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Murderer who claims wife stabbed herself should have been able to plead provocation, court told

Brazilian Renato Gehlen, who denies murder, is appealing life sentence handed down in 2021

Renato Gehlen with his wife, Anne Colomines, who he murdered at their home in Dublin.

Paul Neilan
Tue Feb 14 2023 - 18:16

Jailed murderer Renato Gehlen, whose “ridiculous” and “insulting” claim that his wife, Anne Colomines, stabbed herself to death was rejected by a jury, should have been able to argue at trial that he was provoked, his lawyers have told the Court of Appeal (CoA).

Before reserving judgment in the case on Tuesday, however, judges of the court noted there was no evidence of any loss of control by Gehlen and that a provocation defence was “inconsistent” with his claims about how his wife died.

Gehlen, who denies the murder, was sentenced to the mandatory life sentence by Mr Justice Michael MacGrath at the Central Criminal Court in October 2021.

The 40-year-old Brazilian national was convicted by unanimous jury verdict of murdering Ms Colomines (37) at the home they shared in Dorset Square, Gardiner Street Upper, Dublin 1, on the night of October 25th, 2017. The trial heard that Ms Colomines had started seeing another man and told Gehlen she wanted a divorce.

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Gehlen claimed that Ms Colomines had stabbed herself four times during a struggle, which included a fatal injury that penetrated her heart and a 22cm-long knife wound across her neck.

State Pathologist Dr Linda Mulligan told the trial it was “highly unlikely” that Ms Colomines inflicted the injuries on herself. The pathologist also said there were defensive-type injuries to Ms Colomines’ hands, which are often seen when a person tries to block a knife-attack.

The jury accepted the State’s case that Gehlen had displayed the “ultimate in toxic masculinity” by stabbing his wife to death in an effort to control the end of their marriage.

The prosecution had described Gehlen’s account that Ms Colomines had stabbed herself to death after they fought about “another man” as “ridiculous” and “insulting” to the jury.

At the CoA on Tuesday, Gehlen appealed the conviction through his lawyers, who argued that a possible defence of provocation and loss of self-control had not been allowed to be put before the jury by the trial judge.

Seamus Clarke SC, for Gehlen, said that his client had claimed the production of a knife during an argument on the night of his wife’s death amounted to a possible provocation of the defendant by the deceased.

Mr Clarke said the row between Gehlen and Ms Colomines lasted 11 minutes and that this could be “an insufficient amount of time for provocation to dissipate”, which did not bar this line of defence possibly being put to a jury.

Mr Clarke said it had been quite clear that the couple were having marital difficulties. Mr Gehlen had told his friend that evening that Ms Colomines had been “cold.”

Counsel said Gehlen returned home and wanted to see who his wife was talking to online and demanded to see her computer.

Mr Clarke said Gehlen had claimed that Ms Colomines asked for space, then produced a knife and cut herself, telling him: “If you want to damage me or destroy me I am going to destroy you even worse.”

Mr Clarke said Gehlen claimed that there had been a struggle for the knife which resulted in both Gehlen and Ms Colomines falling in the bedroom. During that struggle Ms Colomines stabbed herself in the abdomen, claimed Gehlen.

Mr Clarke said that the argument of provocation had been denied to the defence but that “if there is an air of reality to it, it can go to the jury”.

Presiding judge Mr Justice George Birmingham said that there was no evidence of any loss of control by Mr Gehlen and that therefore any jury would have had to “dream up a defence” itself in relation to provocation.

Ms Justice Úna Ní Raifeartaigh said that according to the evidence in the trial, the stab wounds “were highly unlikely to be self-inflicted” and that if Ms Colomines’ death was “an accident plus self-inflicted wounds”, as claimed, then a provocation defence would be “inconsistent”.

Mr Clarke said that Mr Gehlen claimed his wife said to him on the night: “If I am going to f*** me up, I am going to be sure to f*** you up very well”.

Shane Costelloe SC, for the State, said Gehlen had denied stabbing his wife and added that it was “frankly, entirely contradictory that this was an accident, or an accident and self-harm” for the defence to now say there was an element of provocation.

Mr Costelloe said the defence of provocation had been “kept in the back pocket” of the defendant until late in the trial. “There’s nothing there, it simply doesn’t exist,” said Mr Costelloe.

Mr Justice Birmingham said the non-jury, three-judge court would reserve its judgment in the matter.

In a victim-impact statement, Ms Colomines’ mother, Danielle Gallard, wrote that her life had lost meaning since her daughter’s death. “Anne was my friend, my love, a beautiful, intelligent woman,” she said.

Mr Justice MacGrath said the Colomines family’s grief was made “all the more harrowing” by Gehlen’s attempt to say that Ms Colomines had killed herself.

At the sentencing, Ms Colomines’ father, Jean-Louis, said the “sudden and horrendous loss” of his child was a “huge shock”. His heart is torn, he said, as he can no longer hear his daughter’s voice, her laughter or see her smile.

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