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Kiwi man charged with killing Irish wife

By
KENNETH HAYNES,
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Friday, June 26, 2009, 11:45 AM
Updated Thursday, July 23, 2009, 6:07 PM

 

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Caroline Coffey

New Zealander Blazej Kot, who was charged with killing Dublin-born Caroline Coffey on June 2 in Ithaca New York, has been returned to jail without bail.

Kot's attorney did not request bail for his 24-year-old client because the only bond he could produce was some family property in New Zealand.

"It would be difficult for a bail bondsman to write a bond on property that's out of the country," said defense attorney Joseph Joch after the hearing on Wednesday.

No pleas were entered but Joch went on to say that his client would be pleading not guilty when required to do so. The New Zealander, who is in the United States on a student visa, was charged with second-degree murder, third-degree arson and tampering with evidence.

Coffey’s body was found in a park near the couples’ home. A search was mounted for the 28-year-old woman when the apartment she lived in was set ablaze.

Kot was arrested after fleeing police, and when he was apprehended they found that he was bleeding heavily from what was believed to be a self inflicted injury.

Kot and Coffey were married last October, but held a ceremony on May 2 to celebrate their marriage with loved ones on May 2 in Costa Rica. Coffey moved to America as a child with her family and was brought up in Pennsylvania.

She met Kot at Cornell University where she read biology and completed her doctorate. She worked In Philadelphia as an assistant professor at Saint Joseph’s University, but was on hiatus to carry out research at Cornell.

There were no outward signs of conflict between the couple, and on the night of the murder the two were uploading wedding shots on the social networking site Facebook. Coffey is survived by her parents and brother Paul.

Tompkins County Judge John Rowley said that the trial is unlikely to take place before November.

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