by gross negligence rather than murder following a trial at the Central Criminal Court in 2015. The fatal shooting occurred at the couple's family home on 5 September 2013, after their marriage of thirty-three years had deteriorated and Patricia had separated from Kierans and begun a new relationship. He was acquitted of the murder charge but convicted additionally of unlawful possession of a sawn-off shotgun and of pointing the weapon at a member of An Garda Síochána at a public house in Bailieborough during a subsequent incident. At sentencing, Ms Justice Aileen Donnelly imposed concurrent terms totalling nine years imprisonment. The appellate panel, presided over by Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy, found that the trial judge had properly instructed the jury on the relevant law and that the sentencing fell within the appropriate range for the offences committed. The court declined to afford greater weight to personal circumstances in mitigation, taking account of Kierans's moral culpability, particularly concerning the incident involving the armed garda. The decision affirms both the conviction and proportionality of the sentence handed down in 2015.