Husband described lying down beside wife's body after strangling her, witness tells murder trial

A murder trial at the Central Criminal Court heard that the accused man described lying beside his wife's body for ten to fifteen minutes after strangling her with his bare hands. Magdalena McMorrow, the victim's sister, told the court that Rafal Karaczyn made this admission at Ballymote Garda Station four days after Natalia Karaczyn's death in May 2018. Ms McMorrow said the accused initially gave her false accounts, claiming not to know what had happened to his wife and later alleging involvement by a Traveller family. The witness described searching for her sister on the morning she went missing and the accused's anxious behaviour during that search. Karaczyn, aged thirty-five, of Crozon Park, Sligo, has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter. The trial heard evidence that Natalia had been with another man the night before her death. The case continues before Ms Justice Eileen Creedon and jury.