Woman (30) unlawfully killed in Co Sligo, inquest rules

A verdict of unlawful killing has been returned in the death of a 30-year-old woman whose body was discovered on the outskirts of Sligo, two days after she was reported missing.

An inquest into the death of Natalia Karaczyn, originally from Poland, opened at Sligo Coroner's Court on Monday. The jury heard that the mother-of-three was reported missing by her sister on April 29th last.

A postmortem examination carried out by Deputy State Pathologist Dr Linda Mulligan showed that the woman who lived at Crozon Park, Sligo, suffered bruising to her neck and her jaw line. The inquest was told that Dr Mulligan found that she died from asphyxia, following the application of external pressure to her neck and that it was "most likely manual strangulation". Supt Ray McMahon said that more than 100 statements had been taken, CCTV footage examined and forensic examinations carried out.

Last May, the victim's husband Rafal Karaczyn of Crozon Park, Sligo, was charged with her murder at their home on April 29th.

Supt McMahon applied to have the inquest adjourned pending the completion of criminal proceedings. Following a direction from the coroner Eamon MacGowan, the jury returned a verdict of unlawful killing and found that Ms Karaczyn died from asphyxia due to external pressure on her neck.

Ms Karaczyn's body was discovered at Holywell Road near Lough Gill, Co Sligo.