Michael O’Connell, 45, was found guilty of killing his partner, Danielle Jordan. Photo: Facebook.
CONTENT WARNING: This article refers to domestic violence.
While Michael O’Connell was cleared of murder over the death of his partner, the ACT Court of Appeal still found he killed her when ordering he be found guilty of an alternative charge.
In April 2022, he drove his car in Melba for about 30 seconds while his on-and-off again partner, Danielle Patricia Fleming, also known as Danielle Jordan, was on top of it.
The 40-year-old then fell and landed on the road, resulting in a fatal head injury.
O’Connell was found guilty of murder at the end of an ACT Supreme Court jury trial and was sentenced to 15 years’ jail in 2024.
But earlier this year, the Court of Appeal set aside the jury’s guilty verdict, as well as O’Connell’s jail sentence, and ordered that he be found not guilty of murder.
But the three-judge appeal court reserved the question of whether it should enter an alternative verdict.
On Monday (29 September), Chief Justice Lucy McCallum returned to the courtroom and said she would have ordered the now-45-year-old to face a retrial on a manslaughter charge.
However, the two other judges who oversaw the appeal, Justices Louise Taylor and Chrissa Loukas-Karlsson, thought a verdict of guilty to this charge should be entered instead.
As a result, the majority vote meant O’Connell was found guilty of manslaughter.
Chief Justice McCallum sent the matter back to the Supreme Court for resentencing on 3 November.
O’Connell has been in custody since April 2022 and was refused bail again in August 2025 when he tried to be released ahead of the appeal court’s final decision.
In the meantime, the Magistrates Court sentenced him to 12 months’ jail earlier this year for stalking a different woman over several weeks by repeatedly installing spyware on her mobile phone.
This sentence was backdated to account for time served.
If this story has raised any concerns for you, 1800RESPECT, the national 24-hour sexual assault, family and domestic violence counselling line, can be contacted on 1800 737 732. Help and support are also available through the Canberra Rape Crisis Centre on 02 6247 2525, the Domestic Violence Crisis Service ACT 02 6280 0900, the Sexual Violence Legal Services on 6257 4377 and Lifeline on 13 11 14. In an emergency, call Triple Zero.
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