After he savagely beat and murdered Sarah, while she screamed out to him for mercy, he left her and their unborn child dead or dying in her flat…
THE death of Sarah Montgomery, who was beaten to death in her Donaghadee home last year, was one of the worst cases of domestic violence in Northern Ireland in recent years, according to a senior barrister.
The 27 year-old sustained 59 separate injuries at the hands of Zak Hughes, a tragedy that was compounded by the death of her 32-week old unborn son Liam, who did not survive the attack.
Harrowing details of the death of the Donaghadee mother-of-two were outlined at Belfast on Friday by Crown barrister Geraldine McCullough KC who described the 19-minute attack as ‘cold-blooded, sustained and murderous’.
Twenty nine year-old Hughes beat the heavily pregnant mother of his children to death with various implements, including a ‘Dad’ water bottle bought for him as a Father’s Day gift.
The court was told that one of the couple’s daughters sat oblivious in Hughes’ car while her father battered Sarah to death before calmly driving away from the scene.
Sarah was left to die in her blood-splattered Elmfield Walk home on June 27, 2025 by Hughes who also took her mobile phone and house keys.
With their two young daughters in his jeep, the personal trainer then changed his clothes and dumped the murder weapons in a bin in Belfast.
Outlining the Crown’s case to Lady Justice McBride, Ms McCullough said Ms Montgomery and Hughes both attended Glastry Secondary School and had been in a relationship from second year.
After Ms Montgomery became pregnant with their first child, their relationship faltered and following this, it continued on an on/off basis.
When Ms Montgomery told Hughes of her second pregnancy, Hughes initially denied he was the father until a DNA test proved he was.
At the time of Ms Montgomery’s death, Hughes lived at Ardglen Place in Belfast with his fiancée who was also heavily pregnant with his child.
Ms McCullough said Hughes had ‘obviously been involved in sexual relationships with both women simultaneously’.
Both of Ms Montgomery’s parents are deceased and she last spoke to her grandfather on Friday, June 27 when she told him her eldest daughter was unwell and not going to school that day.
When her grandfather spoke to Ms Montgomery later that day, she told him her daughter was waiting for her daddy to collect her for the weekend.
This routine of Hughes collecting his two daughters on a Friday and leaving them back home on a Sunday was normal.
The Crown barrister said that on Saturday June 28, friends and relatives of Ms Montgomery’s tried to contact her by phone but got no response.
Her grandfather went to the flat and, using his own key as the door was locked, he discovered his granddaughter cold and lying on her side covered in blood.
She was lying partially in the living room and partially in the hall and a broken brush was under her body.
There was blood throughout the flat and after another relative arrived an ambulance was called.
A call handler instructed that CPR should be started but this was to no avail – and when the ambulance arrived Ms Montgomery was pronounced dead at 2.48pm.
Ms McCullough said that when the PSNI arrived, it was clear ‘there had been an attempt to clean up the scene’.
A post mortem conducted on June 29 concluded that Ms Montgomery’s death was due to a head injury consistent with blunt force trauma.
It was concluded that Ms Montgomery was subjected to a sustained blunt force trauma assault involving the minimum of 59 applications.
It was also determined that baby Liam died as a result of oxygen deprivation caused by his mother’s death.
Setting out the relevant background leading to the murder, Ms McCullough said that around the end of May 2025 Ms Montgomery found out Hughes’s fiancée was pregnant.
As she questioned him about this over the coming weeks, Hughes denied the pregnancy and said his fiancée was ‘just fat.’
Due to her suspicions, Ms Montgomery started recording her conversations with Hughes.
He initially told Ms Montgomery his fiancée was not pregnant ‘any more’ then on June 13 he falsely claimed his fiancée had lost the baby in a traffic accident.
On June 15 Ms Montgomery sent Hughes a photo of a blue water bottle bearing the word ‘Dad’ which was a Father’s Day gift from their daughters.
Ms McCullough said: “This bottle was used as a murder weapon and was later discovered by police amongst items he had discarded.”
On June 20 Hughes told Ms Montgomery he was ending his relationship with his fiancée and that he wanted to sort things out with her and be able to see his daughters.
Ms Montgomery remained suspicious and after calling Hughes’s mother, it was confirmed his fiancée was pregnant.
Just before 9am on June 27, Ms Montgomery sent Hughes a message informing him she knew his fiancée was still pregnant, to which he replied ‘we need to talk about this and not over the phone.’
Ms Montgomery’s friends knew that Hughes was due to call to her house that day and the last contact any of them had with her was at 1.33pm on June 27.
Messages sent from one friend later that day and evening went unanswered which prompted the friend to call at her flat the following afternoon but there was no response when she knocked at the door.
When she called back later that day, she encountered the Emergency Services at the flat.
An investigation was launched and CCTV footage was obtained from a neighbouring flat.
This showed Hughes entering Ms Montgomery’s flat at 1.33pm and their eldest daughter exiting the flat at 1.37pm then sitting in Hughes car alone for around 30 minutes.
The CCTV also picked up Hughes leaving the flat at 2.07pm, carrying a Smyths Toys bag. After this, he picked up his youngest daughter from school and left Donaghadee.
Other evidence examined by police was a recording Ms Montgomery made when Hughes was in her flat.
On the recording, they discussed the fiancée’s pregnancy with Hughes saying he lied to her as he was worried he wouldn’t see the girls again.
At the end of the recording, Sarah is heard saying ‘Jesus’ then screaming ‘Zak’ several times.
The sounds of striking can be heard and the final 24 seconds of the clip is the sound of Ms Montgomery screaming.
After the fatal beating, Hughes stopped at Ards Shopping Centre where he bought a change of clothes in Primark.
He also took her phone which he dumped in bushes at B&Q at Holywood Exchange alongside a lanyard with two house keys which bore Ms Montgomery’s blood.
Hughes also dumped the blood-stained dented water bottle and a wooden brush shaft which police believe were the murder weapons.
At 6.17pm, Hughes sent a message to Ms Montgomery’s phone about their daughter being sick.
This, Ms McCullough said, was sent ‘knowing that Sarah was dead or dying at the time’.
He then sent a picture to her phone at 7.20pm of him and the two girls.
The following day, Hughes and his two daughters attended a baby shower for his pregnant fiancée’s baby.
Hughes was arrested at 9.50pm on Saturday, June 28 at a relative’s address in Ballyhalbert where injuries to his right hand were noted.
He gave an initial account of Friday, June 27 when he claimed he went to the flat to collect his daughter and was there for between five to 10 minutes before leaving.
During a further interview on July 1st, Hughes admitted killing Ms Montgomery.
In a statement he said that after talking about the pregnancy, she pushed him and told him he would not see the girls again and he hit her with his water bottle.
This, Ms McCullough said, was a lie given what was picked up in the recording.
Hughes also told police: “I didn’t mean to kill her.”
Concluding the Crown’s case, Ms McCullough said: “This brutal murder of an innocent, vulnerable, heavily pregnant single mother was the senseless result of the defendant’s failure to be a normal decent human being.”
She added that Hughes ‘cheated on women, lied to Ms Montgomery and when confronted was too weak to admit his wrongdoings’.
“After he savagely beat and murdered Sarah Montgomery, while she screamed out to him for mercy, he left her and their unborn child dead or dying in her flat.
“This cold-blooded, sustained, murderous attack, which included beating and beating for about 19 minutes … carried out for so little reason, must be viewed as one of the worst cases of domestic violence in recent years.”
Defence barrister Charles MacCreanor KC then addressed Lady Justice McBride and said nothing he said ‘could take away from the fact this is a horrific case’ which caused a ‘high level of harm’.
Mr MacCreanor pointed out a lack of planning and pre-meditation compared to other cases including the death of pregnant Lurgan woman Natalie McNally.
He added that Hughes’ guilty plea to charges of murder and causing the destruction of her unborn child proved he had ‘faced up’ and ‘accepted full responsibility’ at an early stage.
After listening to submissions from both the Crown and defence, the senior judge said she wanted time to reflect on what she had heard.
She re-listed the case for review on Friday, October 2, when it is hoped that a date will be set for the Tariff hearing.
This hearing will determine how long Hughes will spend in prison before he is considered eligible for release.
At the conclusion of last Friday’s hearing, Hughes was returned back into custody ahead of the Tariff hearing.
