Summary of Judgment - R v Joseph Joyce
| Jurisdiction | Northern Ireland |
| Judgment Date | 25 October 2023 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Northern Ireland) |
Judicial Communications Office
1
25 October 2023
COURT DISMISSES APPEAL AGAINST CONVICTION
Summary of Judgment
The Court of Appeal1 today dismissed an appeal by Joseph Joyce against his conviction for the
murder of John Paul McDonagh in Enniskillen on 11 April 2020.
John Paul McDonagh (“the deceased”) died after a street altercation between three members of his
family and Joseph Joyce (“the appellant”). They were all members of the travelling community. A
party had been taking place at the home of the McDonagh family whose garden bordered on the
back of the appellant’s home and there was a verbal confrontation over the garden fence. CCTV
footage then showed the appellant standing on the road outside his house with a bill hook in his
hand. The deceased, Gerry McDonagh and Jimmy McDonagh are seen running towards the
appellant; the deceased is holding a garden hoe; Jimmy McDonagh had a long knife and Gerry
McDonagh had concealed a large cider bottle under this coat. The appellant squirted what was
subsequently discovered to be an ammonia solution from a bottle he was holding. The deceased
can be seen swiping at the appellant with the hoe. The appellant swings his bill hook at the
deceased, catching him behind the knee of his left leg. This resulted in a slashed artery which
proved to be the fatal injury. The appellant was convicted by a jury and sentenced on 20 June 2022
to life imprisonment with a tariff period of 10 years before he eligible to apply for release by the
Parole Commissioners. He did not appeal against his sentence.
There were three grounds of appeal against conviction:
• The trial judge erred in not leaving the alternative verdict of manslaughter to the jury;
• The trial judge was materially misled when he made his ruling to treat a witness “JT” as
hostile and hence erred in that determination;
• The trial judge erred in allowing bad character evidence that the appellant was “the King of
the Travellers” to go before the jury.
Ground 1 – manslaughter as an alternative verdict
Section 6(2) of the Criminal Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1967 provides that on indictment for
murder a person found not guilty of murder may be found guilty of manslaughter. Counsel for the
appellant contended that there was enough evidence to allow the trial judge to leave manslaughter
as an alternative verdict to the jury together with the partial defence of loss of control2.
The court outlined the authorities on alternative verdicts in paras [30] – [37]. Having analysed all
the evidence, the court considered there was no obvious evidence upon which the trial judge could
have left the alternative charge to the jury:
“This was a lethal weapon which from the CCTV imagery the appellant equipped
himself with along with a bottle of ammonia prior to the altercation. We are entirely
1 The panel was Keegan LCJ, McCloskey LJ a nd Fowler J. The LCJ delivered the judgment of the court.
2 Sections 54 and 55 of the Coroner s and Justice Act 2009 introduce the partial defe nce of loss of control.
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