Man jailed for at least 16 years after murdering his partner, leaving her with severe brain damage

By Q Radio News.

A violent thug who “propelled” his partner down stairs, leaving her with permanent and severe brain damage which ended her life, was today told he will spend at least 16 years of his life sentence in jail before he is even considered for release. 

Michael O’Connor (34), who appeared at Downpatrick Crown Court, sitting in Belfast, via videolink from prison, appeared to smile and then rub his hands together at the end of the hour long hearing. 

Judge Geoffrey Miller QC told the “physical and psychological” bully he would serve at least the full 16 years behind bars for the murder of Joleen Corr and would only be released under a life long licence when the Parole Commissioners considered it safe to do so. 

Praising the “dignity and fortitude” of Joleen’s family who also watched proceedings by video conference call, the judge described Joleen as a “bubbly young woman” whose life was “cruelly cut short” by the actions of O’Connor when he punched her in the face with such ferocity that he broke her jaw, “propelling her down the stairs” at her home in Thomas Russell Park in Downpatrick. 

“As a direct result she sustained catastrophic brain injuries from which she never recovered,” said the judge adding that her plight was not discovered until the following morning when O’Connor asked a neighbour to go and check on her, issuing the “shameful” lie that she had tried to hang herself the night before. 

“By then there was no prospect of any form of meaningful recovery,” said Judge Miller who told the court that the 16 months until her life support was turned off and she sadly passed way, “was a traumatic time for Joleen’s family who sat with her, praying and willing her to recovery whilst all the time knowing in their hearts that the woman they loved had gone.”

O’Connor claimed that he and  27-year-old Joleen had been fighting over her mobile phone at the top of the stairs on 1 December 2016 when he lashed out and knocked her down the stairs, claiming that she had got up and vomited at the back door. 

He further claimed he had gone to bed and in the morning, found Joleen “snoring” beside him in bed and the court heard that despite he must have been aware of how badly hurt Joleen was, he casually had a bath and took a bus to Belfast with the couples’ five-year-old son where he had a haircut, essentially leaving Joleen to die. 

She had sustained a brain injury which was so severe that doctors initially opted not to treat her but Joleen was left in a vegetative state until a landmark ruling in 2018 when doctors withdrew life support and she tragically died on 26 April. 

O’Connor had been due to go on trial last February but at the 11th hour, with a jury sworn and witnesses poised to testify, he asked to be rearraigned and finally admitted his guilt, firstly to manslaughter and then when that was not accepted by prosecuting QC Philip Mateer, to her murder. 

Sentencing O’Connor today (thurs), Judge Miller said that O’Connor’s actions that night “has to be seen in the context of a man who used violence, both physical and psychological as a means of control” and was the culmination of continual domestic violence perpetrated against Joleen who was vulnerable and with an infant child in the house. 

“One shudders to think what that little boy witnessed or heard,” said the judge who revealed that in a report compiled for the court hearing, during a therapeutic play session the little boy had used figurines to enact a scene where the male “warrior figure” struck the female toy “and then mimicked the male figure saying sorry over and over again.”

“Let me be clear,” said the judge, “we have no real idea of what actually happened” that night as the only witness account came from the defendant himself but whose “self serving” account lacks detail but is “replete with unsupported assertion, contradictions and blatant and cruel lies.”

According to O’Connor the incident was brief yet neighbours heard “sustained banging” for around 30 minutes; he claimed she vomited but none was found by police or forensics; he claimed joleen had taken drugs and tried to hang herself but no traces of drugs or ligature marks were found. 

While the prosecution submitted that by taking a bath and getting his head shaved O’Connor was trying to forensically cleanse himself,  the judge said his actions highlighted that “his first and only thoughts were for himself” and whatever his motivation, “at the very least it again points to the defendants supreme indifference to Ms. Corr’s fate.”

He said while O’Connor had expressed “some remorse” and disgust at himself, “the question remains as to how far this goes” as he maintained denials of doing anything wrong until September 2017 and then his ultimate guilt to murder in February this year “at the last possible moment.”

That delay, said the judge, had served to heighten the pain felt by Joleen’s family throughout that time by depriving them of a “sense of justice.”

Judge Miller said that had O’Connor not confessed and been convicted by a jury, he would have been handed a 19 year minimum term but that taking account of all of the mitigating and aggravating features, “I consider that the appropriate tariff is 16 years.”

Praising the courage of Joleen’s family Lynne Carlin, an Assistant Director in the Public Prosecution Service, described O’Connor’s attack as brutal and revealed that in the unusual circumstances of Joleen’s sad passing, “this is the first case in which a murder conviction has followed the withdrawal of artificial hydration and nutrition from a victim of a violent crime.”
 
“Together with police we built the strongest possible case against O’Connor, which resulted in him pleading guilty to murder.
 
“I want to pay tribute to Joleen’s family for the dignified and positive way in which they have engaged with us throughout this process. 
 
“While her family, including her young son, continue to try to cope with this devastating loss, I hope that this guilty verdict will bring some comfort to them.”