Paula Farrell's murder trial ends without a verdict

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

A jury failed to reach a verdict in Paula Farrell's murder trial at the Central Criminal Court. The proceedings were reported on 29 July 2019.

Farrell pleaded not guilty to murdering her boyfriend, Wayne McQuillan, but guilty to his manslaughter. He was killed at her home in Drogheda on 1 January 2014.

She admitted stabbing McQuillan four times and asked for a manslaughter verdict, alleging that he had provoked her by raping and trying to strangle her. She testified that he had tried to have sex with her against her wishes and had started strangling her before she went to the kitchen for a knife.

Prosecutor Gerard Clarke SC said Farrell had told a “big lie” about being raped and was using child sex abuse as an excuse for murder. The defence said the latter was never the case. A forensic psychiatrist said Farrell had post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of childhood abuse at the time she killed McQuillan.

The trial heard that an ambulance was delayed and McQuillan was taken to hospital in a garda car. The pathologist testified that prompt medical attention would have given him a reasonable expectation of survival.

The jury retired to consider its verdict on 26 July 2019. After more than four hours, Ms Justice Carmel Stewart gave jurors the option of a majority verdict. After almost five hours, they remained unable to agree and the foreperson recorded “Disagreed” on the issue paper. The judge remanded Farrell in custody until 21 October, when the case was to appear in the court's list to fix trial dates.