Daniel Murtagh sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering former partner Nadine Lott
Nadine Lott sadly passed away in 2019

Daniel Murtagh sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering former partner Nadine Lott

By Alison O’Riordan

Nadine Lott’s mother has described the scene at her daughter’s apartment, where she was beaten by her former partner to the point where she was “completely unrecognisable”, as one of “total horror”.

Claire Lott told the Central Criminal Court on Monday that a “savage, brutal and evil attack” had been inflicted on her “baby” Nadine by murderer Daniel Murtagh, whom she called the “devil at work”.

She said that her family remain “haunted” by thoughts of her daughter’s “terror, fear, panic and cries” during the “prolonged, evil attack” carried out by Murtagh, who was described as a “monster”.

Speaking of her family’s love for Nadine, Claire Lott said: “No one can remove your light from our lives. Shine bright darling. We are proud that you were ours. I am so honoured to call you my daughter. We love you honey.”

Referring to the two-week trial at the Central Criminal Court which commenced last July, Mrs Lott said that her family had been “dragged” through it, which has “added fresh grief and new nightmares to the memories we carry every day”.

“We now have even more detail, evidence and pictures of the extreme gravity of Nadine’s suffering. The callous, coldness and unremorseful evil that forced our beautiful Nadine from us, her family,” she said.

Mrs Lott had described to the jury during the trial the moment she found her daughter lying on her back in the kitchen of her apartment, gurgling and gasping for air. “I couldn’t recognise her face, I couldn’t recognise it was Nadine,” she recalled.

During today’s sentence hearing, Mrs Lott elaborated on the “total horror” of that night on December 13, 2019 saying: “The total carnage that we entered, can and never will be forgotten.

“The house, her beautiful apartment, was the sight of a horror movie. Nadine’s blood splashed everywhere, broken glass, smashed mirrors, just total horror. When we got to the kitchen the screams of my son and my younger daughter, I will always carry with me.”

Nadine Lott’s former partner was sentenced to a mandatory life sentence

She continued: “Nadine, my daughter, my baby was beyond recognition, she was gasping, blood pouring from her in so many places that all I could do was lie on the floor with her holding her hand trying to give comfort, comfort that I was there.”

The testimony was heard as part of an emotional victim impact statement read on Monday to the Central Criminal Court, where 34-year-old Daniel Murtagh was sentenced to the mandatory term of life imprisonment for murdering his former partner Nadine Lott.

In her statement, Mrs Lott said the staff at St Vincent’s Hospital had “tried so hard” and “went above and beyond”, with “many visibly emotional at what they were seeing and dealing with”. “For people who witness a lot in their daily roles this was testament to the monstrosity and evil Nadine had endured in her final hours,” she added.

Nadine died three days later on December 17, a time which Mrs Lott described as a “nightmare” which “had no ending”. “That same evening Nadine was taken from the hospital to the coroner’s morgue, as now my daughter was evidence, my baby was evidence, her little body would be used to help with her case. Nadine’s case against a monster for the evil she had endured,” she said.

“Life without Nadine is cruel, empty, to have to carry on without her every minute of every day is a struggle. The never-ending pain, tangible emptiness, constant flashbacks are now part of an existence for us – Nadine’s adoring family. We live in a never-ending nightmare that has no waking up time. We are haunted by Nadine’s terror, fear, panic, cries on that night during the prolonged evil attack,” she said.

On August 5, Murtagh, of Melrose Grove, Bawnogue, Clondalkin, Dublin 22 was convicted by unanimous jury verdict of murdering his 30-year-old ex-partner Ms Lott at her apartment in St Mary’s Court, Arklow, Co Wicklow on December 17, 2019. He had pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter.

Criminal Courts of Justice 1

Central Criminal Court

Passing sentence today, Mr Justice Michael MacGrath called the murder of Nadine “brutal” and said that the evidence from gardai and first responders who attended the scene in the aftermath of the attack, some who remain greatly upset, was “testament to the terror, evil and brutality” that the deceased was subjected to.

The judge said the actions that Nadine’s family had to carry out at the scene, in particular Claire Lott who he said made efforts to keep her daughter alive, were “unimaginable”. He said these circumstances exemplified the “great bond” in this “very caring and close knit family”, adding that the family had all carried themselves with “great dignity” throughout the trial.

Mr Justice MacGrath extended his condolences to the Lott family and friends “on a greatly loved and greatly loving daughter and friend”. In particular, the judge said that he wished to mention Claire Lott, who showed “great courage and love in the face of a most terrifying and horrific experience”. “This will continue to have an enduring effect on all those who loved Nadine Lott,” he concluded.

The judge then sentenced Murtagh to the mandatory term of life imprisonment for murder. The sentence was backdated to December 16 2019, when he went into custody.

Earlier, Detective Garda Darren Mulhall told the court that Murtagh has nine previous convictions for threatening, abusive and insulting behaviour in a public place. The most recent of these offences was committed in 2011 and the rest date back to 2006. The court heard that all his previous convictions are of “the same nature” and at District Court level.

Det Gda Mulhall told the hearing that Murtagh was Nadine’s former partner and there had been “no relationship” between them since 2016.

Mrs Lott began her victim impact statement by saying that her second child Nadine was born on October 6 in 1989 and she described her as “a textbook baby and a bubbly child”.

She added: “She loved to run around making people laugh, she was such a loving child. I would say to Nadine as a baby, ‘what would I do without you’. Her response was, ‘be lost mammy!’. This phrase we said often even up until our very last day together. And now here I am lost.”

“Nadine was popular, she was the funny one, the caring one, the sharer, the listener and problem solver. She made lifelong friends and loved each one of them individually, she always found the best in a person,” said Mrs Lott.

Referring to her occupation as a beauty therapist, she said Nadine loved the beauty industry since infancy and had “carved out a successful career for herself in doing what she loved”. “She was loved by her friends, colleagues, and clients.

“This we felt in abundance through the thousands of messages and memories received in the wake of Nadine’s last few days and passing,” she continued.

Mrs Lott said Nadine played “a huge part” in caring for her nanny in her last few months prior to her [nanny’s] passing in February 2019. “She would read, sing songs on request, and climb into the hospital bed to give comforting cuddles.

“And she was also a rock to my father in his mourning, giving of her time so generously. This was not a task to Nadine, she did it without a thought, as this was Nadine’s nature. She had the most loving, caring, trusting nature. Anyone who knew Nadine knew this side of her.

“As she said herself, she wore her heart on her sleeve, signified by the heart shaped birthmark on her arm,” said Mrs Lott.

Nadine was at a point of her life, her mother said, where she was at her happiest. “She loved her life, her apartment, her job, her car and financially she was secure. Everything had come together for her.

“In her own words ‘I am actually so happy I don’t need anything else’. She had goals to increase her working hours, she had also been approached to do some catalogue modelling. Life was so exciting, it had so much promise. She was building a solid future for herself,” she continued.

However, Mrs Lott told the courtroom that all this was “devastatingly changed” on the night of December 13 2019 after Nadine attended a planned family dinner to celebrate her aunt’s birthday.

Nadine had bought a cake to mark the celebration. We had a lovely night together as a family. I left before Nadine. When I got home I sent Nadine a text as it was raining to say, ‘Nadine if you need a lift home call me’,”. I never got a reply and never will,” she said.

Referring to the phone call by Nadine’s neighbour Amela Kulenovic in the early hours of December 14 2019, Mrs Lott said there are “no words to describe the enormity of the devastation on receiving” it . She said they drove the five minutes to the apartment “in panic”, expecting Nadine to be a little shaken from a possible fight outlined on the call but they found her unresponsive.

“The image and sounds of that night are with me in my every living minute. With the support of Garda Linda Butler, we performed resuscitation on Nadine with the phone guidance of the emergency services. Gda Butler doing the compression and talking to the emergency crew. I was doing mouth to mouth, this continued until the ambulance crew were with us. Once they came to the kitchen, I had to leave Nadine at their request,” she said.

Over the next three days, Mrs Lott said that her daughter “fought hard” but “her battle was too much” as the damage to her “tiny body” was “beyond repair”.

Mrs Lott said Nadine’s funeral took place three days before Christmas Day, “three days before Santa” arrived and a closed coffin was “mandatory”. “The pain, the despair at not seeing Nadine for the last time tore us apart, it still hurts so deeply. Our last goodbye to our beloved Nadine was mercilessly robbed from us,” she said.

“The effects on our family, now sees traumatic bereavement counselling replace hobbies. Night terrors and sleepless nights replace sleep, life replaced with existence. The horrific evilness has changed all of us, our bubbliness and laughter are gone,” she said.

Mrs Lott said her “baby Nadine” will never get to fulfil her dreams and never laugh again. She said their family is “broken forever”.

Her daughter, Mrs Lott said, left her family and friends with the “greatest memories”, ones they treasure “so dearly” and she is “missed beyond belief”.

In closing her statement, Mrs Lott said her family love Nadine “so very much” and that she will always be in their “hearts, conversations, every waking and sleeping moment”. “No one can remove your light from our lives. Shine bright darling. We are proud that you were ours. I am so honoured to call you my daughter. We love you honey,” she concluded.

Last August, the 12 jurors unanimously rejected Murtagh’s defence that he was too intoxicated to have formed the intent to murder his ex-girlfriend and that the “bloodbath” would never have happened “but for the drink and drugs” he consumed that night.

Defence counsel Brendan Grehan SC had asked for a verdict of manslaughter on the grounds of lack of intent due to alcohol intoxication. Murder is a crime of specific intent and voluntary intoxication can have the effect of reducing the offence of murder to manslaughter.

Murtagh had told gardai that before his assault on Nadine, he had smoked a joint, taken two pills and drank a “daddy naggin” or shoulder of Captain Morgan rum straight. He also told them that he had been on methadone for the previous three months.

The jury accept the State’s contention that this was a case of murder and “nothing short of murder”. In his closing speech, prosecution counsel John O’Kelly SC argued that there was no defence of intoxication in the case and said Murtagh had the “clearest intent” when he inflicted the “most dreadful blunt trauma injuries” to the beauty therapist’s face, which separated the flesh from the underlying structures.

“Just look at what the accused didn’t do and what he never tried to do, he never raised a hand to get Nadine any kind of help,” he stressed.

The injuries to Nadine were so serious that she never regained consciousness after the attack on December 14 and died three days later in St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin.

An eyewitness and neighbour of Nadine’s told the trial that Murtagh made a “growling noise” and was “vicious with rage” as he inflicted blows on his ex-partner in her living room “like a wild animal”.

Amela Kulenovic found the defendant “in a crouched position” on top of Nadine, where he was “inflicting a lot of force” on her and had his hands around her neck and shoulders. She said he was “going ape on” his former partner “like a wild animal” and was “totally out of control”.

Evidence was also given that a garda who telephoned ambulance control informed them that Nadine had been “beaten to a pulp”. Garda Linda Butler said the left side of Nadine’s face was “extremely and grotesquely swollen” and when she placed her fingers inside the patient’s mouth to clear her airways, she noticed some teeth were missing.

A paramedic who attended to the mother-of-one at her home testified that the emergency call he made to Nadine’s house will “haunt” him for the rest of his career and was one of the most “horrendous scenes” he had ever walked into. Ian Clarke said it was like a “bulldozer” had gone through Nadine’s apartment and described kneeling on broken glass as he performed CPR on her. He said his uniform was “destroyed” with blood and he changed his gloves about five or six times.

An intensive care nurse at the hospital described Nadine as “completely unrecognisable” and said that she had never seen anybody so badly injured. “Her mum brought in a photo of her and everyone kept saying ‘who is that’ and I said: ‘that’s her’,” explained Nurse Leah Grant.

Nadine died after suffering “traumatic head, neck and chest injuries” and her brain was swollen following the “sustained and violent attack”. Chief State Pathologist Dr Linda Mulligan noted that the blunt force injuries were caused by hands, fists or feet and the use of a blunt weapon could not be ruled out.

The cause of death was hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy due to traumatic head, neck and chest injuries. The court heard there were 64 individual injuries observed all over Nadine’s body, which could not be accounted for through medical intervention.

The trial heard that just under two weeks before Murtagh killed his ex-girlfriend, she told him not to “threaten” her and that “nothing is ever going to happen between us again, I want to make that clear”.

When Murtagh was later arrested and placed in a patrol car on the morning of the attack, the accused told the officer that it was “a domestic” but said he really loved Nadine.

“Answer me this, is she still alive? Tell me is she still alive?” he asked gardai.

In his first interview with gardai, Murtagh had said he loved Nadine, that he was intoxicated at the time of the assault and he could not remember anything. In a subsequent interview, he said he had given her a “soft slap”, before telling gardai he had “obviously hit her a few slaps”. It was the first time he had ever hit her, he said, and insisted that he only gave her a couple of slaps.

“I had no intention to ever hurt her,” he said.

Murtagh later went on to tell detectives that he gave Nadine “six or seven hard digs” but did not “go to town” on her. However, the accused eventually said that he was “pounding” Nadine with his hands and “punching like mad”. He told gardai that if he had wanted to kill her, he would have.

Demonstrating to gardai how he delivered punches down on the beautician as she lay on the ground, the defendant said he had boxed “for years” and his knuckles were “well-conditioned”.

However, it was not until his fourth and final interview that the accused described to gardai how he had held a charger for a tyre pump in his hand for solidity and had “wrapped” the wire around his knuckles as he beat the Wicklow woman.

He also accepted he might have used the cigarette-type charger “in a hammer action” on the “helpless woman”.

When asked in an interview why he hit Nadine, Murtagh had at one point replied: “No reason, absolutely no reason guard, I’m going to pray every night. I just snapped, I don’t know. I never hit a girl in my life.”

However, he also later told gardai that: “I know she was with a lad in Arklow and I was trying to get it out of her”.

Murtagh fled the apartment after the attack, taking his Volvo car from outside and driving it away. Around 7am the same morning and some 31km away from Ms Lott’s apartment in Laragh, Mr Murtagh crashed his car into a ditch and received some minor injuries.

The convicted murderer told a motorist who stopped to help him that he had “killed my wife because she was with my friend”.

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