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MASPETH, Queens (PIX11) --- The Irish bartender allegedly killed by her boyfriend in a Queens pub told colleagues the relationship was deteriorating and she was thinking of going back to Ireland, authorities said.
Marcin Pieciak, 36, is accused of repeatedly stabbing Sarah McNally, 41, during her shift at the Ceili House on Saturday evening, according to NYPD Chief of Detectives Joe Kenny. Pieciak allegedly walked into the pub and picked up two knives before attacking the woman behind the bar at around 6:30 p.m., police said.
He then turned the knife on himself and tried to leave the tavern before a patron stopped him until police arrived, prosecutors said.
"After he's done stabbing her, he then tries to slice his own throat on video," Kenny said.
Both were rushed to the hospital in critical condition before McNally was pronounced dead, according to the NYPD. The defendant was still hospitalized.
The couple met at the Maspeth bar and lived together in Glendale, but McNally told friends the relationship wasn't going well, Kenny said. The Irish woman had been in the country for approximately 10 years and was contemplating returning to her homeland before she was killed.
Friends and co-workers are raising money to send to her mom in Ireland.
"Everyone that knew Sarah knows how special and kind she was, how she would remember the little things about each and every person that she met. She was so beloved by her Ceili House family and beyond," a GoFundMe posting for the victim said.
Pieciak was arrested and charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon, authorities said. He pleaded not guilty and was ordered held without bail at his arraignment on Wednesday, according to court records.
Pieciak's attorney could not immediately be reached Wednesday.
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