Man accused of murdering pregnant woman may face retrial
A man accused of murdering his pregnant ex girlfriend could face a retrial after a jury today failed to reach a verdict.
Stephen Cahoon admitted killing mother of four Jean Quigley in her Derry home last year, but denied murder.
The 37-year-old made legal history by becoming the first person to face a jury in the Republic for a non-terrorist related offence in the North.
Ms Quigley’s naked bruised and battered body was discovered by her heartbroken mother Emma McBride on July 26 last year.
Ms McBride broke down in tears and hurried from Dublin’s Central Criminal Court as a hung jury revealed it failed to reach a verdict on murder.
“We haven’t been able to come to a majority decision,” the forewoman told the shocked courtroom on the third day of deliberation.
Cahoon, of Harvey Street in Derry, and Ms Quigley got together in March 2008 and had a brief but intense relationship which deteriorated when she fell pregnant.
The couple split up and just weeks before her death Ms Quigley told her killer she wanted him out of her life.
A cross-border manhunt was launched for the 37-year-old prime suspect after Ms Quigley’s body was discovered.
Ten days later Cahoon was arrested in Donegal and opted to have his trial in the Republic instead of the North under the Criminal Law Jurisdiction Act of 1976.
Cahoon has always maintained he was provoked into attacking his ex, who was two months pregnant with his baby.
Giving evidence during the 13-day trial, he said he called to her home in Cornshell Fields in the Shantallow area of the city in the early hours of the morning to give her money.
They had consensual sex, he said, but then during a row Ms Quigley started screaming that the baby was not his and that she would have an abortion.
The father-of-one claimed he snapped and held her neck for around a minute to keep her quiet.
Cahoon’s defence was that he did not intend to kill Ms Quigley but was provoked by her words – which can reduce a murder conviction to manslaughter.
However, the prosecution alleged the farm and building labourer forced his way into Ms Quigley’s home, damaging the inside of the front door, beat her up and strangled her before locking the bedroom door.
Barristers for the State said torn items of clothing were found at the scene, along with material and a sock which could have been used to tie her up and gag her.
Bruising was also discovered on Ms Quigley’s head, limbs, wrists and torso, they added.
After seven hours of deliberations Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy had told the jury of seven women and five men they had the option to return a majority verdict of 11/1 or 10/2.
He said the accused could be found guilty of murder or not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.
Cahoon, dressed in a grey hooded top and dark trousers, showed no emotion as the hung jury revealed it could not agree on either.
He was remanded in custody to Dublin’s Cloverhill Prison until his case is mentioned again on November 30.
Cahoon could face a retrial or a guilty manslaughter plea could be accepted.
The case was heard under the Criminal Law Jurisdiction Act of 1976 which meant suspects can be tried in the Republic for alleged offences in Britain or the North.
