Of the 300,000 euros in ransom that Krzysztof Olewnik’s family gave to the kidnappers, 90,000 went to the head of the group, Wojciech F., 50,000 to Robert P., and 30,000 to Sławomir K. – Ireneusz P., convicted in the first trial, testified in court on Thursday, now witness. All three are now dead, they were found hanged in prisons at different times. P. admitted that he received EUR 90,000 and – as he said – “he obviously deserved it”.
Ireneusz P., alias Bokser, Bokserek, in the first trial regarding the abduction and murder of Krzysztof Olewnik, which took place in 2007-2008, was sentenced by the District Court in Płock (Masovian Voivodeship) to a total penalty of 14 years’ imprisonment with the possibility of applying for conditional early release after serving a sentence of 12 years.
At that time, he was one of 11 defendants, including Robert P. and Sławomir K. – both of whom were ultimately sentenced to life imprisonment. After the verdict was announced, they were found hanged in the cells of the Prison in Płock: K. in 2008 and P. in 2009. According to the findings in the first trial, K. and P. were supposed to have killed Krzysztof Olewnik.
READ: He appeared in court accompanied by the police, he will testify for nine days.
Currently, Ireneusz P. is testifying as a witness in the second trial, regarding the abduction and murder of Krzysztof Olewnik, which has also been pending before the Płock District Court since March 2022 – the indictment, prepared by the branch of the National Prosecutor’s Office in Kraków, covers five people.
A witness about the division of loot and his role
On Thursday, on the second day of the hearing, Ireneusz P. told the court that the ransom in the amount of PLN 300,000. euro, received in July 2003 from the family of Krzysztof Olewnik, was shared in Kałuszyn (Masovian Voivodeship), on a plot of land belonging to Wojciech F., where the abductee was held after the kidnapping. – We divided, you could say, depending on merits – testified the witness. As he calculated, the leader of the group of kidnappers – F. “took the most”, i.e. PLN 90,000. euros, Robert P. received 50 thousand. euro, and Sławomir K. got 30 thousand. euro. – I also took EUR 90,000 for myself – he added.
Ireneusz P. admitted that it was F who decided on the division of the ransom. He could not answer the court’s question why he received as much as PLN 90,000. euro, since – as he claims – he did not directly participate in the abduction and only guarded Krzysztof Olewnik in Kościuk’s absence, while also delivering groceries to the plot in Kałuszyn. “I don’t know why I got €90,000. I must have deserved it, he said.
According to Ireneusz P., the remaining 40 thousand after the division The euro was to be used for the renovation of the basement in a house on a plot in Kałuszyn, in order to erase the traces of Krzysztof Olewnik’s detention there, and for the purchase of a property in the town of Różan (Masovian Voivodeship), where, after collecting the ransom, the kidnappers transported the abducted person – the plot was eventually bought in the name of K.
According to the witness, three participants in the kidnapping were to be murdered
Testifying before the court, Ireneusz P. stated that Artur R., Piotr S. and Cezary W., who participated in the kidnapping, were supposed to receive 10-15 thousand each. euros, were ultimately not included in the distribution of the ransom. F. decided that they would not receive any money and at the same time decided to kill them. – They were supposed to be murdered, but they didn’t succeed. F. figured it out when they left him kidnapping. It was supposed to be revenge, the witness said.
The second trial regarding the kidnapping and death of Krzysztof Olewnik began in March 2022TVN24
In this way, he referred to the night of Krzysztof Olewnik’s abduction, when Artur R., Piotr S. and Cezary W. escaped from the house where the kidnapping took place and hid in a corn field – they reacted this way when Krzysztof Olewnik was already handcuffed, holding the phone in his hand , told them that “the police were on their way.” Ultimately, the murder did not take place because Cezary W. was sent to prison, and in the meantime, when trying to organize a meeting with the participation of all three, “someone was always missing”. The witness noted that neither Artur R., Piotr S. or Cezary W. knew about the ransom being collected and, as he said, “the money was caught.”
Initially, he was imprisoned in the basement, chained
On Thursday, Ireneusz P. also spoke in court about the circumstances of Krzysztof Olewnik’s detention by the kidnappers. He explained that in the basement of a house on a plot of land in Kałuszyn, the abductee was imprisoned in the basement, chained – “three meters long” by the neck to hooks in the wall.
In this room, according to the witness’s account, there were “a couch without legs, a quilt, a pillow, a plastic bucket for needs, closed”. The contents of the bucket were to be poured from time to time into K.’s previously prepared metal cans, and then transported outside the plot and poured out in order to cover the traces of the abductee’s stay. In the basement where Krzysztof Olewnik was kept, there was also a masked surveillance camera, connected by a cable to a TV set one floor above, in the living room.
Ireneusz P. told the court that while guarding Krzysztof Olewnik, when he brought him food, for example, in K.’s absence, he wore a hooded sweatshirt, a balaclava and a long “to the ground” coat. – He didn’t recognize me because I didn’t speak – he emphasized. He testified that the abductee was given psychotropic drugs. He also emphasized that he himself did not administer these drugs,
Later in the septic tank, also chained
As reported by Ireneusz P., after collecting the ransom, a decision was made to transport Krzysztof Olewnik from the plot in Kałuszyn to another place. F. came up with it to have time to renovate the basement. “If he repairs, Krzysztof will be released” – he was to say. Krzysztof Olewnik was taken to a plot of land in Różan, where, on F.’s instructions, he was placed in a purchased septic tank – it had dimensions of 2.5 meters by 1.5 meters. He was also chained there. F. was then supposed to suggest that “it will take up to a month”.
– I don’t know when it was decided that Krzysztof would be killed. I did not make this decision – Ireneusz P. answered the court’s questions on Thursday. The witness also testified that he learned that Krzysztof Olewnik was dead when he was arrested by the police.
Krzysztof Olewnik was murdered in 2003TVN 24
The family gave the ransom
After Krzysztof Olewnik was abducted from his home near Drobin on the night of 26/27 October 2001, the perpetrators contacted his family dozens of times, demanding a ransom. In July 2003, 300,000 were transferred to the kidnappers. euro, but the abductee was not released. As it later turned out, he was murdered a month after the criminals collected the money. His body was buried in a forest near the village of Różan – the corpse was found only in 2006.
Even before the first trial, in 2007, F. was found hanged in a cell of the Remand Prison in Olsztyn. According to the then findings of the local District Prosecutor’s Office, he was the head of the group that kidnapped Krzysztof Olewnik.
Plan from the prison
Ireneusz P. and Wojciech F. met in 1998 while serving sentences in a prison in Płock. It was then – as admitted during the first trial by Ireneusz P., who comes from Drobin – he told F. about the Olewnik family. It later turned out that Krzysztof Olewnik was chosen as the kidnapping victim.
Initially, in 2003, the Olewnik family received an anonymous letter identifying Ireneusz P. and P., also from Drobin, as participating in the kidnapping. It was also reported anonymously that Krzysztof Olewnik was then imprisoned by kidnappers near Nowy Dwór Mazowiecki. After his arrest in 2006, Ireneusz P. admitted to participating in the detention of the abducted person.
Five defendants in the second trial
In the indictment, which was submitted to the Płock District Court at the end of June 2021, the Krakow branch of the National Prosecutor’s Office accused Jacek K., a friend and accomplice of Krzysztof Olewnik, of participating in an organized armed criminal group and taking part in the armed robbery of Krzysztof Olewnik as a hostage, holding him until a ransom of PLN 300,000 was paid. euro. The period and manner of detention of the abducted person, including: Chaining the victim to the walls and placing the injured party in a waste tank resulted in particular torment for him, and ultimately he was deprived of his life.
During the first hearing, in March 2022, Jacek K. did not plead guilty to the alleged acts and described the allegations as absurd.
Similar charges as in the case of Jacek K., including participation in the armed group that kidnapped Krzysztof Olewnik, were also brought by the Krakow branch of the National Prosecutor’s Office against Eugeniusz D., alias Gienek. The indictment also included Grzegorz K., a former local government official from Sierpc, who was accused of, among others, using, in order to obtain financial gain, the emotional state and situation of Włodzimierz Olewnik, i.e. the abducted father, and providing him with false information and extorting PLN 160,000. zloty.
Two other defendants, including Andrzej Ł., were also charged with causing Włodzimierz Olewnik to dispose of property unfavorably – including: by over 120 thousand PLN and false assurances about the possibility of releasing the kidnapped person and Mikołaj B. – this includes, among others: for transfer of PLN 13,000 PLN and misleading as to the possibility of identifying the login locations of the phone used by the perpetrators of the abduction.
400 volumes of files. P. has to testify for nine days
The files of the proceedings, which are currently pending before the Regional Court in Płock, together with attachments, amount to over 400 volumes. At the current stage, the process is planned to be completed by March 2024.
The interrogation of Ireneusz P., which began on September 6, is to last with breaks until September 22 – a total of nine days. Ireneusz P. testifies as a protected witness. As on the first day of the hearing, also on Thursday, he appeared in a special courtroom outside the main court building, escorted by the police – he was dressed in a T-shirt, tight over a bulletproof vest, sweatpants, black balaclava and black sunglasses .
Main photo source: TVN24