10 cases heard before Northern Ireland courts this week

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Here is your latest round up of cases heard at court from February 23-27

10 cases heard before Northern Ireland courts this week

1. This week the Crown opened its case on the murder of Natalie McNally, with prosecuting barrister Charles MacCreanor KC telling the jury this was a “pre-planned, calculated, pre-meditated murder by the defendant.” The jury heard the 999 call made by Stephen McCullagh, the man accused of murdering his pregnant partner. Throughout the week, the court was also shown a clip from an alleged YouTube live stream the accused claimed was made the night Ms McNally was killed, using this as his alibi. However, police found this was recorded on December 14, and was not live-streamed on December 18.
2. A Somali national who was extradited to Northern Ireland from the Republic after absconding while charged with rape was on Tuesday denied bail. Judge Neil Rafferty KC said he had “no confidence” that Abdullahi Kuso Gedi would abide by any bail conditions imposed, adding he still remained a “flight risk”.
3. An alleged serial thief accused of 30 separate raids on Tesco stores across Belfast is to be barred from all shopping centres in the city, a High Court judge ordered on Tuesday. Jackie Johnson, 43, has been charged with stealing more than £3,000 worth of chocolate, sweets, alcohol, food and other groceries as part of an eight-month spree.
4. A West Belfast woman who once called her ex-partner a “baldy dwarf b*****d” was back in court on Wednesday for breaching a restraining order. Celine Dutton, 57, of Clonard Rise, was produced from prison custody to appear in the dock of Belfast Crown to face four charges dating back to November 7, 2025. She pleaded guilty to turning up at her ex-partner’s home which she was prohibited from doing under a restraining order issued last year.
5. A 59-year-old man charged with an offence in breach of the Human Medicines Regulations has been fined £1,000 after it was discovered he was selling unlicensed fat fighting medications. Ballymena native Daniel O’Neill, owner of a gym at Ross Court in Co Antrim, appeared at Ballymena Magistrates Court on Wednesday where he pleaded guilty to the offence.
6. On Thursday, a woman denied murdering a man who was assaulted in a Co Down flat on Boxing Day 2024. Claire Louise Rees, 34, of no fixed abode, appeared in the dock of Belfast Crown Court for a short arraignment hearing. When the court clerk put the charge to her of murdering Mark Dorrian in Newtownards on December 26, 2024, Rees replied: “Not guilty.” Co-accused Carl Terence Kerr, 37, of Corry Place, Newtownards, appeared in the dock beside Rees but he was not arraigned on the murder charge.
7. A man who had four unrestrained children in the back seat when he was doing over 100 mph on the motorway was handed a three-year driving ban on Thursday. Ballymena Magistrates Court heard that on 27 May last year, police on the Rathbeg roundabout on the M2 spotted a vehicle travelling at 106 mph, 36 over the limit. When the car was pulled over and officers spoke to 31-year-old Martin Christopher Stokes, they found a total of seven people in the car, including four children in the back seat, none of whom were properly restrained.
8. This week the inquest into the death of Belfast schoolboy Noah Donohoe heard from police and rescue service volunteers involved in the initial search for him in June 2020. Evidence heard before the jury included police heard the 14-year-old had been “behaving strangely” before he left home for the final time, and that the culvert in the area where Noah disappeared was heard to be “unlocked and could be easily opened.” The jury also heard that the last known location of Noah Donohoe’s phone was relayed to search-and-rescue personnel seven hours after it was first received by police.
9. A man whose body was found on a beach in Co Down last year died soon after his last sighting on CCTV, an inquest into his death heard on Friday. Andrew Murphy, 47, was last seen on Saturday, March 29, 2025, when CCTV showed him at a Go Local shop in the Merseyside area of England. On May 21, 2025, a body, which was later identified as Mr Murphy, was found by a dog walker on Millisle Beach in Northern Ireland.
10. A Belfast man who carried out a “mean and nasty theft” of Christmas presents from a car was jailed on Friday for eight months. Judge Catherine Chasemore told Joseph Patrick Thomas McClenaghan he will spend a further eight months on supervised licence on his release from prison. McClenaghan, 49, of Stanfield Row, had previously pleaded guilty to charges of theft, receiving stolen goods and two counts of criminal damage. He further admitted two offences of possessing a blade or a point in a public place.

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