Man who claimed partner deliberately stabbed herself fails in appeal

Irish Times

4 days ago

A man convicted of manslaughter, who claimed that his partner deliberately stabbed herself to death, has failed in a bid to have his 12-and-a-half-year sentence reduced on appeal.
Martin Hayes (36) was found not guilty of Amadea McDermott's (27) murder, but guilty of her manslaughter by the majority verdict of a Central Criminal Court jury in November 2023.
Hayes, with an address at Poddle Close, Crumlin, Dublin 12, had pleaded not guilty to murdering the mother of two at her home in Rathvale Drive, Ayrfield, Coolock, on or about July 20th, 2017.
He told the trial that his partner inflicted the injury on herself. Hayes had admitted using violence against Ms McDermott in his own evidence to the trial.
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Mr Justice Paul McDermott sentenced him to 12 years and six months in November 2023.
Speaking following Haye's conviction in 2023, Eucharia McDermott described her sister's killer as a 'deranged monster'.
Hayes appealed his sentence, arguing that the judge gave excessive weight to the aggravating factors in the case, specifically in setting a headline sentence of 14 years.
James Dwyer SC, defence counsel for Hayes, also argued that inadequate weight was given to the mitigating factors in the case resulting in a final sentence that was 'higher than it should have been'.
In dismissing the appeal on Tuesday, Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy said there were limited mitigating factors in this case. He said the judge rightly placed the offence in the category attracting a headline sentence of between ten and 15 years.
The offence was aggravated by domestic violence, he said, noting there had been evidence of 'fresh violence' to the face of the deceased, which it was accepted occurred on the night of the killing as well as older bruises indicating previous violence.
Mr Justice McCarthy said there was also evidence of 'an unhealthy, extreme and unfounded' view of purported impropriety of a sexual nature which indicated a 'very significant form of coercive control'.
He also noted the circumstances of the appeal were 'slightly out of the ordinary' in that it had been contended that the judge fell into error in the decision he made as to the factual circumstances for the basis of manslaughter.
Dismissing this ground of appeal, he said the trial judge approached the matter in a rational way upon the evidence and adopted what might be described as 'the rational, obvious and clear view' of what happened.
Imposing sentence in November 2023, Mr Justice Paul McDermott said the killing was clearly a case of domestic violence and he noted that during her life, Hayes had tracked Ms McDermott's movements using a secret app on her phone.
The judge further noted the recent bruises on Ms McDermott's body as recorded by a pathologist following her death and evidence that Hayes had a history of aggressive and violent behaviour towards his victim.
In 2023, Amadea McDermott's sister, Eucharia, said that Hayes had told 'lie after lie without a shred of evidence' in his testimony to the trial when he falsely alleged that Ms McDermott had caused her own death by stabbing herself.
She thanked gardaí and the prosecution team who had, she said, 'helped to convict this violent, sick, evil, twisted, deranged monster.'