Cahoon jury retires for second night
The jury in the trial of a Derry man charged with murdering his pregnant ex-girlfriend has gone home for a second night after a day and a half deliberating.
The minimum verdict it can give the Central Criminal Court against father-of-one Stephen Cahoon is manslaughter. The 37-year-old of Harvey Street, Derry and originally from Magherafelt, admits strangling to death Jean Teresa Quigley (aged 30) at her home at Cornshell Fields, Shantallow, Derry on July 26, 2008.
However the accused, known also as Stephen Moore, claims it was accidental, and has pleaded not guilty to murdering the mother-of-four, who was 10-weeks pregnant with his son.
The seven women and five men of the jury had been trying to reach a unanimous verdict, but Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy has told them he will now accept a majority verdict of at least 10 to two. They had earlier asked him to re-read the definitions of intent and provocation, a defence that can reduce murder to manslaughter.
The two-and-a-half-week trial is making legal history. Cahoon was charged under the Criminal Law Jurisdiction Act of 1976 and was given the option of being tried in Dublin or in the North. He opted for trial in Dublin and became the first person to be tried before a jury here for an offence under the anti-terrorist legislation.
The 1976 Act was brought in to allow for trials in the Republic for offences committed outside the jurisdiction in the North or Great Britain. It has rarely been used and up until now the only cases have been brought before the three-judge, non-jury Special Criminal Court, which deals with terrorist offences.
Last November, Belfast man Gerard Mackin was convicted of murder at the Special Criminal Court under the 1976 Act and jailed for life. He was found guilty of murdering Belfast taxi driver Eddie Burns in the city in 2007.
