Michael O’Connell has been found not guilty of murder by the Court of Appeal. Photo: Facebook.
The ACT’s Court of Appeal has overturned a man’s conviction and sentence for murdering his on-and-off again partner in 2022.
Michael O’Connell was found guilty of murdering Danielle Patricia Fleming, also known as Danielle Jordan, at the end of his ACT Supreme Court jury trial in 2023.
Last year, the then-44-year-old was convicted and sentenced to a total of 15 years in jail with 10 years’ non-parole.
He appealed, with his lawyers arguing in part that the verdict was unreasonable on the evidence and there had been a miscarriage of justice.
On Friday (27 June), the Court of Appeal’s Chief Justice Lucy McCallum said she would have dismissed the appeal, but Justices Louise Taylor and Chrissa Loukas-Karlsson thought it should succeed.
“After a careful review of the evidence, I entertained doubt about whether the evidence established beyond reasonable doubt that when [O’Connell] was driving along Alfred Hill Drive and Ms Jordan fell from his vehicle, she was on the bonnet,” Justice Taylor wrote in her decision.
“I also had a doubt about whether it was open to the jury to find beyond reasonable doubt, that [O’Connell] possessed the mens rea for murder.”
As a result, the appeal court set aside both O’Connell’s guilty verdict for murder and his 15-year sentence.
The court ordered a verdict of not guilty to murder and reserved the question of whether another verdict should be entered for a different charge.
O’Connell has remained in custody since April 2022 when he was refused bail over Ms Jordan’s death.
Chief Justice McCallum said the result of his appeal meant he was entitled to be released from custody on the proceedings.
But he had been remanded in custody in the ACT Magistrates Court over separate charges, including stalking, for which sentencing had been set for 25 July.
This meant he would have to apply for bail in the lower court before he could be released.
Prosecutors said they would consider whether they would ask the Court of Appeal to enter a different verdict for a charge related to the death of Ms Jordan and tell the court later on Friday.
O’Connell, sitting in the courtroom’s dock, was visibly emotional when he heard his appeal had succeeded.
Bail conditions had prohibited him from contacting 40-year-old Ms Jordan or going to her home in the north Canberra suburb of Melba, but despite this, he still went there on 14 April 2022, Justice Belinda Baker said when sentencing him last year.
Early the next morning, Good Friday, a teenage friend of Ms Jordan’s woke up in the home to hear an argument between the pair.
Ms Jordan had been trying to stop O’Connell from leaving the house and they had gotten into a physical scuffle before he left, but he returned later that morning and they got into another argument.
When he tried to get into his Mitsubishi Triton ute about 4:40 am, Ms Jordan climbed onto its bonnet. He walked away and she got off, before climbing onto the bonnet a second time.
He then drove off and the teenager saw Ms Jordan on his bonnet as they went around the corner of Coutts Place and Alfred Hill Drive.
Justice Baker said O’Connell drove for 200 metres while she was on the bonnet, travelling at less than 55 km/h in a 50 km/h zone before she fell after about 30 seconds. She hit her head on the road, resulting in an ultimately fatal head injury.
After she fell, O’Connell stopped, put her in his car and took off for hospital. The teenager had run around the corner and arrived in time to hear him say something like, “I’m so sorry, baby. I love you”.
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