John Tighe to remain in prison for murdering infant son after appeal is rejected

John Tighe of Lavallyroe, Ballyhaunis, County Mayo, will serve the remainder of his mandatory life sentence after the Court of Appeal rejected his challenge to his conviction for murdering his infant son. In March 2018, a jury unanimously found Tighe guilty of the murder of six-and-a-half-month-old Joshua in June 2013. The child died from asphyxiation caused by a wad of tissue that became lodged in his airway. Tighe's appeal, heard in late 2022, centred on the admissibility of evidence from a postmortem examination. The trial judge had permitted the court to hear extracts from a pathology report prepared by a medical examiner who was unavailable to attend trial for cross-examination. Instead, a second pathologist presented evidence based on those findings through video link testimony, which the defence contended breached fair trial protections. Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy ruled that the postmortem report constituted a factual record properly admitted within legal boundaries. The court found no unfairness in its admission, particularly because the expert evidence derived from those findings remained subject to rigorous cross-examination before the jury. The judge noted that the evidence presented through the alternative pathologist was supported by independent medical assessment. During trial, prosecution evidence established that a child of Joshua's age could not have independently formed or swallowed such material. The defence maintained that Tighe's account of discovering the choking incident while attending to the infant's care represented an accident. The jury's unanimous verdict followed seven and a half hours of deliberation. The conviction and life sentence therefore stand. This case represents a significant outcome in Irish criminal law regarding the admission of expert evidence where original witnesses are unavailable for cross-examination at trial.