A 15-year-old boy who was murdered by his mum and her partner suffered a campaign of “horrific and prolonged torture”.
Sebastian Kalinowski died of an infection caused by 'untreated complications of multiple rib fractures' after weeks of “cruel assaults and abuse”, a court has heard.
His mother Agnieszka Kalinowska, 35, and her long-term partner Andrzej Latoszewski, 38, have now both been jailed for life with a minimum term of 39 years.
Sebastian, who had moved to the UK from Poland to live with his mum, was beaten with a bed slat, whipped with an extension cable and stabbed with a needle at the couple’s home in Huddersfield, a jury had heard.
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At setnecing at Leeds Crown Court on Thursday, Mrs Justice Lambert told Kalinowska and Latoszewski: "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."
Sebastian's dad Jacek watched proceedings by video link from Poland. In a victim statement, read out in court, he said: "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.
"Why did you hate him to that degree when you allowed that psychopath to treat Sebastian like that, and then you readily participated in the whole thing.
"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.
"I made many mistakes as a parent. 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.”
In mitigation for 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).”
Mrs Justice Lambert was broadcast handing down her sentence – the third time cameras have been allowed into an English criminal crown court to record a sentencing.
The trial in June heard Sebastian came to Huddersfield from Poland in October 2020, with teaching staff describing him as “a pleasant and well-mannered boy” who “was observed to be quiet and timid, and at times appeared sad”.
Prosecutor Jason Pitter KC said that by New Year’s Eve the defendants’ attitude was that Sebastian was “something of a hindrance,” and that from January 2021, “the disciplining of (him) became progressively harsh”.
The court heard his “punishments” were “by any stretch of the imagination cruel and became increasingly more severe and violent over time”.
After the couple were arrested in connection with Sebastian’s death, police seized CCTV cameras from their house, which prosecutors said had been installed partly to “monitor and exert control over Sebastian remotely”.
The footage revealed weeks of abuse endured by Sebastian before he died, with footage played to jurors including Latoszewski beating Sebastian’s buttocks with what appears to have been a slat from a bed, making him do exercises, and whipping him with an extension cable to “spur him on”.
Video from Latoszewski’s phone also contained clips of him verbally abusing the visibly upset teenager.
On the day before Sebastian’s death, Latoszewski was seen on CCTV forcing food and drink into the boy’s mouth and stabbing him a number of times with a needle in the groin and thigh.
Mr Pitter told the trial that Latoszeski was “apparently laughing whilst he did so”, and that Kalinowska at one point “took over stabbing Sebastian with the needle”.
Jurors heard that, on the morning of Sebastian’s final day, August 13 2021, he went through “the routine of being assaulted by both defendants”.
The court heard CCTV showed Latoszewski taking Sebastian out of the bedroom at 8.25am, before carrying him back around 15 minutes later, “naked, clearly wet and unconscious”.
Mr Pitter said emergency services were called to the defendants’ house by Latoszewski after Sebastian had been unconscious for around two and a half hours.
Latoszewski was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 39 years for murder, neglect and causing or allowing the death of a child.
Kalinowska was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 39 years for murder, neglect and causing or allowing the death of a child.
Speaking after sentencing, Detective Chief Inspector Tony Nicholson of the Homicide and Major Enquiry Team, who led West Yorkshire Police's investigation, said: “This has been without doubt the most harrowing case I have experienced in my 29 years as police officer.
"Sebastian was a child who could not have been more isolated and appears to have suffered the most appalling abuse in silence, and even come to see it as normal.
"Latoszewski and Kalinowska abused this boy in a manner which was wicked and evil, and we may never know why they chose to act in this inhuman way.
"We recovered overwhelming evidence of their attacks and of them discussing them in phone messages, and I can say that footage we have seen of this abuse has upset experienced detectives.
"The injuries inflicted on poor Sebastian were carried out in a way where they would not be visible, and it is clear both parties acted in a way to hide evidence of their assaults on him.
"They both now will have many years in prison to reflect on why they chose to inflict such pain, suffering, and eventually death, on an innocent boy.”
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