Pregnant girlfriend found deceased's body in Shannon, murder trial hears

A woman described finding her boyfriend's body in the Shannon River while pregnant, giving evidence at the Central Criminal Court in the trial of two men charged with his murder. Malwina Kurowski testified that she had been unable to contact Patryk Krupa after he finished work in Athlone on 20 June 2014. She said her brother told her Mr Krupa had been taken by unknown men. Ms Kurowski collected her brother and a friend, and they drove to Bogganfin near the N6 bridge where they discovered Mr Krupa's belongings and found him in the water. Leszek Sychulec, aged 34, of Drinan, Ballymahon, County Longford, and Andrzej Gruchacz, aged 35, from Warsaw, Poland, are each charged with murdering the 23-year-old man by beating him unconscious and leaving him to drown. Both defendants have pleaded not guilty to murder and to a second charge of false imprisonment. The trial before Mr Justice Tony Hunt is expected to last over three weeks.