Tyler Jackson to be sentenced next week for murdering man in Mallow
Tyler Jackson (pictured) had denied the charge of murdering 24-year-old Conor Quinn at Bridge Street, Mallow, in July 2018.
The young Mallow man who denied murdering a 24-year-old Galway man by stabbing him in the North Cork town more than five years ago was found guilty of murder on Thursday.
A family member whispered across the courtroom to the accused man, Tyler Tiggy Jackson, moments after the guilty verdict was delivered: “Are you OK?” He nodded back to the woman, quietly mouthing the words: “It’s OK.”
The eight men and four women of the jury in the trial of Mr Jackson took almost seven hours to reach their majority 10-2 verdict at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork.
Mr Jackson of Ballydaheen West, Mallow, County Cork, denied the charge of murdering 24-year-old Conor Quinn at Bridge Street, Mallow, County Cork, on July 12, 2018.
The options open to the jury were to find him guilty or not guilty of murder, or to find him not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter. They found him guilty of murder in a decision delivered to Courtroom 6 at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork at 2.25pm on Thursday.
Ms Justice Eileen Creedon thanked the jury, excused them from jury service for five years and said: “I know these are very difficult cases and this is a very difficult job.”
Prosecution senior counsel Ray Boland said only one sentence can be given on a murder conviction — life imprisonment — but he asked for this to be adjourned until Tuesday, October 17, so that Quinn family victim impact statements could be presented. Ms Justice Creedon remanded Tyler Jackson in continuing custody until then.
The defence said in the trial that commenced on Wednesday, October 4, Tiggy Jackson never had a knife in his hand. When this was put to the deceased man’s cousin, Samantha Quinn, who was one of the relatives who travelled with him in the Audi car from Cahirmee that evening, she said: “So why did Conor die? Why did he have a lesion in his chest that we could see?”
The defence 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 when the deceased ran across Bridge Street in Mallow at around 8pm that Thursday in July five years ago, and that this resulted in the deceased man effectively stabbing himself.
Dr Margaret Bolster, pathologist, replied: “In my opinion that would be very unlikely… It would be a very unusual place to stab yourself and it would require at least a moderate degree of force.” The stab wound entered the left side of the late Mr Quinn’s chest and cut into the middle of his body, fracturing his fourth rib and piercing his heart.
Cross-examining, Brian McInerney defence senior counsel, said one witness saw the deceased run across the road and colliding with the accused. He asked about that collision — and if the deceased had a knife — “Might that amount to moderate force?” Again the pathologist said it was unlikely.
Mr McInerney continued: “But not impossible”. Dr Bolster replied: “Nothing in the world is impossible but very unlikely.” As for the defence contention that the accused never had a knife, there was one prosecution witness who saw him leaving the scene after the fatal stabbing occurred and that he was carrying a kitchen knife.
The young witness, Christina Kearney, whose statement to the gardaí was read to the jury during the trial. She was quoted as saying: “I saw Tiggy sprinting against us. Another lady said, ‘what was he in such a hurry for?’ When I saw Tiggy running I saw a knife in his hand — in his left hand. A kitchen knife,” the statement said.
The statement went on to say, “When I saw Tiggy with the knife it was seven or eight inches long. He was holding it with the handle in his hand and the blade facing back.” Mr McInerney said in his closing speech that people the witness’s age did not speak in terms of inches but in metric measures.
The jury was told that the accused was under no obligation to give evidence and in fact he chose not to do so. While it was clear from evidence referring to the deceased chasing the accused man earlier that evening in Mallow that he was angry with him, it was not clear in the case what gave rise to this.
Mr Boland for the prosecution said: “Obviously, this case is a tragic case. One young man is dead. One young man is accused of his murder. Over what? We don’t know. But I would comment it was young men’s bravado and bullshit, if I can use that phrase.”
Luke Quinn — another relative of the deceased — testified that Conor jumped out of the car at Bridge Street when he saw Tiggy across the street outside Cremin’s Cycles.
“That’s when Tiggy stabbed Conor into the chest. I just saw one blow from the right hand of Tiggy to the chest. Conor fell. He ran across the road. He took off his t-shirt and held it to his chest.
“He said, ‘I’m after being stabbed, I’m after being stabbed, am I going to die?’ I held Conor up. He had the t-shirt up to his wound. He fell to the ground… It was a very traumatic day, it was more like a movie.”
The six hours and 55 minutes of jury deliberations commenced on Tuesday afternoon, continued throughout Wednesday and reached their conclusion this afternoon.
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