The Court of Criminal Appeal has quashed the murder conviction of a 21-year-old Keith Kelly, from Colepark Drive in Ballyfermot, and ordered a retrial. Keith Kelly was serving a life sentence for the murder of 15-year-old Melanie Gleeson in the grounds of the Dominican Convent in Ballyfermot. He has been freed on bail pending the retrial.
The Court of Criminal Appeal considered that there was a risk that his conviction was unsafe. His appeal, they said, had raised an important issue as to how a trial judge, who has allowed a defence of provocation to go to a jury, should then charge them on the subject. A defence of provocation can reduce murder to manslaughter.
