Man fails to overturn conviction for murdering young father-to-be in Cork in 2018

A 27-year-old man serving a life sentence for murdering a young father-to-be in Cork seven years ago has failed in an attempt to have his conviction overturned.

Tyler 'Tiggy' Jackson, of Ballydaheen West, Mallow, County Cork, had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Galway man Conor Quinn, aged 24, at Bridge Street, Mallow, County Cork, on July 12, 2018. He was convicted by a majority jury verdict and sentenced to the mandatory life sentence by Ms Justice Eileen Creedon in October 2023.

The Court of Appeal today dismissed Jackson’s appeal, rejecting all grounds and holding there had been no error on the part of the trial judge in admitting into evidence the statement of a pivotal young witness in the case.

The Central Criminal Court trial sitting in Cork heard evidence that Jackson stabbed the victim once in the chest on the side of the street, resulting in Mr Quinn’s death a short time later.

Jackson fled to the UK after the fatal stabbing and, following extensive enquiries to establish his whereabouts, he was located in Cambridge. In February 2022, he was brought back on a European arrest warrant and charged with murder.

After he was convicted, Jackson acknowledged the jury verdict but said he disagreed with it.

A sentencing hearing was told that at the time of his death, Mr Quinn was soon to become a father.

Appealing Jackson’s conviction last October, Dean Kelly SC, for the appellant, argued that the trial judge had erred in granting an application by the prosecution to have a statement given by witness Christina Kearney three days after Mr Quinn’s death admitted into evidence.

He suggested the court could not have been satisfied that the statement, purported to have been exclusively that of Ms Kearney’s, was in fact a true account of what she had said on the date the statement was taken. Ms Kearney was 16 when she made the statement and 21 by the time she gave evidence.

Counsel said when Ms Kearney gave direct evidence in October 2023, she was asked if she could recall July 12, 2018 and she indicated that she didn’t recall it “properly”.

Mr Kelly also argued that “good practice would suggest” that gardaí get that statement on video tape.

Counsel said Detective Garda Sean Buckley was asked where in a house the statement was taken and “could not recall” where this had been done. Mr Kelly said this was “extraordinarily important evidence”, from a child, and the garda had “no memory of it at all”.

Mr Kelly suggested Det Gda Buckley’s evidence wasn’t “worth a whit” and questioned whether the fact that he had forgotten “every detail of the day” was a cause for concern.

Appeal dismissed

In dismissing Jackson’s appeal, Mr Justice Patrick MacGrath said the submissions had focused on frailties in the memory of Detective Garda Buckley and his recollection of the circumstances in which the statement was taken alongside the fact that the statement was not video recorded.

Mr Justice MacGrath said in his ruling on the matter, the trial judge had referred to the fact that the statement was made voluntarily, the declaration was read to the witness who indicated she understood it and she was invited to make any changes and to sign it. He also noted that the statement was taken in her home and in the presence of her parents.

“We are satisfied that it was a matter for the trial judge to assess his evidence,” he said. “We do not see a basis which might justify this court in interfering with her findings for this reason”.

The judge went on to say that since there is no mandatory requirement that compels a trial judge to view videotapes of statements if they are available, it could not be said that the absence of a videotape recording could in any way render a statement inadmissible.

Mr Kelly had also argued that the trial judge erred in failing to grant an application for a discharge of the jury in circumstances where one witness gave evidence which was an attack on Tyler Jackson’s character.

Counsel said a civilian witness, Stephen Quinn, had “slipped in” a suggestion that he was assaulted by the defendant when he said: “I told Conor about him [Jackson] hitting me before”.

Counsel submitted that the result of this evidence had led to an unfair trial and the jury ought to have been discharged.

Mr Justice McGrath said the discharge of a jury should be a “matter of last resort”.

He said it was difficult to see how this “single unprompted answer” went to “the crux of the case” and said the court was not satisfied it had been established that the trial judge was wrong in exercising the broad discretion which she has in deciding whether to discharge a jury as an exceptional measure.

The judge said as all grounds of appeal had been rejected the appeal was dismissed.