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 McNally at her Lurgan home in December 2018.

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

'He punched me in the temple'

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

The woman then outlined details of a suicide attempt.

"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.

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."

'I didn't want him going to prison'

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."

Tragically 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 Stephen McCullagh's home.

In 2023 the woman said police told her that recordings had been made of her counselling that had been found on Stephen 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.