The Court of Appeal found Michael O’Connell, 45, not guilty of murder. Photo: Facebook.
CONTENT WARNING: This article refers to domestic violence.
While a man has been cleared of murder over the death of a partner, he has failed in his attempt to be released from custody while he awaits to hear the future of the case against him.
In April 2022, Michael O’Connell 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 before she fell.
The 40-year-old landed on the road, resulting in a fatal head injury.
O’Connell was found guilty of murder at the end of a jury trial and was sentenced to 15 years’ jail in 2024.
But earlier this year, the ACT Court of Appeal set aside the jury’s guilty verdict, as well as O’Connell’s jail sentence, ordering he be found not guilty of murder.
Afterwards, he was sentenced to 12 months’ jail for stalking a different woman over several weeks by repeatedly installing spyware on her mobile phone.
As he has been in custody since April 2022, this sentence has been served.
The proceedings in the appeal court have not yet finished as the court has reserved the question of whether it should enter an alternative verdict of manslaughter.
As that process is still underway, O’Connell applied for bail in the ACT Supreme Court on Monday (25 August).
The court heard that after the stalking sentence was subtracted from the total time he has spent in custody, this means the 45-year-old has remained behind bars for about two years and four months in relation to the allegations involving Ms Jordan.
His barrister, Jon White SC, said he had been in custody for a long time, no longer abused drugs, had left his old life behind and “kept his nose clean in jail”. He could live with his new partner if granted bail.
Mr White said when Ms Jordan fell from his client’s car, there was no speeding, no swerving, no sudden braking and she was taken straight to hospital.
These were issues that could amount to a manslaughter case, albeit one on the lower end of seriousness, if it amounted to manslaughter at all, he argued.
Prosecutor Katie McCann, when opposing bail, said O’Connell had already been on bail for an alleged assault against Ms Jordan at the time of her death.
The charge related to this alleged assault was dropped after she died.
Chief Justice Lucy McCallum said there were special or exceptional circumstances in the matter, due to the unusual combination of legal events and delays since the trial.
But her assessment of the evidence in the case involving Ms Jordan was that the nature of the alleged offence was serious and the evidence against O’Connell was strong.
She also said there were risks of him being on bail, particularly when having regard to his criminal history, which included offences of using a carriage service to menace or harass, the stalking charge and how he had been on bail for the alleged assault at the time of Ms Jordan’s death.
The chief justice refused bail and said it was appropriate to await the appeal court’s decision on the manslaughter charge before considering the matter further.
The matter will return to court at a future date.
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.
Crims playing the victim.. HAHA!!! Continuous whinging about conditions, time outside etc.. They got… View