The former partner of Natalie McNally carried out a “planned, calculated, premeditated murder” that he “hoped to get away with”, a jury has heard at the opening day of the trial.
Stephen McCullagh (36), from Woodland Gardens in Lisburn, Co Antrim, has denied her murder.
McNally (32) was killed at her home in Silverwood Green, Lurgan, on the night of December 18th, 2022, when she was 15 weeks pregnant.
It was the accused who “first raises the alarm” the day after the murder, the court heard.
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On Monday McCullagh cried in the dock when the 999 call he made from McNally’s home was played to the jury of six men and six women at Belfast crown court.
During the 10-minute call, which was made at 9.55pm on Monday, December 19th, 2022, McCullagh is heard sobbing when he asked for paramedics to attend the scene.
He screamed: “Please come as soon as you can, she’s pregnant, she’s cold. There’s blood everywhere.”
The jury listened to McCullagh being instructed to carry out cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
He told the call handler that McNally was 15 weeks pregnant.
“We have a scan tomorrow,” he said.
The McNally family and supporters filled the public gallery of court 13 at the Laganside court complex.
Earlier the prosecution barrister, Charles MacCreanor, told the jury the cause of death was found to have involved compression of her neck, “suggestive of fingertips grasping”.
The murder was carried out between 8.50pm and 9.30pm.
McNally suffered “serious and multiple fatal injuries”.
There were three stab wounds to her neck caused by a “bladed weapon” and “blunt-force trauma” in the form of five lacerations to the back, top and right of her head, the court heard.
These injuries were in keeping with her having sustained “at least five heavy blows” to the head.
Jurors were told McCullagh was the father of the deceased’s unborn child.
The defendant made the 999 call at 9.55pm. The prosecution barrister described the call as “false”.
“It’s an act, it’s put on by him, part of his plan to do the murder and get away with it,” MacCreanor said.
The court was also shown footage of McCullagh posting an advertisement for a six-hour stream of an online game he was hosting and live streaming on the night of the murder.
It was called The Violent Night Christmas Live Gaming Stream.
The prosecution barrister said the stream was “not in fact live at all”.
“The live stream was recorded some days before. The defendant had simply played a recording.”
McCullagh “peddled a false alibi” when he told police he was streaming online from 6pm to midnight on the evening of the murder, jurors were told.
Jurors heard that McCullough last saw the deceased at 1pm at his home on the day she was killed.
She then left to travel to her parents’ home in Lurgan to watch the World Cup final.
It was the prosecution case that the live stream was the “cover story” for McCullagh to travel by bus from Dunmurry to Lurgan to carry out the murder before returning to Lisburn in a taxi, MacCreanor said.
Jurors will be shown CCTV footage during the trial which showed that McCullagh “changed his clothes and is in disguise”, he said.
The court heard McCullagh told police he went to McNally’s home on Monday, December 19th because it was “out of character” for her not to be in touch.
He thought she may have been angry with him because he had been drinking during the live stream despite promising he wouldn’t drink alcohol during her pregnancy, the court heard.
The defendant was also concerned she had fallen ill because she was diabetic and may have had a hypoglycaemia attack.
McCullagh was arrested by police on the evening of the killing on suspicion of murder.
He was interviewed by detectives the following day and released on December 20th.
He told police an “abusive” ex-boyfriend of McNally had murdered her.
On Christmas Eve McCullagh was advised by police that he was no longer a suspect in the case.
His rearrest came in late January 2023 following an “extensive” PSNI investigation, during which a cyber crime team discovered the defendant’s live stream was pre-recorded.
When challenged by police about the matter, the defendant said: “That’s literally impossible because you can see it on YouTube.”
In a pre-prepared statement submitted on February 2nd, McCullagh admitted the stream had been recorded days earlier.
Addressing the issue of a motive for murder, the prosecution barrister outlined that the deceased’s phone was examined by police and some friendly and “flirty” messages were found between her and some males.
Some messages were of a “sexual nature” and this may have “enraged” McCullagh who had the passcode to her phone, he said.
The trial continues.
