Natalie McNally suffered ‘prolonged assault’, murder trial hears

Natalie McNally suffered a “prolonged assault” with “multiple blows” to her head, strangulation and stab wounds to her neck, the trial of a man accused of her murder has heard.

Stephen McCullagh showed no emotion in the dock as the injuries sustained by the deceased were outlined by the pathologist who carried out the autopsy on the 32-year-old’s body.

Jurors were told by Dr James Lyness on the second day of the murder trial at Belfast crown court that the Co Armagh woman was 15 weeks pregnant with a baby boy.

“It seems likely that the foetus died as a result of the assault,” he said.

Natalie McNally was killed in her home at Silverwood Green, Lurgan, on the night of Sunday, December 18th, 2022.

McCullagh (36) from Woodland Gardens in Lisburn, Co Antrim, was her partner and father of her unborn child.

He denies the murder.

On Tuesday, Lyness gave evidence on the results of the autopsy he performed on December 21st, 2022.

The jury of six men and six women were told the cause of death was “compression of the neck, stab wounds of the neck and blunt force trauma of the head”.

Dozens of injuries to Natalie McNally’s head, face, neck, mouth, hands, arms and lower body were outlined by Lyness, Northern Ireland’s state pathologist.

A CT scan was carried out on her internal injuries and the pathologist re-examined the deceased the next day.

It was a “complex case”, he said.

The McNally family listened in the public gallery as the pathologist outlined the extent of the three stab wounds to her neck, five lacerations to her scalp and multiple bruising.

Some of the injuries may have been caused by her being “punched” or hit with a blunt object.

“The neck and stab wounds could have caused death on their own”, Lyness said.

“It is difficult to completely exclude the possibility that the multiple severe head injuries she had sustained may have played some part in the overall fatal sequence.”

There was a possibility that Natalie McNally, who was of “slim” build and 1.6m (5½ft) tall, “raised her arms to protect herself” given the type of injuries found on her fingertips, the pathologist said.

“Additional bruises on the backs of the hand may have been caused if she had punched a hard surface but could also have been the result of blunt blows in an attempt to protect her body.”

She may have survived for a “short period of time in an unconscious state”, he added.

There was bleeding on the “cling film layer” over the surface of her brain.

The stab wounds were caused by a “bladed weapon”, such as the knife found at the scene, the pathologist said.

Asked by defence barrister John Kearney to outline the sequence of the attack, Lyness replied: “I can’t come to court and say which of the three injuries (strangulation, blunt force trauma to head and stabbing) occurred in sequence.”

Death would have occurred “quite rapidly” following the stabbing of the deceased’s jugular vein, the pathologist told the court.

“What I believe is that this was a prolonged assault,” he said.

Earlier on Tuesday, a police officer who attended the scene of the murder became emotional as he described the moment he saw blood in a dog bowl beside Natalie McNally’s body.

“It looked like it [the bowl] was used to collect the blood,” Kyle Stewart told the court.

The PSNI officer said he could see what appeared to be a “puncture wound” on her neck.

The accused was in the hallway of the house and was “very upset, he was crying”, Stewart added.

During the opening of the prosecution case on Monday, jurors were told that McCullagh carried out a “planned, calculated, premeditated murder” that he “hoped to get away with”.

The trial continues.