Natalie McNally murder accused beat ex-partner, court hears

A Belfast court has heard claims that the man accused of murdering Natalie McNally had previously beaten an ex-partner after finding photographs she had sent to another man while they were separated.

The court also heard that Stephen McCullagh had made a recording of a private counselling session the woman had following the loss of a pregnancy.

This was the ninth day of evidence in the trial of Stephen McCullagh for the murder of his pregnant partner Natalie at her Lurgan home in December 2022.

He denies the charge.

Warning: This story contains details that readers may find distressing.

Giving evidence to the court today was a former girlfriend of McCullagh.

She told the court that she met the defendant at the end of 2015 and that they'd been friends and then an off-and-on couple for seven years. She confirmed that she had become pregnant with McCullagh's child but lost her baby in January 2022.

The witness told the court that on 30 December 2019 she had been at McCullagh's home "trying to reconcile" after a break in their relationship.

She said: "We'd been talking about if we'd been talking to anyone else. I said no but it was a lie."

The woman told the court that she had been messaging and sending images to another man. She said the defendant discovered this after she asked him to have a look at her phone which had been running slowly.

"He started getting upset and crying and getting angry. I tried to calm him down but it wasn't working."

The witness told the court that at one point McCullagh had gone outside for a smoke and she had tried to get him back into the house.

"He pushed me abruptly, yanked the phone off me and pushed me into the bathtub."

Defence Barrister John Kearney KC put it to the witness that McCullagh has no recollection of a physical row in the bathroom - "that it didn't happen."

The woman said: "It did happen."

Later that night McCullagh was driving the woman back to her house.

The woman then outlined details of an attempt to take her own life during that drive home.

In her evidence the woman said she had tried to jump out of McCullagh's moving car which was travelling at around 45-50mph. But she said he had pulled her back in before hitting her a number of times.

"He stopped abruptly," she said.

"He punched me in the temple. He said I could kill myself on my own time."

The defence challenged this, saying that in McCullagh's version he didn't say this and that he had intervened to prevent her hurting herself.

Sections of a police interview he gave on the matter on 4 January 2020were also read to the court. In his interview McCullagh told police that after his former girlfriend opened the door of the moving car, "I pulled her harder than I've ever pulled anyone".

He said the manner in which he had hit her wasn't malicious, rather a means of saying 'don't do that'.

The witness said that McCullagh had threatened to send the pictures from her phone to her family, friends and work colleagues.

The defence argued that the defendant had taken a photo on his own phone of some of those messages and shown her that he'd done it as he knew they'd be discussing the matter later. He denies threatening to send them further.

She also said he told her he would burn sentimental items of hers that were in his house.

Again the defence challenged this, stating that the defendant had given her her things back and that he had instead told her that: "A lesser man would burn your stuff."

The woman said she'd made an initial complaint to police on 31 December but made a second statement on 2 January 2020 withdrawing her complaint.

She told the court: "I thought him hitting me was trying to knock some sense in to me, because that's what he said. I didn't want him going to prison."

She said the couple remained separated until 2021 when they began talking again. In January 2022 the woman discovered she was pregnant.

"I found out I was pregnant on 7 January. I got contractions and went to the doctor."

The baby was stillborn.

"When I moved back in with Stephen I sought answers to understand what had happened."

The woman said she then received counselling sessions both at home and at a medical facility in Lisburn.

"A counsellor was coming to Stephen's house when I was living there. I was very tearful day to day."

These home counselling session took place in the living room of McCullagh's home.

In 2023 the woman said police told her that recordings had been made of her counselling that had been found on McCullagh's computer. The woman said she didn't know this was happening.

"I was always told it was confidential between the counsellor and the person they are talking to," she said.

The defence said that the defendant had offered to tape the sessions to help her get the best from the sessions and that she had agreed and it had only happened once.

"He never discussed with me, recording my sessions."

The couple separated in early summer 2022.

During this afternoon's sitting on Friday taxi driver Jeffrey McAvoy told the court that on the evening of 18 December 2022 he was assigned a fare that had been booked through the fonaCAB app.

The taxi was booked from beside Fa Joe's Bar in the centre of Lurgan to the Northwood area of the town.

He arrived at around 22:40 GMT and a man then approached the car.

"He was alone and got into the passenger seat," McAvoy said and added: "He was a big person and he put a bag at his feet."

He told the court that originally the booking had been for Northwood and the man had been able to tell him this. But he instead told him he had to go to Lisburn.

"He said his mother was unwell and everything was left to him to sort out," Mr McAvoy said.

"He seemed annoyed about having to go to Lisburn."

They arrived outside a house in Woodland Gardens at 23:13 GMT.

"He said this is the address. I think the hedge was fairly high. I was unable to see the house behind it," McAvoy said.

"He said he hoped the family had money to pay. He left the car, went in the entrance and came back with money. He left the bag in the car. It was no more than five minutes."

McAvoy said he'd cleaned his car out on 31 December 2022.

Written evidence from two members of fonaCab staff was then read to the court.

One said that a man had booked a taxi through the app and that there had been a phone call to the depot at 22.30 GMT from someone stating that they had booked a taxi but the operator had misunderstood and said they were fully booked and to try again.

GPS data also showed the route to Woodland Gardens.

The trial continues.