The 36-year old man accused of beating, stabbing and strangling his pregnant partner in her Lurgan home declined to give evidence at her murder trial today (Monday).
Natalie McNally was aged 32 and 15 weeks pregnant when she was killed in her Silverwood Green home on the evening of Sunday December 18, 2022.
The father of her unborn child, Stephen McCullagh from Woodland Gardens in Lisburn, has been accused of and has denied her murder.
After the last prosecution witness gave evidence and a final agreed set of facts was presented to the jury, the Crown’s case concluded.
Now in its fourth week, the hearing at Belfast Crown Court took a step further to conclusion when Mr Justice Kinney was told by Crown barrister Charles MacCreanor KC: “My Lord, that is the prosecution case.”
Following a break for lunch, the jury of six women and six men returned to court.
They were addressed by Mr Justice Kinney who confirmed that as the Crown had now completed its evidence, there would be no more evidence “called by the prosecution.”
The Judge added: “It is now open to the defendant to call any evidence that he wishes on his own behalf.”
Mr Justice Kinney then asked defence barrister John Kearney KC “have you advised your client that the stage has now been reached at which he may give evidence, and if he chooses not to do so … the jury may draw such inferences as appear proper from his failure to do so?”
Mr Kearney said his client “has been so advised” and after the judge asked “and what is his intention?”, the barrister replied “we’re not calling any evidence, My Lord.”
Mr Justice Kinney then addressed the jury again and said “that means the defence are not calling any evidence.
“I will address that at a later stage in the trial but that means you’re not going to hear any more evidence in the case.”
The jurors were also told: “We’re going to move shortly to the next phase of the trial coming towards the conclusion.”
This, Mr Justice Kinney said, will come in the form of closing submissions from both the Crown and defence before he addresses them.
Reminding the jury that the trial is not sitting tomorrow due to St Patrick’s Day, Mr Justice Kinney told them to “enjoy the day off” and to return to court on Wednesday morning.
Before they left, the 12 members were reminded that the trial is now at a “crucial” stage and warned them not to carry out any research or discuss the case with anyone else.
Prior to this, the senior investigating officer in the case spent a second day in the witness box being cross examined by Mr Kearney.
After being called to the witness box for the second time, the detective chief inspector was handed a 498-page document containing the details of WhatsApp messages exchanged between McCullagh and Ms McNally, who met on Bumble dating website.
This communication started on August 7, 2022 and continued until December 19, 2022 which Mr Kearney said spanned the 133 days of their relationship.
The police officer confirmed the messages were analysed in an effort to assist in the type of relationship between Ms McNally and McCullagh.
He also confirmed messages were analysed to determine whether the texts were loving and respectful as well as indicators of arguments, abuse, violence and fallouts.
Asked by Mr Kearney if it was “right to say there was not a single trace of any argument between the defendant and Ms McNally across any of those 133 days of this relationship?”, the officer replied: “I did not note anything of that nature in the WhatsApp conversations.”
The detective chief inspector was asked by Mr Kearney if the content and tone of these messages were the “polar opposite” to a series of messages exchanged between Ms McNally and an ex-boyfriend.
The witness replied: “They were very, very different types of conversations.”
Mr Kearney said the WhatsApp messages began with Ms McNally and McCullagh arranging their first date in Belfast and continued as “everyday ordinary normality.”
The police officer described the messages as “banal” and said: “One of the things I noted was a lack of any real affection.”
Other messages concerned pets, food, work and days out then in October Ms McNally WhatsApped McCullagh to tell her she was pregnant.
Following this, Mr Kearney said the messages between the couple turned to future living arrangements, baby scans, nicknaming their unborn child ‘Little Squish’ and the pending Christmas.
Returning to the officer’s suggest of lack of affection between his client and Ms McNally, Mr Kearney then read a series of messages exchanged between the couple.
These includes messages they sent each other saying ‘I love you’ and others were they both express excitement about the baby.
Before leaving the witness box, the detective chief inspector was asked by Mr MacCreanor about other messages contained in the document.
The prosecutor read several messages were McCullagh mentioned going out for a walk and walking Ms McNally’s dog.
The officer confirmed these messages were in the bundle.
Following this, a final set of agreed facts were presented to the jury which included McCullagh having no previous criminal convictions.
At hearing.
The trial so far…
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Section of police interview with Natalie McNally murder suspect played to jury
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Natalie McNally murder trial: Texts between three males and victim read to jury
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Natalie McNally murder trial: Ex-partner’s girlfriend tells jury ‘we did not plan any sort of alibi’
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Ex-boyfriend denies killing or that he ‘recruited’ anyone to help him murder Natalie McNally
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Natalie McNally trial: Ex-partner recalled being told ‘she’s been murdered’ in Snapchat message
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‘You killed her’: Ex-boyfriend tells accused in court during Natalie McNally murder trial
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Ex-partner tells court she was ‘slapped and punched’ by Natalie McNally murder accused during late-night car journey
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‘He just kept howling and crying’: Best friend of murder accused tells court of call on night Natalie McNally was found dead
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Natalie McNally trial: Mum breaks down in court as she recalls only daughter’s murder
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Man accused of murdering Natalie McNally told police ‘aggressive’ ex-boyfriend had been harassing her
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CCTV footage concerning ‘person of interest’ shown to jurors at Natalie McNally murder trial
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Cyber expert tells trial there was ‘extensive evidence’ live stream was pre-recorded
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YouTube ‘live stream’ made by man accused of Natalie McNally murder played for jury
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Natalie McNally subjected to ‘prolong assault’ and likely her unborn child ‘died as a result’, says pathologist
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Dog bowl beside head of Natalie McNally ‘almost like it had been used to collect the blood’, murder trial hears
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Constable ‘tried to console’ accused who was ‘distraught’ at scene
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Jury hears 999 call from man accused of killing pregnant partner
