Husband accused of murdering wife told gardaí man had put a gun to his head

A husband on trial accused of murdering his wife told gardaí to look for CCTV footage of a 6ft man with red hair who he claimed pointed a gun to his head just weeks before his wife was reported missing, a jury has heard.

The jury in the Central Criminal Court trial on Wednesday has heard about the first four Garda interviews with Mr Karaczyn at Ballymote Garda Station in Co Sligo on Monday, April 30th, 2018 and Tuesday, May 1st, 2018.

It also heard from Mr Karaczyn’s former employer mechanic Piotr Krawacki who agreed with Michael Bowman SC, for the accused, that Mr Karaczyn was “gentle”, “mild-mannered”, and “calm”. Mr Krawacki told the jury that if something went wrong at work, Mr Karaczyn would smoke a cigarette.

Rafal Karaczyn (34), of Crozon Park, Sligo, has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of his 30-year-old wife Natalia Karaczyn, at their family home in Crozon Park between April 29th, 2018 and May 1st, 2018.

The court has previously heard that on Wednesday, May 2nd, 2018, Mr Karaczyn told Natalia’s sister Magda McMorrow that he had killed Natalia. Ms McMorrow said Mr Karaczyn said he strangled her after she came home from a night out. He said he followed her into a box room in the house and asked where she’d been before she said it was none of his business, Ms McMorrow told the court. She said Mr Karaczyn said Natalia pushed him and slapped him and that he then strangled her. He said he lay down with her for ten to 15 minutes afterwards, Ms McMorrow said.

The jury has also previously viewed CCTV footage of Mr Karacyzn move Natalia’s silver Peugeot car up the side of the house at 7.51am before he drove away at 8.13am. The court has heard separate CCTV footage shows Mr Karacyzn drive in the direction of Holywell Road at 8.41am and that the car was caught on the same camera moving in the opposite direction at 8.49am.

On Tuesday Garda James Kenneally told the jury that on the afternoon of May 1st, 2018, Mr Karaczyn directed him to Natalia’s remains in an area off Holywell Road.

On Wednesday Dara Foynes SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, read from the notes of the first four written Garda interviews with Mr Karaczyn on the evening of April 30th and morning of May 1st, 2018.

In the third interview, gardaí showed CCTV footage of Natalia Karacyzn walking into her and Mr Karacyzn’s home at 6.23am on Sunday, April 29th, 2018, hours before Mr Karaczyn told Natalia’s sister and friends that she hadn’t come home the previous night.

The jury heard Mr Karacyzn replied “no” when gardaí asked if he wanted to say anything about the footage, given that he told them that he last saw her at 9pm the previous night.

The jury also heard that in the third interview Mr Karacyzn claimed he was checking the oil in his wife’s car when he was shown the CCTV of himself moving the car to the side of the house at 7.51am. It also heard that, during the fourth interview with Detective Garda Paul Casey and Detective Garda Pauline O’Neill, he said he didn’t know Holywell Road.

When it was put to him that gardaí believed he killed his wife and then drove off with the body, Mr Karacyzn said he did not hurt Natalia. He said: “I didn’t kill my wife, not me…that is the mother of my children. I love her.”

The jury heard that, during the first interview, Mr Karaczyn claimed that about two to three weeks before April 28th a man and woman from the Travelling community arrived at the back of his home.

He said the man was six-foot tall, had red hair, a beard and wore glasses while the woman had blonde hair and looked like she used sun beds. The man told him that Natalia had “messed with the wrong woman”, Mr Karaczyn told gardaí. He said the man “put a gun to my head” and told him to “be careful”.

The accused told gardaí that Natalia and him had been having difficulties and were on a “break”. He said they “very seldom slept in the same bed”.

During the second interview, when it was put to him that he was arrested on suspicion of murder, he said: “I never hurt her, I never used bad words to her.” Mr Karaczyn told gardaí to “please check” for CCTV cameras looking into his back garden.

In the second interview, he also told gardaí that he was planning to move in with friends the following June and that he accepted their marriage was over. Asked why he was still wearing his wedding ring, he said: “Because I still love her.”

Mr Karaczyn’s former employer mechanic Piotr Krawacki also gave evidence on Wednesday . He told the jury that early on the morning of April 30th, he asked Mr Karaczyn what happened to Natalia.

He said: “I asked what is the story? Where is Natalia? What happened? He said ‘she’s dead’”. Mr Krawacki said Mr Karaczyn was shaking and crying as he spoke. The court heard that Mr Karaczyn told Mr Krawacki that an Irish man with red hair had recently approached him with a gun while he was out walking with his children and told him that Natalia had been “in touch with not the right people and now there will be consequences”.

Mr Krawaci also told the jury that Mr Karaczyn told him that he found Natalia dead at home and that he moved her body. Asked by Bernard Condon SC, for the DPP, if Mr Karaczyn told him that he killed Natalia, Mr Krawaci said: “He said he didn’t. He kept saying he didn’t, he didn’t.” Mr Krawaci also told Mr Bowman that Mr Karaczyn had never been aggressive at his workplace and that he was devoted to his wife and children. The trial continues.