A Long Island man pleaded guilty this week to fatally stabbing his wife in their backyard, even as their teenage son tried to save her life.
Ryszard Murawski, 45, pleaded guilty to second degree murder for the stabbing death of 38-year-old Wioleta Murawski in January, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.
Court documents say that the couple’s 15-year-old son called 911 just after 8:30 p.m. on January 3, saying that he had returned home from a friend’s and heard his mother screaming in the backyard and saw his father stabbing her with a “large, serrated knife,” a statement from the DA’s office said.
“The teen, distraught during the duration of the call, begged the police for help as he desperately tried to save his mother’s life,” the statement says.
He told police he jumped on his father and distracted him long enough for his mother to break free, while the father jumped in his truck and fled the scene.
The mother collapse across the street, with her son by her side. First responders arrived and rushed her to Good Samaritan Hospital, but she did not survive.
Police pursued Murawski for more than seven miles as he refused to pull over. He eventually lost control and crashed into a building.
A home surveillance system at the Murawski home captured the brutal attack.
Prosecutors said in court that Wioleta Murawski had obtained a protection order against her husband a week before the fatal assault, Newsday reported.
The couple’s two sons and Wioleta Murawski’s mother and brother, who traveled from Poland, were in the court for the plea. Murawski admitted he intended to kill his wife, speaking through an interpreter.
Murawski is expected to be sentenced to 22 years to life in prison at his sentencing on October 17.
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[Featured image: Ryzsgard Murawski/Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office]