diff --git a/src/core/providers/ogr/qgsogrproviderconnection.cpp b/src/core/providers/ogr/qgsogrproviderconnection.cpp
index 311c38752f8..036b55a62c6 100644
--- a/src/core/providers/ogr/qgsogrproviderconnection.cpp
+++ b/src/core/providers/ogr/qgsogrproviderconnection.cpp
@@ -281,13 +281,15 @@ void QgsOgrProviderConnection::addFieldDomain( const QgsFieldDomain &domain, con
   {
     if ( OGRFieldDomainH ogrDomain = QgsOgrUtils::convertFieldDomain( &domain ) )
     {
-      char **failureReason = nullptr;
-      if ( !GDALDatasetAddFieldDomain( hDS.get(), ogrDomain, failureReason ) )
+      char *failureReason = nullptr;
+      if ( !GDALDatasetAddFieldDomain( hDS.get(), ogrDomain, &failureReason ) )
       {
         OGR_FldDomain_Destroy( ogrDomain );
-        QString error( failureReason ? *failureReason : nullptr );
+        QString error( failureReason );
+        CPLFree( failureReason );
         throw QgsProviderConnectionException( QObject::tr( "Could not create field domain: %1" ).arg( error ) );
       }
+      CPLFree( failureReason );
       OGR_FldDomain_Destroy( ogrDomain );
     }
     else
diff --git a/tests/src/python/test_qgsproviderconnection_ogr_gpkg.py b/tests/src/python/test_qgsproviderconnection_ogr_gpkg.py
index 57a992e86ba..66b1d45798d 100644
--- a/tests/src/python/test_qgsproviderconnection_ogr_gpkg.py
+++ b/tests/src/python/test_qgsproviderconnection_ogr_gpkg.py
@@ -223,6 +223,11 @@ class TestPyQgsProviderConnectionGpkg(unittest.TestCase, TestPyQgsProviderConnec
         self.assertEqual(res.minimum(), 5)
         self.assertEqual(res.maximum(), 15)
 
+        # try adding another with a duplicate name, should fail
+        with self.assertRaises(QgsProviderConnectionException) as e:
+            conn.addFieldDomain(domain, '')
+        self.assertEqual(str(e.exception), 'Could not create field domain: A domain of identical name already exists')
+
         domain = QgsGlobFieldDomain('my new glob domain', 'my new glob desc', QVariant.String, '*aaabc*')
         conn.addFieldDomain(domain, '')