Evil Stephen Cahoon has conviction upheld for murdering pregnant Jean Quigley who was carrying his child
AN EVIL DERRY man who stood trial three times for murdering a pregnant mother-of-four has had his conviction upheld on appeal.
Thug Stephen Cahoon (44), of Harvey Street, admitted strangling his ex-girlfriend Jean Quigley (30) at Cornshell fields in Derry on July 26 2008 but denied it was murder.
A jury at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin unanimously found Cahoon guilty of murder and he was accordingly given the mandatory life sentence by Ms Justice Deirdre Murphy in December 2015.
It was Cahoon’s third trial and second recorded conviction for Ms Quigley’s murder.
A hung jury failed to reach a verdict in his first trial and in a 2012 retrial, he was found guilty, but this was set aside by the Court of Appeal over the then trial judges instructions to the jury on the defence of provocation.
His present appeal, which was dismissed, centred on the manner in which witness statements were admitted into evidence under Section 16 of the Criminal Justice Act 2006.
Giving judgment, Mr Justice Alan Mahon outlined how Ms Quigley, who was 10 weeks pregnant, mostly probably with Cahoon’s baby, had been in a relationship with him for four months until July 2008.
In the early hours of July 26, 2008, Cahoon visited Ms Quigley at her home. He maintained that he was let into Ms Quigley’s home but there was evidence of damage to the door-lock which appeared to have been forced open.
Her body was found in an upstairs room later that day by her mother.
She had been strangled and bruises were found on her head, lips, neck, chest, flank, legs, ankles and arms.
Shortly after the murder, Cahoon visited an acquaintance, a James Casey, who subsequently made statements to the PSNI.
These statements and their admission into evidence were at the core of this appeal.
Counsel for Cahoon, Michael O’Higgins SC, said the witness’s statement had been made at a time the witness alleged he had been threatened by one of the police officers.
However, the trial judge confined her decision to admit the statement.
Mr O’Higgins submitted that the trial judge’s approach was “far too narrow”.
Mr Justice Mahon said however it was clear that the trial judge considered the relevant section of the law before deciding to admit the statement into evidence.
Jean Quigley was ten weeks pregant with a boy when she was murdered by ex-partner Stephen Cahoon
Furthermore, the trial judge’s charge to the jury was both fair and comprehensive and, if anything, was weighted in favour of the defence, he said.
Mr Justice Mahon, who sat with Mr Justice George Birmingham and Mr justice John Edwards, said the appeal was dismissed.
The trials made legal history as Cahoon was charged under the Criminal Law Jurisdiction Act of 1976, which allows for offences committed outside the jurisdiction to be tried in the Republic.
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