diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
index b57b9954b3..12cc447180 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
@@ -831,7 +831,6 @@ qemuDomainObjPrivateXMLParse(xmlXPathContextPtr ctxt,
             goto error;
     }
     virObjectUnref(caps);
-    caps = NULL;
     VIR_FREE(tmp);
 
     return 0;