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A man accused of murdering his pregnant girlfriend in Northern Ireland beat a previous partner, a court has heard.
Stephen McCullagh also covertly recorded the counselling sessions of the woman, just months before he met and allegedly killed Natalie McNally, Belfast crown court was told on Friday.
McCullagh, 36, of Lisburn, County Antrim, denies murdering McNally, 32, who was found dead at her home in Lurgan, County Armagh, in December 2022. She was subjected to a prolonged assault that included stab wounds to the neck, strangulation and heavy blows to the head, according to a state pathologist.
Prosecutors allege McCullagh uploaded a prerecorded gaming session to YouTube and pretended it was a live stream to confect an alibi for a crime that was “planned, calculated and premeditated”.
On Friday, the ninth day of the trial, the ex-girlfriend, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she met McCullagh in 2015 and that they had an “off and on” relationship for seven years. At the end of 2019 they met at his home to try to reconcile after a break-up, she said.
McCullagh became angry after discovering she had been messaging and sending images to another man, the woman said. “He pushed me abruptly, yanked the phone off me and pushed me into the bathtub.”
Later that evening, while McCullagh was driving the woman to her home, she attempted to take her own life by jumping from the moving car, she said. McCullagh pulled her back and allegedly hit her. “He punched me in the temple. He said I could kill myself on my own time.”
The defence barrister, John Kearney KC, said McCullagh had no recollection of a physical row in the bathroom and that in the car he had intervened to save her life.
The ex-girlfriend said McCullagh threatened to send pictures from her phone to her family, friends and colleagues and to burn sentimental items of hers that were at his home. The defence disputed both claims.
The couple separated again, resumed contact in 2021 and in January 2022 the woman discovered she was pregnant. After the baby was stillborn, she received counselling and some sessions were held in the living room of McCullagh’s home, where she lived for several months. During the sessions McCullagh would go to his bedroom.
In 2024 police told the woman that recordings of counselling appointments had been found on McCullagh’s computer. She said she had thought the sessions were confidential.
The defence said McCullagh had offered to tape sessions to help her get the most value from counselling and that she had agreed.
The couple separated in early summer 2022. A few weeks later McCullagh started dating McNally, who he met on the dating app Bumble.
Prosecutors allege that on 14 December 2022 McCullagh made a six-hour recording of himself playing Grand Theft Auto and Robot Wars and broadcast it on his YouTube account on 18 December to convey the impression he was at home while in fact he was 17 miles away, committing murder.
It is alleged he disguised himself, took a bus to Lurgan, walked to McNally’s home, killed her and took a taxi home.
On Friday, a taxi driver, Jeffrey McAvoy, told the court that on the evening of the murder a fare was booked from beside Fa’ Joe’s Bar in the centre of Lurgan. McAvoy collected the passenger at 10.40pm, he said. “He was a big person and he put a bag at his feet.”
The passenger asked to be taken to Lisburn, was dropped outside a house at Woodland Gardens at 11.13pm, and paid cash.
A jury of six men and six women is hearing the case in front of Mr Justice Kinney. The trial is expected to last five weeks.
