The Court of Appeal has quashed Stephen Cahoon's conviction for the murder of Jean Quigley in Derry and ordered that he be retried after finding a critical error in the trial judge's directions on provocation.
Cahoon was convicted in May 2012 of murdering Ms Quigley at her Derry home on 26 July 2008. The Central Criminal Court trial took place in Ireland under the Criminal Law (Jurisdiction) Act 1976. Cahoon admitted killing her but denied murder, arguing that he lacked the necessary intention or, alternatively, that he had been provoked.
Ms Quigley, who had been in a relationship with Cahoon, was ten weeks pregnant with his child. Cahoon testified that during an argument she told him the baby was not his and that she intended to have an abortion. He said he then "lost it", grabbed her and strangled her.
The trial judge initially gave a correct explanation of provocation as a sudden and complete loss of control. However, after defence lawyers sought further clarification, the judge recalled the jury and told them that if provocation existed, murderous intent was absent because the accused was no longer capable of rational thought.
The Court of Appeal held that this was legally wrong. Provocation is a separate issue from intent: a person may intend to kill or cause serious injury and still have murder reduced to manslaughter if the prosecution fails to disprove provocation beyond reasonable doubt.
The court stressed that provocation was the principal issue at trial. Because the incorrect direction was given in a short recharge immediately before the jury resumed deliberations, the court could not safely conclude that it had no effect on the verdict.
A separate factual error by the judge about Cahoon not having been questioned by Gardaí was found not to have prejudiced him, while a complaint that the overall charge was unbalanced was rejected.
The murder conviction was quashed and a retrial ordered.