Natalie McNally was murdered because a ‘narrative of misogyny’ has been “built into our culture”, Rape Crisis Network Ireland has said.
Yesterday, a jury in Belfast found Stephen McCullagh of Woodland Gardens in Lisburn guilty of her murder.
Ms McNally was found beaten and strangled to death at her home in Lurgan, County Armagh on 18th December 2022.
At the time of her death, she had been in a relationship with McCullagh for a number of months and was 15 weeks pregnant with his child.
Stephen McCullagh.The jury of six men and six women had deliberated for two hours, before returning a verdict of guilty.
Mr Justice Kinney informed McCullagh that the offence of murder carries a life sentence. A tariff hearing is scheduled for May, when he will be informed of the minimum number of years he must serve before he becomes eligible for parole.
On Newstalk Breakfast, Rape Crisis Network Ireland Executive Director Cliona Sadlier described Ms McNally’s murder as “horrific”.
“The level of violence described in the court, it took 40 minutes to describe her injuries,” she said.
“But the other part of it, of course, is that this was entirely premeditated.
“It was planned, the cover story was planned; afterwards Stephen McCullough then played the role of the grieving ex-partner.”
At no point during the trial did McCullagh take the stand in his defence.
He has never - and may never - explain why he murdered Ms McNally.
The truth always comes out.
Today, justice has finally been served for Natalie.
Natalie is, and always will be, what matters most.
Nothing can ever bring Natalie or her unborn baby boy, Dean, back.
But they will remain forever in our hearts. 🩷💙 pic.twitter.com/QmemAIvS5I
— Niall McNally (@IrishBlue1878) March 23, 2026
However, the prosecution argued that he might have seen messages on her phone, in which she spoke about leaving him.
Ms Sadlier argued that while McCullagh’s actions testify to the “coldness” of his character, they also tell us something about Irish society and the way many men still view women.
“It speaks to an infrastructure that allowed him to do that, where he planned this, where he sat with her the night before watching sitcoms - when he had already planned her murder,” Ms Sadlier continued.
“That is about an infrastructure that allowed him to do that; that's about a support structure that gave him, if you like, the permissions.
“And those permissions were about his sense of entitlement to own her, to treat her as an object and to punish her right up to death.
“He had a narrative behind that and that narrative was misogyny.
“And that narrative, if you like, is built into our culture.”
Since 2020, 30 women have been killed in Northern Ireland.
In all but one case, a man has been convicted or charged with their murder.
For at least two thirds of these women, the man who killed them was someone they knew well.
“What we do know is that women are most at risk from the people close to them - and certainly from their partners and ex-partners,” Ms Sadlier said.
“And that's part of the nature of violence against women, is the intimacy of that violence.”
Anyone in need of emotional support can contact the Samaritans on 116 123.
If you have been impacted by sexual violence, you can contact Dublin Rape Crisis Centre on 1800 77 8888 24 hours a day.
Main image: Natalie McNally. Picture by: PA Media.
