Biała Piska Commune. He beat him and then drowned him in a pond. He was given a life sentence. The court changed the sentence to 25 years in prison

The Court of Appeal in Białystok issued a verdict in the re-trial concerning the events of June 2020 that took place in one of the villages in the commune of Biała Piska.

According to the findings of the investigation by the District Prosecutor's Office in Pisz, a 30-year-old man wanted to obtain a written statement from his 55-year-old acquaintance that he had already paid him (which he did not do) PLN 2,500 in compensation awarded by a judgment in connection with the assault. When the later victim refused, he beat him, dragged him behind a car with a canvas belt, and finally drowned him in a shallow pond in a cornfield.

The prosecutor's office assumed that the accused acted with direct intent to kill: he held the victim's head in the water several times and left the unconscious victim face down in a pond. He also allegedly threatened to kill him if he revealed the circumstances to a witness to the crime, with whom he went to the later victim to force her to sign a statement.

The accused did not confess to the crime. In the first trial – before the District Court in Olsztyn – he was sentenced to life imprisonment, which was however overturned in the appeal proceedings.

The lawyers requested an acquittal on the murder charge, or a change of the legal classification of the act to involuntary manslaughter, or a more lenient sentence for the charges brought by the prosecutor's office. The prosecutor's office wanted to recognize that the perpetrator acted with direct intent and a life sentence.

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The District Court in Olsztyn sentenced the accused in a second trial to 25 years in prison. It found that the perpetrator acted with the intention of eventual murder, i.e. that although he did not consent to it, he should have foreseen the fatal outcome.

– He is a young man, albeit spoiled, most likely by money, and this was reflected in his behaviour, completely uncritical of any norms of human coexistence and legal norms – said Jerzy Szczurewski, chairman of the five-person panel, in the justification of the verdict.

He pointed out that before the murder, the perpetrator had tormented the victim. He also recalled that in the courtroom, the accused showed no remorse or understanding of what had happened.

The court found it proven that the man first beat the victim in her apartment, then dragged her behind a car, and finally drowned her in a pond and left her there – face down in the water – when the victim was already showing no signs of life. In addition, he did not allow another person (the main witness to what happened) to help the victim. Both – the accused and the witness – got into the car and drove away from the pond.

The court of appeal had no doubt that the perpetrator acted with direct intent to kill. It considered the key moment for making such a decision to be the situation at the pond, when the later victim clearly declared that he would not sign any declaration, and – what's more – would ask the bailiff to collect the money.

– If I do not receive this statement, I will deal with you – the judge quoted the accused. – Later, any behavior (…) proves beyond any doubt that the perpetrator acted with direct intent – added judge Szczurewski.

The appeals court found the sentence of 25 years in prison to be appropriate to the circumstances of the act and the guilt.

– He is a broken man and this is the period we are giving him to fix it – said the judge.