Moneymore man jailed for murdering ex-girlfriend has conviction quashed

Stephen Cahoon Convicted of Assaulting Two Women Oct99

Stephen Cahoon from Moneymore who has been convicted of assaulting Lynne McGall and his former girlfriend, Samantha Brown. — Stephen Cahoon Convicted of Assaulting Two Women Oct99 Stephen Cahoon from Moneymore who has been convicted of assaulting Lynne McGall and his former girlfriend, Samantha Brown.

Stephen Cahoon, 42, with a last address at Harvey Street in Londonderry admitted strangling mother-of-four Jean Teresa Quigley, 30, who was 10-weeks pregnant at the time, on July 26, 2008 but denied it was murder.

A jury unanimously found him guilty of murder at Dublin’s Central Criminal Court on April 30 2012 and he was immediately sentenced to life imprisonment by Mr Justice Barry White.

Dublin’s Court of Appeal quashed Cahoon’s conviction, ordered a retrial and remanded him in custody.

However, counsel for Cahoon, Niall Flynn BL, said a retrial would be Cahoon’s third trial on the matter in circumstances where he had already served six years in custody. In those circumstances it would be unfair on Cahoon and an application in that regard may be forthcoming, the court heard.

Cahoon’s successful ground of appeal, submitted by his senior counsel Michael O’Higgins SC, was that the trial judge had misdirected the jury while explaining the defence of provocation.