Jessica Silva: Behind a mother's long road to clearing her name
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It was a case that captivated New South Wales — a young mother in a desperate situation who stabbed her abusive former partner to death.
Jessica Silva has been cleared of manslaughter after she killed her ex-partner James Polkinghorne with a kitchen knife at Marrickville in 2012.
Ms Silva's lawyer today described the case as "having no winners" but his client would be celebrating after having her manslaughter conviction overturned.
This is how it unfolded:
Relationship over
March 2012
Jessica Silva, 23, ends her four-year relationship with James Polkinghorne, the father of her child. The childcare worker had suffered years of extreme domestic abuse at his hands.
Polkinghorne stabbed to death
May 13, 2012
James Polkinghorne arrives at the Silva family's Marrickville home after making a number of extremely threatening calls to Jessica Silva.
He was high on the drug ice and attacked Ms Silva as well as her father and brother on the street outside the front of the home.
A 'hysterical' Ms Silva runs into the house and grabs a kitchen knife, stabbing him at least five times and killing 28-year-old Polkinghorne.
The young mother is arrested by police at the scene and later charged with murder.
'Not guilty' murder plea
November 12, 2014
Ms Silva pleads not guilty to charges of murder and manslaughter and a Supreme Court trial begins in front of a jury. She is on bail throughout the trial.
Years of abuse
December 2, 2014
The jury hears evidence of the "savage, cruel and degrading" domestic abuse Ms Silva was subjected to for years.
Guilty of manslaughter
December 4, 2014
The jury finds Ms Silva not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter. She collapses in the dock as the verdict is read out. She is released on bail pending her sentence.
Silva avoids jail
March 6, 2015
Ms Silva is sentenced to 18 months in jail but the sentence is wholly suspended by Supreme Court Justice Clifton Hoeben who found "... the death was committed under extreme circumstances in the agony of the moment".
Bid to clear her name
June 27, 2016
Ms Silva appeals to the Court of Criminal Appeal to have the manslaughter conviction overturned and her name cleared. Her lawyer argues that she was acting in self-defence.
Conviction overturned
December 7, 2016
The Court of Criminal Appeal overturns Ms Silva's conviction in a non-unanimous decision.
Justice Lucy McCallum noted "Ms Silva can only have perceived the deceased's attack on her that evening as urgent, life-threatening and inescapable".
The court orders that a judgment and verdict of acquittal be entered.
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, courts-and-trials, murder-and-manslaughter, sydney-2000
