The court postponed the appeal hearing of Magdalena W. from Mysłowice, who covered her two-year-old son's mouth and nose, choking him. The woman was charged with murder in 2022. Before the case is resolved, a decision is to be made whether to re-interview the victim's brother, now six years old, who was also in the apartment at the time.
The murder of a two-year-old took place in May 2022 in Mysłowice. The investigation shows that the 32-year-old took the child's life by covering his mouth and nose, suffocating him. In April 2024, the District Court in Katowice sentenced the woman to 15 years in prison. According to defense lawyers, the two-year-old's brother contributed to his death. The defense and the prosecutor's office appealed against the verdict and demanded a life sentence.
The police and the prosecutor's office learned about the death from emergency workers called to the scene. They estimated that death occurred a few hours before their intervention. The mother, who was in the apartment, did not call an ambulance. Through other people, she contacted the child's father, who was at work. She asked him to return home urgently. After entering the apartment, the father called an ambulance. Instructed by the operator over the phone, he tried to resuscitate his son.
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The mother was not initially detained. This happened only after obtaining the autopsy opinion. This became the basis for charging her with murder. Based on post-mortem examinations, experts concluded that the boy's death was caused by “asphyxia due to the mechanism of clogging the breathing holes and preventing lung ventilation.”
She blamed her four-year-old son
According to the prosecutor's office, the child died in the morning. Apart from him, only the child's mother and his then four-year-old brother were in the apartment. The suspect in the investigation argued that the four-year-old had contributed to his brother's death – he had locked him in a sofa bed while playing.
According to the defense, it is necessary to re-interview the victim's brother. The court gave the defense a week to formulate questions to an expert psychologist who will assess whether it is necessary.
Investigators emphasize that the evidence collected during the investigation, including primarily the opinions of forensic medicine and histopathology experts, as well as the trial experiment conducted, ruled out the possibility that the victim's death occurred in the manner suggested by W. The experts concluded that at the time of the alleged crime, the woman was sane.
An infant had previously died
In 2014, the child of the same woman also died. It was four months old. The evidence, primarily the opinion of forensic experts, clearly indicated that the death was due to disease, and the investigation was then discontinued. While investigating the murder of a two-year-old, the prosecutor's office analyzed the case once again. She found no grounds to question the findings of that proceeding.
Main photo source: Andrzej Jackowski/PAP