A 27-year-old serving a life sentence for murdering a father-to-be in Cork has launched a bid to overturn his conviction, arguing the trial court could not have been satisfied that a statement by a “pivotal” young witness admitted into evidence was a “true account” of what she had said.
Tyler ‘Tiggy’ Jackson was convicted by a majority jury verdict and was sentenced to life imprisonment on October 17, 2023, for murdering 24-year-old Conor Quinn.
Ms Justice Eileen Creedon imposed the mandatory life sentence on Jackson, of Ballydaheen West, Mallow, Co Cork, who was found guilty of murdering Galway man Mr Quinn at Bridge St, Mallow, on July 12, 2018.
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 moments later.
Jackson fled to the UK after the fatal stabbing, but, 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.
Following his conviction, Jackson acknowledged the jury verdict but said he disagreed with it.
At the Court of Appeal on Tuesday, Dean Kelly, representing Jackson, argued that the trial judge had erred in granting an application by the prosecution to have a statement given by Christina Kearney three days after Mr Quinn’s death admitted into evidence.
Counsel said Detective Garda Sean Buckley, who took the statement, had indicated that amendments were made to the statement, however Ms Kearney was not invited to initial those changes.
He said Det Gda Buckley read Ms Kearney’s statement into the record and at one point indicated that the word “running” had been crossed out and the word “walking” had been written over it. He said the witness was not invited to initial those changes.
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 did not recall it “properly”.
“[The] statement is possibly the most important moment in a case in which Mr Jackson was convicted of a murder which he denied, and no one knows where these words came from,” said counsel.
“There is no video recording of the taking of this statement, no recording of the reading back to the person of this statement, no note-taking of any kind.”
Counsel said Det Gda Buckley was asked where in the 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”.
“I think that’s extraordinary,” he said.
He said “good practice would suggest” that gardaí get that statement on video.
“We’re dealing with a child witness who is now a pivotal witness in a murder trial,” he said. “If I were a garda, I would 1,000% ask the gardaí to get that statement on file as fast as possible.”
Mr Kelly suggested Det Gda Buckley’s evidence was not “worth a whit” and questioned whether the fact that he had forgotten “every detail of the day” was a cause for concern.
Another ground of appeal advanced was that the trial judge had 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.
Mr Kelly 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. He said the court, having refused the defence application, had failed to direct the jury that bad character evidence did not mean that the appellant committed the offence and that this also rendered the trial unfair.
Ray Boland, for the DPP, argued the ruling of the trial judge to admit the witness statement of Ms Kearney was “entirely correct”.
He argued Ms Kearney’s evidence had not been the most important moment of the trial, as suggested by Mr Kelly. He said the detective garda was being criticised for his candour and for not giving “chapter and verse” on where in the house the statement was taken.
“He said he can’t remember the exact location of where in the house he took the statement, that’s not unusual,” he said. “He would take many, many statements.”
In relation to the failure to discharge the jury, Mr Boland said it was obvious that this evidence wasn’t led deliberately by the prosecution. He said there had already been evidence before the jury that there was bad blood between the witness and the defendant.
“It was a non-issue in the case,” he said. “The jury were never told to disregard it, because it was such a minor issue. It was a case about a stabbing and not a minor assault that happened years ago.”
Mr Justice John Edwards said the court would reserve judgement in the matter and give their decision at a later date.
During the trial, the defendant did not give evidence, but suggested through senior counsel Brian McInerney that the deceased man had a knife in his hand and that the fatal injury resulted in a collision between the two men which resulted in Mr Quinn effectively stabbing himself.
Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster told the court that in her opinion that would be “very unlikely” and the wound would require at least a moderate degree of force.
The court heard the stab would had entered the left side of Mr Quinn’s chest, fracturing his fourth rib and piercing his heart.