Murder conviction upheld as last minute cancellation of child visit did not amount to provocation

Criminal Law – murder – appeal against conviction – whether trial judge wrongly refused to leave the (partial) defence of provocation to the jury – whether trial judge failed to deal adequately with the issue of intoxication in his charge to the jury – appellant and victim were the parents of a young child – not living together – appellant had been sole custodian and primary carer of child – child had lived with appellant for six years – gardai took child away for production before the district court – appellant attended district court without legal representation – child left the court in the custody of the deceased – appellant greatly aggrieved and distressed by this turn of events – appellant spent weekend drinking and taking painkillers – appellant sent messages to the deceased on facebook – both parties visited school to make arrangements arising from change in custody – appellant made an attempt to take his own life – appellant’s mood got better when he was told that the deceased would bring child over – deceased called to say that she won’t bring child – appellant took a knife and left the house – appellant, deceased and child go into an alleyway – after three and a half minutes, child is seen running away from the alleyway – a woman and a man are seen running into the alleyway – appellant stayed at the scene - evidential threshold that must be reached in order to have the defence of provocation left to the jury is a low one – however that threshold must be met in with regard to all of the ingredients of the offence – appellant’s subjective view and conduct must be grounded in socially understandable circumstance of provocation – victim’s last minute cancellation could not amount to provocation in law – intoxication was not in reality a significant part of the defence case – appeal dismissed.