A person who beat his companion’s mom to demise and chopped up and scattered her physique across the Dublin and Wicklow mountains could have been subjected to a “sluggish burn provocation” much like that suffered by victims of home abuse, a lawyer has advised the Court docket of Enchantment.
ieran Greene’s legal professionals argued that the jury at his trial ought to have been allowed to think about that Patricia O’Connor provoked Greene into killing her by assaulting him and threatening his youngsters following years of difficulties between the pair.
Mrs O’Connor’s siblings, buddies, work colleagues and her son Richard O’Connor denied after the trial that she would have mentioned the issues Kieran Greene claimed. They accused him of “spiteful lies” and mentioned they have been damage by how her character was “cruelly tarnished” by what he mentioned.
Her siblings wrote in an announcement to the court docket: “The individuals who actually knew her, her sisters, brothers, buddies, work colleagues, her neighbours, will defend her type, caring, loving nature; a jolly girl who sang out loud as she went about her day.”
At as we speak’s listening to earlier than the three-judge appeals court docket, Dominic McGinn SC, representing Greene, mentioned that in his first garda interviews Greene claimed that earlier than the killing Mrs O’Connor attacked him, leaving him shocked and dazed. Greene mentioned she advised him she wished him lifeless after which went via all of the members of the family, together with Greene’s youngsters, saying she wished all of them lifeless.
Mr McGinn advised the court docket the “historical past of animus” between them had left Greene in an identical place to a sufferer of home abuse, the place the cumulative impact of years of abuse may end up in a comparatively small occasion resulting in a complete lack of self-control.
Mr McGinn mentioned the story advised by Greene “constructed up an image that the deceased was a relentless thorn in his facet and the ultimate straw included speaking about his youngsters and what she would do to them”.
Counsel mentioned the thrust of what Greene had advised gardaí was that he was shocked when she attacked him, that he was dazed, and that his violence was spontaneous.
In circumstances the place a jury is allowed to think about provocation, they will discover the accused responsible of manslaughter as a substitute of homicide in the event that they discover it’s fairly potential that the accused was provoked by the deceased right into a sudden and complete lack of self-control.
In Greene’s trial the decide refused to permit the jury to think about provocation, saying there was no proof Greene had suffered a complete lack of self-control.
Mr McGinn mentioned the decide was flawed. He mentioned there was sufficient proof from Greene’s garda interviews to recommend he was provoked and it ought to have been left to the jury to make the ultimate resolution.
In February 2020 the deceased’s daughter, Louise O’Connor, her granddaughter Stephanie O’Connor and Stephanie’s father Keith Johnston have been every discovered responsible of impeding the apprehension or prosecution of Greene, who’s Louise’s former companion.
Mrs O’Connor’s husband Gus O’Connor, who’s now deceased, pleaded responsible to reporting his spouse lacking to gardaí whereas realizing she was already lifeless.
At this time Mr McGinn argued that Greene mustn’t have been placed on trial alongside Louise, Stephanie and Johnston. He mentioned the wording of the fees towards them, which acknowledged that Greene was the assassin, was prejudicial to Greene. He mentioned the issue may have been averted by holding separate trials or by eradicating Greene’s identify from the opposite indictments. “When it is there in black and white, that’s prejudicial,” Mr McGinn mentioned.
Mr McGinn additionally advised the court docket his consumer’s major defence was that Gus O’Connor was answerable for the homicide. He defined that after admitting to killing Mrs O’Connor in his first garda interviews, Greene later retracted that assertion, saying he had lied to guard Gus O’Connor, whom he mentioned was the actual killer.
At trial, Greene’s legal professionals have been refused permission to learn to the jury an announcement given by Gus O’Connor to gardaí which they mentioned confirmed he had given differing accounts of his relationship along with his spouse. Mr McGinn mentioned the decide ought to have allowed this rumour proof because it confirmed that Gus may “blow with the wind and say what suited him on the time”. Counsel mentioned this might have fitted Greene’s narrative, “that Mr O’Connor was able to killing his spouse and blaming Mr Greene”.
Additional grounds of attraction included that the decide ought to have allowed the jury to think about discovering Greene not responsible of homicide however responsible of serving to to eliminate Mrs O’Connor’s physique.
Mr McGinn additionally argued that the decide erred by refusing to permit the defence to name a psychiatrist who would have mentioned that Greene’s IQ scores put him within the lowest 3pc within the nation for mental skill. He mentioned this might have allowed the jury to grasp why Greene was “imprecise” concerning the sequence of occasions across the homicide.
He mentioned the jury may even have assessed whether or not somebody at his mental stage may have been persuaded to lie by somebody extra clever and manipulative than him.
Roisin Lacey SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, responded that there is no such thing as a proof folks with low IQs usually tend to lie. Going via the attraction grounds one after the other, she mentioned the choice verdict of serving to to eliminate the physique may solely have arisen if the jury first acquitted Greene of homicide, which they didn’t.
She mentioned the rumour proof of Gus O’Connor was not admissible. In relation to provocation, Ms Lacey mentioned the trial decide was appropriate to find there was no proof that Greene had suffered a complete lack of self-control.
Mr Justice George Birmingham, presiding, with Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy and Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy, will ship the judgment at a later date.
Patricia’s husband Gus O’Connor was initially a part of the trial, however shortly earlier than it started he pleaded responsible to reporting his spouse as a lacking particular person to gardaí at Rathfarnham garda station, Dublin 14, on June 1, 2017, realizing she was already lifeless. He was sentenced to 18 months in jail and has since died.
Stephanie O’Connor was jailed for one-and-a-half years and her mom Louise O’Connor for two-and-a-half years.
Mom-of-five Louise O’Connor, with a final tackle at Millmount Court docket, Dundrum Highway, Dublin 14, was discovered responsible of agreeing to or acquiescing in her daughter Stephanie O’Connor disguising herself as Patricia O’Connor to hide the truth that Patricia O’Connor was lifeless at Mountainview Park, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14, on Might 29, 2017.
Stephanie O’Connor, additionally with a final tackle at Millmount Court docket, Dundrum Highway, Dublin 14, was discovered responsible of disguising herself as Patricia O’Connor to hide the truth that she was already lifeless at Mountainview Park, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14, after her homicide on Might 29, 2017 .
The seven-week trial heard that Mrs O’Connor’s physique was reduce up into 15 separate components that have been discovered at 9 places over a 30km vary within the Dublin and Wicklow mountains between June 10 and 14, 2017.
Former Deputy State Pathologist, Dr Michael Curtis, mentioned Mrs O’Connor’s head was struck a minimal of three blows with a stable implement, and the reason for demise was blunt pressure trauma to the top.
Greene had pleaded not responsible to murdering the gardening fanatic at her residence in Mountainview Park, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14, on Might 29, 2017, and had given two accounts of Mrs O’Connor’s demise.
In an interview with gardaí in June 2017, Greene mentioned he was within the toilet when Mrs O’Connor attacked him with a hurley.
Greene maintained he had disarmed Mrs O’Connor and acted in self-defence by hitting her with a hurley, and on account of that she could have died. He claimed he was the one one concerned within the bodily altercation and had acted alone in eradicating her physique from the home, burying her in a shallow grave in Co Wexford and subsequently dismembering her.
The trial heard that six months after he was charged along with her homicide, Greene modified his account of killing and dismembering his companion’s mom. Whereas on remand in Cloverhill Jail in December 2017, Greene advised gardaí he had taken “the rap” and felt he was being arrange, as his girlfriend Louise O’Connor subsequently began going again out along with her ex-boyfriend Keith Johnston.
In his December interview Greene claimed that, though there was an altercation, he was not answerable for Mrs O’Connor’s demise, that her husband Augustine ‘Gus’ O’Connor had killed her with a crowbar and that different relations had been concerned. The trial jury didn’t settle for his second account, or that he was appearing in self-defence.
