Daniel Murtagh, who killed his former partner Nadine Lott, has filed legal documents in his attempt to reverse his conviction for murder.
Urtagh, 34, of Melrose Grove, Bawnogue, Clondalkin, Dublin, pleaded guilty to Ms Lott’s manslaughter but denied her murder.
However, the plea was not accepted by the state and he was found guilty by a unanimous verdict of murdering the 30-year-old Ms Lott at her apartment in St Mary’s Court, Arklow, Co Wicklow on 17 December 2019, after a two – week trial at the Central Criminal Court.
Judge Michael MacGrath, who sentenced Murtagh to life in prison last October, described Ms Lott’s murder as “brutal” and the evidence heard during the trial of members of the emergency services who attended the scene was ” testify to the terror, evil and brutality ”. “She suffered at her hands.
Murtagh has now launched an appeal against his conviction.
At the Court of Appeal today, Emmet Nolan BL, for Murtagh, told Court President, Mr. Judge George Birmingham, said his client’s appeal against the murder conviction required two affidavits from the defense to proceed.
The first affidavit, he said, was from his client and it has already been “sworn and filed”.
Mr. Nolan told Mr. Justice Birmingham said he expected the second affidavit, from Murtagh’s lawyer, John Shanley, “to be sworn and filed by lunchtime today”.
A date for the full trial has yet to be set and the case will be heard again on July 15 at the same court.
At Murtagh’s sentencing hearing, Ms. Lott’s mother, Claire Lott, said her family was plagued by thoughts of her daughter’s “terror, fear, panic and crying” during the “prolonged, evil attack” carried out by a “monster”.
Mrs Lott told the jury her daughter was beaten so badly by Murtagh that she did not recognize her when she was found dying in the kitchen of her flat on December 14, 2019.
“I could not recognize her face, I could not recognize that it was Nadine,” she said.
She later said in a victim impact statement to the court that “the total massacre” she encountered when she walked into the apartment “can be forgotten and will never be”.
“The house, her beautiful apartment, was the face of a horror movie. Nadine’s blood splattered everywhere, broken glass, broken mirrors, just total horror. When we get to the kitchen, the screams of my son and my younger daughter will always carry with me.
“Nadine, my daughter, my baby was unrecognizable, she was panting, blood was flowing from her in so many places that all I could do was lie on the floor with her holding her hand and trying to comfort, comfort that I there was. ”
Nadine died three days later, on 17 December, at St Vincent’s Hospital, Dublin.
Twelve jurors unequivocally rejected Murtagh’s defense that he was too drunk to attempt to kill his ex-girlfriend and that the “massacre” would never have happened “except for the liquor and drugs” he drank that night.
Brendan Grehan SC, defense attorney, asked for a manslaughter verdict on the grounds of lack of intent due to alcohol intoxication.
Murtagh told gardaí that he smoked a joint before his assault on Nadine, took two pills and drank a “daddy naggin” or Captain Morgan rum shoulder straight. He also told them he had been using methadone for the past three months.
The jury accepted the state’s allegation that it was a case of murder and “nothing less than murder”.
Prosecutor John O’Kelly SC argued in his closing speech that there was no defense of drunkenness in the case, saying Murtagh had the “clearest intent” when he inflicted the “most horrific blunt trauma injuries” on the beauty therapist’s face.
“Just look at what the accused did not do and what he never tried to do, he never raised a hand to get Nadine any help,” he stressed.