A former boyfriend of Lurgan woman Natalie McNally broke down in tears today (Wednesday) as he described her as “the nicest girl” who was “over the moon” about her pregnancy.
After being asked again by defence barrister John Kearney KC if he killed Ms McNally or “recruited” anyone to help him kill her, he replied “no.”
Ms McNally was aged 32 and 15 weeks pregnant when she was beaten, stabbed and strangled in her Silverwood Green home in Lurgan on the evening of Sunday December 18, 2022.
The father of her unborn child, 36-year old Stephen McCullagh from Woodland Gardens in Lisburn, has been accused of and has denied her murder.
Her former boyfriend, who can’t be named due to a reporting restriction, spent a third day in the witness box at Belfast Crown Court where he once again directly addressed McCullagh and shouted “you killed her.”
During a sometimes tense cross-examination, Mr Kearney told the witness it was McCullagh’s case that he had killed Ms McNally.
After being asked “was it you that killed” Mc McNally, the witness replied “no.”
He also rejecting being in Ms McNally’s house on the evening of Sunday December 18, 2022.
The jury of six men and six women have already heard that on the evening of the murder, the witness consumed alcohol, fell asleep on his sofa then went to bed.
Mr Kearney then asked the witness if he understood it was McCullagh’s case that he “didn’t do it”.
At this point, the witness shouted “he done it” then glaring at McCullagh as he sat in the dock, he shouted “you done it … you killed her.”
Before he left the witness box, the former boyfriend was asked a final series of questions by Crown barrister Charles MacCreanor KC.
Asked how he felt when he heard Mc McNally was pregnant, the witness said he was “happy for her” and that she “really wanted to be a mum.”
He described Mc McNally’s relationship with his daughter as “beautiful” and, breaking down in tears he said “she was the nicest girl.”
He then addressed McCullagh again and shouted “I don’t know why you killed her.”
At the conclusion of his evidence his now-ex partner, whose identity is also the subject of a reporting restriction, was called to give evidence.
Via a videolink, she confirmed that in December 2022 she had been living with him in his in flat and was pregnant with his child.
Questioned first by the Crown barrister, she was asked about the evening of Sunday, December 18, 2022.
Recalling the World Cup Final was screened that evening, the witness was asked what she and her then partner did that evening.
She said they were together in the flat and he was “drinking and getting excited about the football that night.”
When asked if they watched the match, she said “I watched the full game” but he “fell asleep mid-game then I woke him up.”
At this point, a short video she recorded was played to the jury which showed the match on the TV and the male lying sleeping on the sofa in the living room.
The woman said she sent the video to her father then woke her partner up “so he wouldn’t miss the last bit of the football.”
Asked by Mr MacCreanor what happened after the match, she said a Harry Potter film came on and he fell asleep again watching that.
Following this, she said she went into the bedroom where she watched YouTube videos on her phone in bed.
She said couldn’t remember the exact time “he came through” but she fell asleep at around 1am.
When asked is she was aware of him leaving the flat at any stage that night, she replied: “No, he didn’t leave.”
Mr MacCreanor also asked the woman if she had tracked her partner’s phone. Confirming she had, the woman said this was “because I was suspicious about him seeing Natalie.”
She also confirmed that she accessed his phone while he was sleeping that night and that she took his car keys and “hid them.”
Asked why she did this, she said it was “because I had seen the messages between him and Natalie” and that after she read them she felt “numb.”
The witness was also cross-examined by Mr Kearney who asked her about statements she made to the police about “this matter” and about a more recent statement made on March 1 this year.
She admitted she lied to police in December 2022 when they called at the flat in the aftermath of Ms McNally’s murder.
Asked what the lie was, she said she falsely told police she hadn’t been living with her then-partner in his flat.
This, she said, was because there was an acrimony between him and his ex and she didn’t want the ex knowing she was living with him.
Mr Kearney then asked her about a statement she made on March 1 this year regarding events on February 28.
In her statement, she claimed her now-ex partner had been abusive to her during the relationship, had hit and beat her and had sent her threatening text messages.
Asked by Mr Kearney if she had told the truth to police, she replied “no” then said the threatening text messages were the truth but that “the rest of the allegations are just allegations.”
When asked if it was true that her ex hit, beat or choked her, she replied “no” then added “I was in a bad mental state when I made that statement so I didn’t really understand what I was doing.”
Mr Justice Kinney then told the witness that in relation to this statement made earlier this month, she could refuse to answer questions on the grounds she could incriminate herself.
Following this, Mr Kearney asked her a series of questions about the statement she made, which she refused to answer.
These questions included if she told police her partner had hit, beaten or grabbed her by the throat her during the course of their relationship, whether he had pinned her son up against a wall and whether she provided a screenshot of a message he sent to police.
Asked if she was afraid of her ex, she said “I don’t wish to answer” and when asked if she was “afraid to tell the jury about what happened on February 28th of this year”, she replied “no.”
Mr Kearney also asked her if she “deliberately lied to get him into trouble?” and she said “no.”
She answered “no” again when asked “are you now deliberately lying under oath” to get him “out of trouble”.
She is due to return to court tomorrow morning (Thursday) to continue giving evidence.
