Marcin Pieciak arraigned: Queens boyfriend faces 25 years jail in the stabbing murder of Sarah McNally, Longford, Irish girlfriend who worked at The Ceili House where she was fatally attacked with the victim telling friends that things weren’t working out with her new boyfriend and she was thinking of returning to Ireland.
A Queens man accused of of stabbing his girlfriend to death at an Irish pub in Maspeth, Queens over the weekend was pictured Wednesday during his arraignment.
Marcin Pieciak, 36, of Glendale, was arraigned in his hospital bed on April 3, two days after his arrest for second-degree murder for allegedly stabbing Longford, Irish woman, Sarah McNally, 41, at The Ceili House, where she worked.
Stated a release from Queens District Attorney Katz: ‘This as an attack that shocked the community. It was unprovoked and a devastating loss for the family. We are using every resource to make sure there is accountability.’
25 years if convicted
According to the release, Pieciak was charged with murder in the second degree and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree. Queens Criminal Court Judge Julieta Lozano ordered the defendant to return to court on April 5.
He faces up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted.
The mayhem happened on Saturday, circa 6:30 pm, when Pieciak burst into the pub and proceeded to stab McNally with two knives before then turning the weapons on to himself.
When police arrived a short time later, McNally was lying on the floor bleeding from stab wounds to her neck, while Pieciak was bleeding from self-inflicted stab wounds to neck and back as well.
Pieciak reportedly refused to drop the murder weapons in his hands, forcing officers to use a stun gun on him.
Both individuals were taken to NYC Health and Hospitals in Elmhurst. McNally was reportedly dead on arrival, just hours ahead of Easter Sunday. Pieciak appears to be recovering, though was initially listed as in critical condition, according to the DailyMail.
‘Relationship was on the rocks’
McNally, originally from Longford, Ireland, had reportedly been living in New York for a decade, and was living with her boyfriend at the time of her murder.
Reports said the couple had no history of domestic violence, however the nydailynews reported that Pieciak had previously been arrested for domestic violence.
Nevertheless there were clues that things weren’t necessarily working out between the pair with McNally recently telling friends the ‘relationship was on the rocks’ and that she was thinking about possibly returning to Ireland, the nypost reported.
The couple had lived together for several months on 76th Street, in the Glendale neighbourhood. There were no previous signs of domestic disturbance between them according to the Irish Times.
A native of Longford, Ireland, McNally’s murder has left communities on both sides of the Atlantic ‘in a state of shock’ since the Friday attack.
‘Rest in peace my beautiful niece Sarah, we are heart broken, Love you always,’ McNally’s aunt, Mary, posted on Facebook on Easter Sunday.
Communities on both side of the Atlantic left dumbfounded
‘It’s very cruel. People struggle to say the right words at this time and there’s little anyone can say to make things better for Sarah’s parents,’ Langford Councillor Martin Monaghan told the BBC’s Evening Extra.
He said Sarah who he described as a ‘beautiful young girl’ was the only daughter of a well-respected family and had been living in New York for about 10 years the official said.
The ‘very tight-knit community’ of Longford town ‘is numb at the minute, it’s in a state of shock’, the official added.
‘It’s very, very tough to lose any loved one but to lose a loved one who is so far from home really does hurt,’ the Fianna Fáil councillor added.
Sarah McNally, prior to her stabbing murder had been employed at the popular Queens bar for just under a year, having worked at several other bars and restaurants in Manhattan and Queens during her tenure there.
‘She was always cool, down to earth. She was always life of the party,’ Maspeth resident Carlos Rodriguez told CBS News.
‘Very friendly person. Stop in, she’d always have good time to chat, good friend,’ added resident James O’Malley.
Police sources have said the incident was domestic in nature.
To date it remained unclear what led to the man rushing into the venue and fatally stabbing the woman.
The NYPD said the investigation remained ongoing.
