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A woman and her partner have been jailed for life for murdering her teenage son following a period of “horrific and prolonged torture”.
Agnieszka Kalinowska, 35, and her long-term partner Andrzej Latoszewski, 38, were given a minimum term of 39 years over the death of 15-year-old Sebastian Kalinowski.
Sebastian, who had been living with the couple in Huddersfield for less than a year after moving from Poland, died of an infection “caused by untreated complications of multiple rib fractures”.
Leeds Crown Court heard how the teenager was beaten on the buttocks with a wooden bed slat, whipped with an extension cable and stabbed in the thigh and groin with a needle.
Sebastian Kalinowska
The defendants had set up CCTV inside their home to “monitor and exert control over Sebastian remotely”, prosecutors said.
When this was seized by police following their arrest it revealed that weeks leading up to his death on 13 August 2021, “scarcely a day went by that Sebastian was not subjected to some form of physical abuse”.
Emergency services were called more than two-and-a-half hours after CCTV showed Latoszewski dragging the boy “naked, clearly wet and unconscious” from his bedroom.
That day he had been through a usual “routine of being assaulted by both defendants,” Judge Mrs Justice Lambert said.
‘You found an easy prey’
Sentencing the couple, in front of cameras for only the third time in England and Wales, the judge said: “You, Latoszewski, are a bully.
“Like all bullies, you sought to intimidate and frighten Sebastian, who was weaker than you. In Sebastian you found an easy prey.
“There were times when viewing the footage I was sure you had lost awareness of the fact that you were hitting a human being and not a punching bag.
“As for you, Kalinowska, the explanation is simple – you just didn’t care about Sebastian. You were only interested in yourself.”
Jurors, who found the pair guilty this summer, heard how Sebastian had moved to West Yorkshire to live with his mother in October 2020.
According to prosecutor Jason Pitter KC, by New Year’s Eve the defendants viewed the victim as “something of a hindrance” and by January 2021 their “discipling of him became progressively harsh”.
Such “punishments” became “increasingly more severe and violent over time”, he added.
Couple ‘wanted to discipline him’
In defence of Latoszewski, Geraldine Kelly said: “However unreasonable it seems, and distorted a way of thinking, there is evidence to suggest what motivated this appalling conduct was them seeking to discipline (Sebastian).”
The court heard he spoke very little English and had not yet found any friends at school.
Mrs Justice Lambert said he “had neither friends nor allies in this country and was wholly dependent on you both for his wellbeing”.
Sebastian’s father Jacek Kalinowska, who watched the sentencing from Poland, said in a victim impact statement: “In a cruel and heartless way, you have taken the life of my son. You turned every day of Sebastian’s life into a nightmare.
“You inflicted so much pain and humiliation on him. You made my son a punchbag for yourself, you committed a terrifying act and you were merciless.
“Perhaps I was not able to be a perfect father, but I loved Sebastian. However I could not protect him from evil, evil which was inflicted on him by his own mother.”
His mother sobbed as she was led from the dock, while her partner showed no emotion.
Speaking after the hearing, West Yorkshire Police senior investigating officer Detective Chief Inspector Tony Nicholson said his team had been forced to watch 4,000 hours of harrowing CCTV footage from the couple’s home.
He described it as “the most harrowing, tragic and heart-breaking” investigation in his 29-year career.
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