‘I was beaten, stabbed and held hostage’ – Mum tortured by criminal ex who broke into home

Denise Trolland was the victim of a horrendous ordeal when thug Kevin Nellis smashed through her patio doors, stabbed her in the head with a knife, stabbed her in the legs with a BBQ fork, punched her repeatedly and threatened to stab her in the neck if she tried to escape.

Nellis is a notorious criminal – a friend of UDA crime thug David ‘Dee’ Coleman – who had already amassed 140 previous convictions despite only being 22 when he almost killed Denise and he’s going to be sentenced next month.

When he turned up at Denise’s house to effectively take her hostage, he was already in a heightened state because he’d got into a row with Coleman – who had moved to Ballymena after being forced off the Shankill by the UDA – and had smashed the windows of the loyalist’s flat.

The PPS repeatedly offered Denise plea deals where her attacker would plead guilty to some charges in return for others being dropped, with the carrot for 31-year-old Denise being she wouldn’t have to go through the ordeal of a trial.

But she refused and was prepared to face him in court to get full justice.

She now says that after he pleaded guilty to everything he did, she wants to tell other domestic abuse survivors they can get justice.

“He was initially charged with attempted murder but that was dropped early on but all the other serious charges remained,” says Denise.

“The PPS offered me three different deals but I just refused and was prepared to go into court to face him if I had to, but after a trial date was set he pleaded guilty to everything.

“Now I want other victims and survivors to know if I can go through what I went through anyone can recover from anything.”

The shocking attack happened in Kells, Co Antrim, in September 2021 after the mum of three had broken off contact with Nellis shortly after he had locked her in his bedroom and punched her in the face during a previous incident.

Nellis, who turns 25 today, will be sentenced for the brutal attack on Thursday at Antrim Crown Court after he finally pleaded guilty to a raft of charges including wounding with intent to commit grievous bodily harm and possessing a knife and a BBQ skewer with intent to commit an indictable offence.

He also pleaded guilty to breaching a restraining order and criminal damage to the patio doors.

Already in Maghaberry Prison, he’s almost certainly looking at several years behind bars but despite this, Denise says she’s already starting to worry about what he’ll do when he is finally released. “I think as soon as he gets out he’ll come looking for me so I have a contingency plan in place,” says Denise.

“He’s been on remand for two years so I’m worried if his sentence isn’t long enough he could be out in a couple of years.”

Caring Denise, who works with kids, had taken pity of Nellis after she says he “love-bombed” her and manipulated her into thinking he was someone who was caring and kind and who “absolutely adored” her.

“I was coming out of a relationship which ended quite badly and the guy didn’t seem to appreciate me anymore though we are good friends now and I met Kevin and he was like, ‘you’re the most clever girl in the world you’re the kindest girl in the world’,” says Denise.

“He basically love-bombed me and I thought this guy absolutely adores me – he was mirroring everything I liked in life and seemed to be the kindest boy in the world.”

Denise now knows it was all an act to manipulate her and it was only a couple of months when she realised all was not well with their relationship.

“Two months in I went on holiday with my family as it had been booked months before and Kevin started messaging everyone I knew on social media saying the most violent, abusive things about me,” says Denise.

“My family warned me then to stop seeing him but I felt sorry for him and he told me all about how his childhood was so bad.

“I tried breaking contact but he kept stealing things from me like my bank card, phone or car keys so he would have a bargaining tool for me to go back to him.

“Then he became completely dependent upon me and he would say to me ‘you’re the person who can talk me out of any crisis – you’re the one person I can depend on’ – so I felt so responsible for him.

“I stopped seeing my mum and other friends and I used to have to show my phone to him all the time. I even had to screenshot my phone to show that I wasn’t on the phone to another man.

“He had a wild lifestyle – there was always conflict and he was always in trouble but if I left him he’d threaten suicide.

“He’d put up statuses about me, stating mad lies, and even phoned my place of work and told my employer I was not safe to work with kids. He became financially dependent on me. I furnished his flat and would send him takeaway meals.

“I blocked him the final time after I met with him one day and he was so calm and kind. We went to his home and we were cleaning up and he got me in the bedroom and he locked the door and I realised the handle was missing and his demeanour changed and he punched me in the face really hard and told me I was going to watch him kill himself.”

Denise managed to escape and didn’t see Nellis until the night he turned up at her home and held her hostage.

“It was around 7.45pm when the door went and I was cutting up some pizza for dinner for the kids,” says Denise. “Penny, our Jack Russell, was going absolutely mad and I immediately knew it was Kevin at the door. I called my friend and told her to ring my ex, ring the police and ring my mum.

“I told him to leave but he wanted to see my phone. I said I’m not putting up with this anymore and told him to f**k away off.

“He lifted a boulder from the house and threw it through the patio windows and came straight through the door like the Terminator, grabbed me by the hair and lifted the big knife I was using to cut the pizza and stabbed me in the back of the head.

“He was calling me a ‘whore’ and a ‘scumbag’ while he trailed me around the house.

“I have anaemia and the blood was gushing out the back of my head. I had to hold a tea towel but it got soaked and had to get a second to tea towel.

"I thought I’ll try and bargain with him to buy me time and I said nobody needs to know about this if you leave now.

“He struck me with another knife in the front of the head and dragged me into the living room and started stabbing himself with a barbecue fork.

"He grabbed me by the face accused me of going back to see my ex. He told me he would never hurt me and then grabbed me and punched me in the face.

“He broke three teeth, all I remember is bits of teeth and blood flying all over the place and he started punching me multiple times to the head. I thought I was going to die.

“He told me this was a hostage situation and he made me sit with my back to the living room door and held the BBQ fork to my neck and told me ‘this is going in your neck’ if I tried to get away.

“The dog was covered in blood from the broken glass and was going mad so he stabbed me with the BBQ fork in my leg and told me to shut the dog up.

“He phoned the police from my phone and said he had a hostage situation and then hung up. He thought this is all a big joke and when they rang back to ask what hostage do you have, and he said Bin Laden.

“He stabbed me in the other leg and I was getting dizzy, the blood was pouring from my head wound.

“This went on for 45 minutes before the police arrived.”

When the police did arrive they came into the house and Nellis started playing the victim.

“He told me he loved me and he knew this would be the last time he’d see me. The police arrested him but he kicked off and it took six or seven of them to restrain him.

“I went to hospital and got stables in my head – I’ve got a deviated septum and I need reconstruction surgery on my nose as I couldn’t breathe out of on nostril.

“I’ve had to have injections in my nose to reconstruct it and I still can’t smell after two years because he hit my nose that hard. I had to get my teeth fixed and filled in, I’ve got loads of wounds in my legs. The BBQ fork had gone through my knee and I couldn’t walk properly for weeks.

“The aftermath is my life was affected in every type of way. I’ve got PTSD and have nightmares that have brought back other traumas from my childhood and I get flashbacks.

“I got through Christmas and by the end of January I just didn’t want to be here anymore and started having suicidal thoughts.

“Then I woke up one day and thought if someone is trying to take your life the only revenge is to live life as best you can so I joined the gym and started boxing and that’s how I cope.

“I’m channelling all the pain and hurt and trying to turn it into something positive. If I can take positives from what I have learned and if I can get over what I’ve been through then anybody can.

“I became an expert in my own safety and after so much pain all you want is peace. I did have a sense of anger and that’s what got me through.

"I turned the anger into something positive and it made me see him see through court. It wasn’t that I want to see him punished but I wanted to keep myself safe, it was about my safety.”

Nellis will discover his fate in court later today.