Belfast girl who assaulted man over kidney donation has been sentenced

A Belfast girl who “lied” a terminally unwell man by telling him she would donate her kidney to him has been branded “senseless” and “not human”.

On Thursday, Nicola Hutton, of Strandburn Drive, was sentenced to 5 months in jail after pleading responsible to a false communication offence.

The 54-year-old was contacted by Billy Cullen, who wanted a kidney transplant, and his spouse Joan following an enchantment for a donor.

Mrs Cullen instructed BBC News NI that she believed Hutton was an “angel” who would save her husband's life.

“She said: 'I'm level, everything's fine',” Mrs Cullen stated.

“And we thought this woman is an angel. She's come into our lives, she's going to save my husband's life. And at this stage Billy couldn't work anymore because his condition was deteriorating rapidly. Things fell on their way and as far as we were concerned, Nicola was going to be our donor.”

Hutton instructed the couple that she was attending appointments and getting checks, and that the operation could be carried out inside a number of months.

The court docket heard how Hutton met the couple, who gave her a Marc Jacobs reward set as an indication of thanks.

Mrs Cullen stated: “Then one day we got a call from the kidney team, 'Billy, there's nothing more we can do for you.' We said, 'No, no, we have a donor.'

“We had been instructed, 'No, you shouldn’t have a donor.' The kidney staff did their investigation and located that this girl had by no means utilized to be a donor. She had by no means despatched in any varieties or made a telephone name.”

He stated the household's “world was torn aside”.

Hutton appeared before Belfast Magistrates Court for sentencing on Thursday, where District Judge Francis Rafferty described her actions as one of “gross depravity”.

He stated she was an “emotional parasite” who fed on the couple's despair and “luxuriated” in giving them false hope.

The judge said, “You offered your self as an angel or savior and took reward and credit score for it, though you knew you had been as lethal a course of of their lives as any illness or sickness.”

He continued, “Your disgusting, despicable conduct was made even worse by the truth that you maintained your catalog of lies and thefts, requiring a member of the transplant staff to recuse themselves from the work they do, sit in court docket and take heed to your lies about them, their procedures, and their professionalism,” he added.

“At a time when the family was facing the gravest threat, losing a husband and a father, you decided to insert yourself into their world and spread poison, wickedness and false hope.

“A discovery course of that traumatized the household, inflicting them anguish within the wake.”

She described how the couple had given up searching for a donor, only to be overjoyed when Hutton told them she was suitable for them and offered “not solely aid however rescue”.

“A household regarded to you as their savior and (their) world shut down at any time when your lies and your evil conspiracies had been uncovered,” the decide stated.

“I can solely think about the sheer horror they felt after they realized you had been mendacity to all of them alongside.”

The court heard that while Mr Cullen received a kidney from a legitimate donor, the six months wasted in the belief Hutton was a donor could have had the most serious physical consequences.

Mrs Cullen told the BBC that when the family first appealed for a donor in the summer of 2024, her husband's kidneys were at 15 per cent function.

He said that by the time Nikola “had us with us for six months”, its efficiency had dropped to between nine and 10 percent.

“Then he needed to have surgical procedure to place in a dialysis tube after which he needed to begin dialysis,” he stated.

“She went by way of horrible feelings. It wasn't simply the truth that she did this to us, it was simply why? We simply don't perceive, nonetheless don't perceive, what she might probably get out of this. The search ought to have continued and would have continued if I didn't imagine this girl's merciless lies.”

In court, referring to Hutton's complaint about receiving internet abuse since her crimes were revealed, the judge stressed that she had engaged in online activities with the intention of causing emotional distress and physical trauma.

He told her, “You lied repeatedly that you simply had been on the transplant register, you lied about your medical appointments, you acquired items from these individuals, you sat with them.”

“You took them on a dance where you betrayed them at every turn.

“Like some sort of emotional parasite, you had been feeding off their despair and luxuriating of their hope and making sort feedback on-line about what you had been doing.”

Mr Rafferty described his sentencing powers as “hardly acceptable” for the crime.

He stated, “I can’t think about a extra merciless act than this.”

Jailing Hutton for five months, the judge insisted: “People like you who live in an online world need to learn that actions have consequences.

“Considering the cruelty you have inflicted on these people, the only sentence I can impose is an immediate custodial sentence.

“A family found you on your doorstep offering help and salvation in the fight for your life.

“At all instances you knew that what you had been doing was an act of practiced and full evil.”

After sentencing on Thursday, Hutton filed an enchantment and was launched on bail.