A man has been charged with murder following the fatal stabbing of a 41-year-old Irish woman in a bar in New York over the weekend.
Marcin Pieciak (36), with an address in Queens, was charged with one count of murder and two of criminal possession of a weapon following the death of Sarah McNally on Saturday evening.
Ms McNally, from Co Longford, was employed in the The Céilí House in Maspeth, Queens, the scene of the fatal stabbing. She was stabbed once in the neck and died following arrival in hospital.
The New York Police Department’s public information office said Mr Pieciak was arrested just after 12.30pm on Monday. The couple were in a relationship and had lived together for several months on 76th Street in the Glendale neighbourhood, also in Queens.
Ms McNally, living in New York for close to a decade, had worked in the bar for just under a year. She worked in other bars and restaurants in both Queens and Manhattan during her time in New York.
Police were called to the bar on Saturday evening after reports of a woman being attacked by a man armed with two knives.
When officers arrived, they found Ms McNally fatally injured with a knife wound to her neck. Mr Pieciak allegedly was inside the bar and was also suffering from knife wounds, later found to be self-inflicted, according to police.
The suspect had a blade in each hand and was bleeding. The man was told to drop the knives and when he did not do so immediately, he was tased, according to a report in the New York Post.
Both were taken to Elmhurst Hospital, where Ms McNally died from her injuries. There were no earlier indications of domestic issues, according to local reports.
Lorna Fitzgerald, a friend of Ms McNally who spent time in New York, told the Irish Times: “Poor Sarah. We were in school together, my Mam and her Dad were cousins too. I can’t believe it. I
“I was reading over our messages last night. She arrived in New York just as I was leaving it, so I was telling her about jobs, and places to hang out and so on. She settled in no time.
“She had been trying to get her Mam to move over, they were so close, like best friends. I think everyone is just in shock, it’s just not fair.”
