Police have charged with murder the boyfriend of a beloved Irish immigrant bartender stabbed to death inside the Queens pub where she worked, cops said Tuesday.
Marcin Pieciak, 36, had a knife in both hands when he allegedly attacked girlfriend Sarah McNally inside Ceili House in Maspeth Saturday evening, cops said. He then turned the knives on himself and was initially listed in critical condition.
He is charged with two counts of weapon possession in addition to murder.
Pieciak and McNally, a native of Longford, Ireland,had been living together in Glendale for about a year, cops said.
Cops responding to a 6:35 p.m. 911 call at the Grand Ave. bar near 69th Lane found McNally stabbed in the neck and Pieciak with stab wounds to his back and neck.
Medics rushed the pair to Elmhurst Hospital Center, where McNally died.
Pieciak was initially in critical condition but has since stabilized. He was expected to be arraigned at the hospital Tuesday.
Before moving to the U.S., McNally, 41, worked as a civil employee for the Irish Prison Service, which is headquartered in the county Longford, said Martin Monaghan, chairman of the municipal district in Longford Town.
“She’s been in the States for about 10 years,” he told the Daily News by phone on Monday.
According to Irish broadcaster RTÉ, a parliament member serving Longford called her a “wonderful young woman, bright, vivacious, witty and charismatic.”
Joe Flaherty, the parliament member, said the murder was “tragic and deeply upsetting news”.
“By all accounts, it was a very happy life and everything was going well for her in New York, which makes this news all the more harrowing and upsetting for people that know her,” Flaherty said on RTÉ.
McNally’s mother has flown to New York to collect McNally’s remains and talk with detectives, Flaherty said.
“That’s a journey that no parent wants to have to undertake,” he said.
Pieciak has been arrested for domestic violence before but it wasn’t immediately clear if these attacks involved McNally.
