Queen v Robert Rodgers
| Jurisdiction | Northern Ireland |
| Judge | Morgan LCJ |
| Judgment Date | 2013 |
| Neutral Citation | [2013] NICA 71 |
| Date | 02 December 2013 |
| Court | Court of Appeal (Northern Ireland) |
1
Neutral Citation No: [2013] NICA 71
Ref:
MOR9072
Judgment: approved by the Court for handing down
Delivered:
02/12/2013
(subject to editorial corrections)*
IN HER MAJESTY’S COURT OF APPEAL IN NORTHERN IRELAND
________
THE QUEEN
-v-
ROBERT RODGERS
________
Before: Morgan LCJ, Higgins LJ and Girvan LJ
________
MORGAN LCJ (delivering the judgment of the court)
[1] The appellant was convicted by Horner J, sitting in the Crown Court without
a jury, of the murder of Eileen Doherty on 30 September 1973. He appeals the
conviction on the following grounds:
(i) evidence of palm prints and their locations within the hijacked vehicle
was wrongly admitted as hearsay;
(ii) on the evidence before the court there was no case to answer;
(iii) the proceedings should have been stayed as an abuse of process on the
grounds of delay;
(iv) the appellant’s conviction for murder in 1975 was wrongly admitted as
bad character evidence; and
(v) there was insufficient evidence before the court to convict the appellant
of murder.
Mr Berry QC appeared with Mr Devine for the appellant. Mr Mooney QC appeared
with Mr McCrudden for the prosecution. We are grateful to counsel for their helpful
written and oral submissions.
2
Background
[2] The prosecution case was that on 30 September 1973 Eileen Doherty, who was
19 years old at the time and a Roman Catholic, was visiting her fiancé, Alexander
McManus, who lived in the Ormeau Road area of Belfast close to the Atlas Taxis
depot. This was a regular occurrence and it was normal practice for Ms Doherty to
get an Atlas Taxi back home to the Andersonstown area of Belfast. Mr McManus
would usually accompany her on the journey to ensure she got home safely. On the
night in question it was late and Mr McManus was working at the Inglis Bakery at
4am the next morning. It was decided that Ms Doherty would go in the taxi alone.
At the taxi depot Ms Doherty was assigned to the taxi being driven by John Sherry
together with two other males who were looking for a taxi to the Finaghy area.
Neither Mr Sherry nor two other customers sitting in the depot, Mr Montgomery
and Mr McAllister, recognised these two males as being regular customers or as
being from the area. Ms Doherty sat in the front seat while the two other males sat
in the back.
[3] As Mr Sherry drove along the Annadale Embankment he felt something being
pressed against his head by the male sitting behind him who told him to turn left.
Mr Sherry was unable to make this manoeuvre as he was already in the process of
turning right. Mr Sherry glanced at what was being pressed against his head and
noticed that it was the barrel of a gun. The males then told Mr Sherry to get into the
back seat. Mr Sherry stopped the vehicle and got out. He saw this as an opportunity
to escape. He told Ms Doherty to run and did so himself. Both ran towards the
King’s Bridge and the Annadale Embankment.
[4] In his inquest deposition Mr Sherry said that the male in the rear nearside got
out of the back of the taxi and moved into the driver’s seat. The two males then
drove off at speed around the Stranmillis roundabout, up the Stranmillis Road,
down Ridgeway Street, across the King’s Bridge and back onto the embankment.
Mr Sherry and Ms Doherty had stopped running, but when he saw the car re-appear
Mr Sherry again told Ms Doherty to run. Unfortunately Ms Doherty was unable to
escape. The male passenger got out of the car, held Ms Doherty by the arm and fired
his gun 3 or 4 times shooting her in the head.
[5] Mr Sherry went to a phone box and called the police and ambulance. A
passing motorist, Mr Withers, and a cyclist, Mr McDonald, who witnessed the attack
tended to Ms Doherty. Ms Doherty was taken by ambulance to the Royal Victoria
Hospital but died in the early hours of the morning. She had been shot three times.
One of the bullets had entered the left side of the back of her head, passed through
the brain and exited through her left cheek.
To continue reading
Request your trial
2 cases
-
R v Louis Maguire and Christopher Power
...cit. and that has been expressly approved on more than one occasion by the Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland, including R v 5 Rogers [2013] NICA 71. The Lord Chief Justice in that case expressly approved the summary of Lord Justice Rose in the Hanson case as to the approach that a Judge i......
-
The King v James Stewart Smyth
...way which is unlikely to be mirrored elsewhere in the United Kingdom. • In this context, Mr Russell referred to the cases of R v Rodgers [2013] NICA 71, R v Clarke [2012] NICA 2 and R v Kearney [2014] NICA 21. • These judgments show, inter alia, that propensity within the meaning of Article......