An inmate jailed for six years for stabbing another man has had his conviction quashed on appeal.

Donovan Kitching, who has consistently denied involvement in the attack, was convicted of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm following a trial in May last year. He was sentenced in October 2023 to six years in prison, with a further six months added consecutively for breaching a suspended sentence.

A retrial will now take place after Appeal Judges Anthony Cross KC and Simon Farrell ruled Kitching’s conviction was ‘unsafe’ during a full hearing on Monday. The decision followed a detailed review of the trial process and the way evidence was presented to the jury.

Kitching lodged an appeal shortly after the verdict. A permission hearing was held at the Court of Appeal in February, where he represented himself.

At that hearing, he argued the conviction was unsafe due to misrepresentation by his advocate, errors in the deemster’s summing-up, and improper judicial intervention.

The court allowed the appeal to proceed only on the grounds of errors in the summing-up and judicial intervention. Kitching’s claim of misrepresentation was dismissed.

After hearing from prosecutor Roger Kane, who was not involved in the original trial, and who accepted there were concerns about the case, the judges ruled without needing to hear further from Kitching, who again represented himself.

Isle of Man Today cannot report the exact reasons for the conviction being overturned as it could prejudice the retrial.

Although Kitching was initially represented by a barrister, he chose to act without legal representation after objecting to the limited grounds of appeal his barrister was willing to pursue. His decision left him to handle the proceedings personally, including cross-examination and submissions.

The case relates to an incident on August 19, 2023. The court previously heard the victim was lured to the Cinder Path in Douglas by Michael Glover, who has since been sentenced to 28 months in custody for his role.

The meeting was arranged under the pretext of a cannabis deal. The victim was allegedly threatened over a £10,000 drug debt and told he must agree a payment plan or face ‘consequences’.

He agreed to meet Glover at the Cinder Path, off Peel Road, to buy cannabis. There he was attacked by a masked man wielding an unidentified implement.

The victim raised his hands to protect himself and was struck near the ear and on the hand. He sustained a 4cm cut to his left hand, which required six stitches, and a 1.5cm wound to his head.

Although the attacker wore a ski-type mask, the victim told the court at trial he recognised the assailant as Kitching.

The victim fled down the path, pursued briefly by the attacker, who slipped and abandoned the chase. He then ran to a nearby property on Ballakermeen Road, entered through an open garage and phoned his father to report he had been stabbed.