A 34-year-old Dublin man has been handed a life sentence for murdering his ex-girlfriend in her home in Arklow, Co Wicklow just before Christmas 2019.
Nadine Lott died in hospital three days after Daniel Murtagh, of Melrose Grove, Bawnogue, Clondalkin, attacked her after she came home from a family night out.
He claimed he didn’t mean to kill her and blamed the amount of drugs and alcohol he’d taken that night for what happened.
Nadine’s mother delivered a very powerful victim impact statement during today’s sentence hearing.
In front of a sea of friends and family wearing black face masks with Nadine’s name emblazoned in bright pink across the front, Claire Lott spoke of her love for her eldest daughter – the popular one was how she described her. Caring and funny too. A hard-working problem solver.
She spoke of the horror and carnage she witnessed when she entered Nadine’s home in the early hours of Dec 14th 2019 after receiving the dreaded call.
Not once did she mention Daniel Murtagh by name, but she described what he did as “monstrous, evil and the devil’s work”. She described every minute of her life since Nadine was taken from her as struggle – a never-ending nightmare.
In that victim impact statement, Claire 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.
“The effect on our family now sees traumatic 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.”
