Friend believed murder accused ‘suicidal’ in months before he killed wife

A man accused of murdering his wife appeared depressed, suicidal and “mentally devastated” months before he strangled the woman, his friend has told the Central Criminal Court.

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

Piotr Korsak, who is originally from Poland, told the court on Wednesday that he and his girlfriend introduced the couple to each other at a New Year’s Eve party in Poland around 15 years ago.

After Mr Karaczyn and the deceased moved to Ireland, they suggested to Mr Korsak and his girlfriend that they do likewise and the couples ended up living together for a period before the witness got his own place.

Mr Korsak told Michael Bowman SC, for the accused, that in 2017 and 2018 he knew the relationship between the Karaczyns was “bad” but he said Mr Karaczyn would not go into details.

He told the jury that around this time, Mr Karaczyn was “unpleasant”, “mentally devastated” and “depressed”.

“I was afraid he was going to commit suicide, do something to himself. So I proposed to him maybe move to my house and stay away from trouble,” he told Mr Bowman.

He also said he never observed Mr Karaczyn to be violent and that after he learned of Ms Karaczyn’s death he was “shocked”.

“I was pretty sure he was going to do something to himself,” he said.

Mr Korsak agreed with Bernard Condon SC, for the prosecution, that he is not a medical doctor.

Asked how he formed the impression that Mr Karaczyn was “mentally devastated” and “depressed”, Mr Korsak said his friend had been a “funny guy” who was “always saying jokes and stuff like that…he was a happy guy”.

‘Unpleasant’

However, he said “closer to the tragedy” he found him to be “unpleasant”.

He explained to Mr Condon that he would have met Mr Karaczyn once or twice a week and that they would go to the gym or play video games.

Mr Korsak told Mr Condon that he offered Mr Karaczyn a place to live “a few months before” Ms Karaczyn’s death. However, he said, Mr Karaczyn wanted to wait until after his son’s First Holy Communion that year.

“So you were trying to convince him but he wanted to stay at home?” Mr Conodon asked.

Mr Korsak replied: “Probably.”

The barrister asked Mr Korsak why, if he formed the opinion his friend might harm himself, he did not think to “report that to someone”.

Mr Korsak said: “I was just trying to comfort him and get him out of some bad situation…I think, at the time, it was the best thing I could do for him.”

He also told Mr Bowman that he had not been in contact with Mr Karaczyn since Ms Karacyzn’s death.

The jury and Ms Justice Eileen Creedon will hear closing speeches from the prosecution and defence on Thursday.