Crime in Miłoszyce. The cassation appeals in the Supreme Court in the case of Ireneusz M. and Norbert B. were dismissed

On Thursday, the Supreme Court upheld the sentence of 15 and 25 years in prison for the murderers of 15-year-old Małgosia from Miłoszyce. The prosecution and defense appeals in this case were dismissed.

The prosecutor general filed a cassation appeal to the Supreme Court Zbigniew Ziobro. “The perpetrators acted with extremely low, highly condemnable motives and motivations aimed solely at satisfying the primitive sexual drive, for which they did not hesitate to sacrifice the life of a very young victim. They brutally raped her. Moreover, they humiliated the victim in order to objectify her as women,” said the National Prosecutor’s Office, informing about the cassation appeal.

In Zbigniew Ziobro’s opinion, the perpetrators’ actions indicate complete indifference to the fate of the victim and the lack of any reflection after the crime. “They did not take any action that could have prevented her death. This proves deep demoralization, depraved and ruthless perpetrators without any moral restraints,” it was pointed out.

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In the cassation, it was assessed that “the penalties imposed on the perpetrators of this brutal crime are grossly mild and do not meet the requirements of individual prevention, as well as contradicting the social impact of punishment, failing to meet the needs in terms of shaping the legal awareness of society.”

According to the Prosecutor General, the circumstances of the case indicate that Ireneusz M. should be sentenced to life imprisonment, and Norbert B. – 25 years’ imprisonment. “Therefore, the Prosecutor General requested that the judgment be repealed in the contested part and that the case be referred back to the Court of Appeal in Wrocław for further consideration in the appeal proceedings,” the PK informed.

Read also: Miłoszyce crime. Ireneusz M. had access to a mobile phone in his cell

The defendants’ lawyers also filed cassation appeals. “First of all, they drew attention to the inappropriate composition of the adjudicating panel. Both in the first and second instance, judges elected by the neo-National Council of the Judiciary adjudicated,” Gazeta Wyborcza reported. As journalists reported, “defenders also questioned the reliability of DNA tests.” “The cassation appeal also raised the argument that during the trial, not all witnesses were directly questioned, but only their testimonies were read. This applies primarily to Małgosia’s friend, with whom she came to the New Year’s Eve disco,” “Wyborcza” reported.

In December 2021, the appeals process in the case of the “Miłoszyce crime”, i.e. the rape and murder of 15-year-old Małgosia, was concluded before the Court of Appeal in Wrocław. Two men stood trial: Ireneusz M. and Norbert B. The court upheld the sentence for Ireneusz M., i.e. 25 years of imprisonment. However, he changed – compared to the first instance verdict – the sentence for the second defendant and reduced it to 15 years in prison.

The prosecutor accused Ireneusz M. and Norbert B of committing the crime in Miłoszyce. According to investigators, both defendants took the 15-year-old girl out of the club where the New Year’s Eve disco was taking place. Both men allegedly used violence against Małgorzata K., resulting in numerous injuries.

Moreover, Ireneusz M. was accused of raping another woman in 2007 in Piekary (Lower Silesian Voivodeship).

Read also: The expert examined samples from the crime scene from 1997. “Extremely strong evidence: DNA of the accused”

Ireneusz M. was charged with the Miłoszyce crime in June 2018. He was then in prison, convicted of another crime. He is still arrested today. Norbert B. was detained at the end of September 2018. In January 2019, the Court of Appeal in Wrocław overturned the decision of the first-instance court to extend his detention. Since then, he has been free to respond. He was briefly re-arrested after the court’s ruling in the first instance, but The Court of Appeal overturned this arrest.

None of the accused men pleaded guilty to the charges.

On New Year’s Eve, December 31, 1996, the fifteen-year-old was partying with her friends at a disco in Miłoszyce near Wrocław. At one point she walked out in front of the building. Several hours later – on a private property opposite the disco – she was found dead. She died as a result of hypothermia and her wounds.

In September 2020, the Wrocław district court found that both defendants are guilty rape with particular cruelty, as a result of which 15-year-old Małgosia died. He sentenced both men to 25 years in prison. – The guilt and circumstances of committing the act by the accused do not raise any doubts – said the chairman of the judge’s panel, Judge Marek Poteralski.

The court pointed out that the defendants acted jointly and in consultation with other as yet unidentified persons. – They committed a gang rape with particular cruelty (…) they left her naked, lying on the ground and in a generally inaccessible and unlit place, and they returned to the disco, not interested in her further fate – judge Poteralski explained.

Read also: One of the men illegally convicted of the rape and murder of 15-year-old Małgosia was released from custody

In the justification for the judgment, the court emphasized that the DNA evidence clearly indicated that the perpetrator had committed rape. – In the case of Norbert B., the expert assessed this evidence as extremely strong, and in the case of Ireneusz M. as very strong – explained the judge.

The court also found that the acts committed by the defendants, i.e. rape and the crime of murder with eventual intent, cannot be separated in any way. – It is impossible to separate the defendants’ behavior, i.e. the brutal rape (…) from the fact that when they left the scene of the rape, they knew that the victim did not scream or call for help, which proves that the worst could happen. You don’t have to be a person of special mind to realize that leaving a naked person lying on the ground after a rape in such circumstances and conditions will end in freezing – argued Judge Poteralski, emphasizing that the defendant was indifferent to the fate of Małgosia.

Originally, Tomasz Komenda was convicted of the crime in Miłoszyce and spent 18 years in prison. In May 2019, the Supreme Court – after resuming the proceedings – acquitted him.