Manslaughter charge against Fergal Doherty over death of Aaron Law withdrawn

Fergal Gerard Doherty (41), with an address listed on his charge sheet as Main Street in Portglenone, had been charged in relation to an incident on October 30 last year.

Aaron Law, aged 34, died in hospital after an incident outside Pat's Bar in Portglenone.

In a press release after the Portglenone incident, a PSNI officer had said: “A report was received at around 1.10am from the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service of a man lying unconscious on the footpath. He had sustained a head injury.

“He was taken to hospital for treatment for his injuries but sadly, passed away.

“Aaron was a much-loved father of two children and a cherished son and brother. Our enquiries are ongoing as we work to establish the circumstances surrounding his death, which is devastating for his family and friends."

A defence lawyer told an earlier court the accused said he had thrown one punch at Mr Law in ‘self-defence’ after the deceased had swung a punch at him outside the pub.

The lawyer had said ‘it is a terrible, terrible, tragedy’ and said Mr Doherty wished to offer his sympathies.

At court on Thursday, a prosecutor said they were withdrawing, ‘without prejudice,’ the manslaughter charge.

The prosecutor added: "For clarity, the PPS (Public Prosecution Service) are conducting a review of the decision of no prosecution."

District Judge Nigel Broderick asked: "PPS are reviewing their own decision not to prosecute?"

The prosecutor said the family of Mr. Law had asked for a review of the no prosecution decision.

She said the review is being conducted by a PPS assistant director who has "not had any dealings with the file before so it would be fresh eyes. That will obviously take some time".

Judge Broderick added: "Depending on the outcome of that it may come back to court or it may not?" and the prosecutor said: "That's correct".

A defence lawyer told the court: "The decision not to prosecute was taken because it was felt that the case did not meet the prosecution test, ie there was not a reasonable prospect of a successful prosecution".

Following the court case, a PPS spokesperson said in a statement to the media: “The PPS took a decision to prosecute a 41-year-old man in July 2023 for the offence of manslaughter and committal proceedings commenced in August 2023.

"The PPS can confirm that in line with our continuing duty to keep all prosecution decisions under review the decision has been reached that the Test for Prosecution is not met.

“A review of the decision not to prosecute in this case has been requested and this is now underway. However given the decision made, the proceedings against the suspect have been withdrawn at court today without prejudice to the outcome of the ongoing review.

“We have met with the family of Mr. Law and the reasons for the decision have been explained. We recognise the pain and sense of loss they continue to experience and again express our deepest condolences to them.”