A shy schoolboy smiles for a picture that will later be shared on Facebook by his "smitten" mother Agnieska Kalinowska. A month on, the mum posted an announcement that she and her son Sebastian Kalinowski were travelling to the UK.
A comment underneath read: "Good luck!" Less than a year later, Sebastian was dead.
He could never have imagined the horror in store for him as he started his new life in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. Sebastian's torture began just three months after his arrival. For the short time Sebastian lived with his mother and stepfather Andrezj Latoszewski, he was treated like an inconvenience and "punished." He was seriously assaulted - kicked, kneed, stamped on, punched, slapped and dragged around, and then forced to carry out exercises. Sebastian was also ordered to sit on a stool and face a wall for hours at a time and was controlled so incessantly, his mother could watch what he was doing at home through an app on her phone.
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Most of this abuse was captured on a CCTV system set up by Latoszewski, Yorkshire Live reports. A camera in Sebastian's bedroom captured his heartbreaking plight. Another camera set up in the living room not only shed a light on the assaults and exercises, but steroid user Latoszewski as he strutted around, posing in a mirror, and Kalinowska as she watched TV and ate.
The abuse got too much and on August 13 last year, Sebastian's body, ravaged by sepsis caused by 23 rib fractures, gave in. Kalinowska and Latoszewski denied him the medical treatment he needed by waiting two-and-a-half hours to call the emergency services. By that point, Sebastian was beyond help.
Latoszewski and Kalinowska carried on their disgusting and grotesque piece of theatre at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary, while an eagle-eyed police officer noticed there was no water in the bath that Latoszewski said Sebastian could have drowned in. The house in Leeds Road, Huddersfield, was locked down and treated as a crime scene. Officers made the blood curdling discovery that was the CCTV system - shoved in a drawer after it had been disconnected during the crucial two-and-a-half-hour delay.
The footage showed the truth. The spite, contempt and disdain with which Kalinowska and Latoszewski treated Sebastian in life continued shortly after his death, with Latoszewski telling a shocked nurse Sebastian could be naughty and the worst he got was a "smacked a***."
Kalinowska and Latoszewski have now finally been found guilty of murder. A jury convicted them after just nearly four hours of deliberation following the six-week trial at Leeds Crown Court.
This is the full story of how Sebastian Kalinowski's life was cut short in the most disgusting and evil way by his own family.
Sebastian Kalinowski
Sebastian was born on July 16 2006 in Poland to mum Agnieska Kalinowska, and his father. For much of his life, since he was four, Sebastian had lived with his biological father in Poland. Kalinowska moved to the UK in 2010 with her then-partner to find work and subsequently started a relationship with Latoszewski.
In October 2020, Sebastian was brought to the UK to live with his mother and stepfather and started school at North Huddersfield Trust in Woodhouse Hall Road.
Sebastian was described by staff at the school as a "lovely boy" who was "shy" and "quiet" and "always pleasant."
A pastoral manager, who knew Sebastian as "Sebba", said: "He was a lot smaller than a lot of his fellow pupils. His attitude to learning was always spot on. I would often see him walking alone while on lunchtime duty. He always smiled. Sebastian was a shy, quiet boy but had a fun personality. He enjoyed learning games. He was just a lovely boy. Sebba didn't really change in the time I knew him. He looked sad but would always smile."
A friend of Kalinowska, who saw Sebastian on New Year's Eve 2020 described Sebastian as a "very good boy, slightly quiet, slightly shy, a little bit scared maybe, but more like shy."
The woman's husband said he had overheard Sebastian referring to Latoszewski as "Mr Andrezj."
Agnieska Kalinowska
Kalinowska, 35, was born in Poland and gave birth to Sebastian on July 16, 2006. She had known Latoszewski as a child but was reintroduced to him in 2010 when he was visiting Poland. He lived in the UK at the time and Kalinowska and her then-partner moved to the UK and sub-letted a room from him.
Subsequently, Kalinowska and Latoszewski started a relationship and lived in a number of places across Yorkshire including Wakefield, before settling in Huddersfield. They had been together 11 years at the time of Sebastian's death and both worked at YOH! Burger in Leeds Road, Huddersfield.
In October 2020, Kalinowska and Latoszewski arranged for Sebastian to move to Huddersfield and live with them. A friend who had met Kalinowska on a college course described her as "smitten" with her son. The woman said Kalinowska was "happy" her son was with them but said that he often lied and was playing truant a lot.
Andrezj Latoszewski
Latoszewski was born in Poland on May 25, 1984. He has a 14-year-old son living in Poland. At the time he met Kalinowska, he was living in West Yorkshire in a house where he was subletting rooms. Latoszewski offered one of the rooms to Kalinowska and her then-partner and eventually they started a relationship.
The couple had been together 11 years by the time of Sebastian's death. During his time in the UK, Latoszewski worked as a casual labourer and by August 13 last year, was working at YOH! Burger on Leeds Road, Huddersfield. He held a provisional driving licence but did own a car, which he would drive to take Kalinowska on trips.
A family friend told the court during the trial how he believed Sebastian was an inconvenience to his stepfather. The man - who was married to a college friend of Kalinowska's - he said Latoszewski had said Sebastian needed to treat his mother "with more respect." The man's wife said Latoszewski had said Kalinowska was "too soft" with Sebastian. She described Latoszewski as the "more dominant" one in the relationship. She said: "He would reply to questions for her, he would tell her what to tell her friends at work. I can't remember exactly those conversations with her but from what I've seen and noticed he would say things, what he would do, how he would deal with things and she never said what she wanted to do."
A teacher at Sebastian's school said Latoszewski was "quite aggressive" during an incident last Easter. She said: "He started shouting, saying Sebastian is a liar, I shouldn't listen to him, even his dad says he lies. I put my hand out, as he was getting right in my face."
Punishment, abuse and humiliation
During their evidence, both Kalinowska and Latoszewski told the jury about the "punishments" they subjected Sebastian to. In their defence statements given to the courts earlier this year, both claimed the punishments were reasonable chastisement, but admitted cruelty to a child under the age of 16 on the second day of the trial.
Sebastian was subjected to horrific, brutal and sustained assaults, starting on January 25 last year. Video footage taken on Latoszewski's phone showed him intensely questioning Sebastian about whether he had been in the basement at the property. During the footage - the only one shown in court with sound - Latoszewski could be heard calling Sebastian a w****, s*** and telling him he was looking for a centre for him to go in and he wasn't going to live at the house "with a dog." Sebastian can be seen being dragged out of view and heard crying and screaming as he is hit to his feet by a spindle. Throughout the footage, Sebastian can be heard referring to Latoszewski as "Mr Andrezj." He was absent from school the next day.
After Sebastian finished school on July 23, the assaults escalated, becoming more brutal in nature and more humiliating. Footage from August 10 showed Latoszewski kicking Sebastian in the stomach area a number of times during the course of a prolonged assault. Later the morning, Latoszewski pushed Sebastian again and Kalinowska forced him down onto his bed with her hand around his throat. Latoszewski punched Sebastian more to his stomach. Later, the footage showed Latoszewski whipping Sebastian's buttocks with the extension lead. The whipping continued on and off for around two-and-a-half-hours later. Blood was found by police splattered on the wall next to Sebastian's bed. The violence this day continued, with Latoszewski repeatedly punching Sebastian, kicking him and kneeing him multiple times in the chest and stomach area.
Sebastian was also assaulted by both his mother and stepfather the morning of his death.
As well as the sadistic assaults, Sebastian was forced to carry out exercises and ordered to sit on a stool facing the wardrobe in his bedroom for hours at a time. While he was assaulted and ordered to carry out exercises, he was often mocked by Kalinowska and Latoszewski. Footage in the days before his death showed Latoszewski "wobbling" his leg, and Kalinowska acting out an assault she had carried out on Sebastian and laughing with Latoszewski.
Throughout footage captured throughout the abuse, Kalinowska could be seen smiling at Latoszewski before he beat her son.
Sebastian was often forced to perform press-ups, sit-ups and squats in between assaults. On July 4, footage showed Sebastian being beaten with a bed slat before he was made to perform push-ups. Less than a month later, on August 1, footage showed Sebastian being repeatedly punched, kicked and kneed by Latoszewski. The assaults sometimes knocked Sebastian off his feet, and this beating was interrupted by exercises before he was whipped with the extension cable.
During his evidence, Latoszewski claimed the punishments were carried out due to a prolonged period of issues with Sebastian's behaviour, including his lying. Latoszewski said Sebastian was good at "manipulating" to make him and Kalinowska look bad.
He said: "He sort of said he wouldn't be lying again but he started lying and I'm really upset to say that, that's what it was and it was a vicious circle in that respect....I was beating him up but that was as a result of problems going on for months."
Latoszewski said he would "pretend" to be angry with Sebastian as it was "just a way of demonstrating to him a different sort of person. The ultimate aim was to make him listen." He added that Sebastian was a "difficult child" who had been through a lot.
Kalinowska claimed she carried out the punishments out of fear of Latoszewski, who she said was abusing her. She said she gave Sebastian the choice of doing exercises or receiving a beating so he could "choose" his punishments. She also claimed during her evidence that at the time, she thought she "would just hit him like a mother would a son...That when a mum hits her son on the head that it's normal, any mother can hit her son like that." Kalinowska said she did not realise how serious the risk to Sebastian was until she had sat down in a "peaceful place."
Text messages
As officers discovered after Sebastian's texts, not only had Kalinowska and Latoszewski carried out the horrific and controlling regime Sebastian was subjected to, they also discussed it in sick messages.
Details of the sinister messages were read out to the jury, with some describing Sebastian as a "w****" and piece of s***." One sent from Kalinowska asked her partner, when he was out of the house, to come back and "beat the s*** out of the w****." In the same message, Kalinowska said she had already smacked Sebastian's gob and had told him to wait for Latoszewski.
The cruel and cunning couple then discussed more punishment for Sebastian, "something without marks" and spoke about what school would notice. Latoszewski told his partner: "Cold water is waiting for him."
Later during the year, Kalinowska sent a text to Latoszewski where she said: "I do not torture him anymore...because he is not managing."
August 13
Sebastian died on August 13, and his day started like many he had already endured - with an assault.
After being assaulted by both his stepfather and mother, the footage showed Latoszewski carrying Sebastian out of his bedroom at 8.26am. At 8.41am, just after Kalinowska was seen putting a duvet on the floor, Latoszewski was seen on the CCTV footage carrying Sebastian, who was unconscious and wet. He was placed on the duvet and Latoszewski was seen feeling his chest and carrying out chest compressions. Footage in the living room of the house showed Kalinowska going downstairs, closing a blind and then later looking out of the window.
Footage from Sebastian's bedroom later showed Latoszewski pouring water into his mouth before the camera was turned off at 9.26am.
Just before 11am and before the emergency services were called, Latoszewski made a call to his boss at YOH! Burger and then sent him a message telling him he would not be in that day as he had "big problems." Just before 11am, an ambulance was called and paramedics and police attended at 301 Leeds Road and Sebastian was taken to hospital.
Sebastian was seen naked on the footage before the CCTV system was turned off, as was Latoszewski, but both were dressed when the emergency services arrived. A paramedic noted a bruise on Sebastian's chest when he opened his top to carry out CPR. Sebastian was pronounced dead following his arrival at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary and Kalinowska and Latoszewski were arrested and later charged.
CCTV system and delay
Throughout the trial, the jury was told about the CCTV system that Latoszewski claimed he installed due to a burglary at a previous address. Kalinowska told jurors the CCTV was installed alongside an app on her mobile phone that recorded conversations to control her.
The landlord of 301 Leeds Road said the CCTV was not in place before Kalinowska and Latoszewski moved in. The CCTV was integral to the couple's downfall as it captured Sebastian's harrowing abuse at their hands. The CCTV was turned off at 9.26am on August 13. Latoszewski claimed he disconnected the cameras as he was worried the one in Sebastian's bedroom which was "hanging down" would hurt someone, and said he did not want the camera in the living room capturing him moving bags of cannabis he was keeping in the basement. He said: "I didn't want the camera to fall on Sebastian's head because it wasn't fitted properly to the wall and I got really scared as a result of the situation and thought it would look bad."
Jurors heard there was a two-and-a-half-hour delay between Sebastian becoming unconscious and the emergency services being called. During that time, Latoszewski performed CPR on him, got himself and Sebastian dressed and disconnected the CCTV.
The 999 call
In the recording of the 999 call, made just before 11am - two-and-a-half-hours after Sebastian was seen on the footage to be unconscious, Latoszewski could be heard saying: "Come on boy, come on boy. Please Sebastian, come on please, please Sebastian. Sebastian, Sebastian. Sebastian wake up, Sebastian please. Mama wants you to wake up."
Sebastian's injuries
Dr Michael Parsons and Dr Mohammed Rahman outlined Sebastian's injuries. Dr Parsons, a Home Office pathologist who carried out the post-mortem on Sebastian's body, said his body showed 81 injuries, including the 23 rib fractures that led to the infection that caused his death. Dr Parsons said the rib fractures were where infection the intervened and "probably" led to sepsis and his organs shutting down.
An examination on the ribs, carried out by a Professor Mangham, found that five of the rib fractures were probably between two and four days old (from the day of death), one rib fracture was believed to be between four and eight days old, 16 rib fractures were believed to be between a week to two weeks old and one was believed to have been between five and 12 weeks old.
Dr Parsons said that while he was examining Sebastian's body, he found pockets of puss up to 2cm across which just "poured out" as he was examining.
Sebastian also suffered bruising to his limbs, abdomen, chest and neck, and grazes to parts of his body. Dr Parsons said there was also additional, deep bruising on Sebastian's back which could not be seen on the skin's surface. Multiple areas of impact on the back, lower part of the back and buttocks area, measuring 21cm in maximum dimension were also found, as well as defensive type injuries.
The teenager had also suffered injuries that would usually be attributed to victims of road traffic collisions. Dr Parsons said there were "dying bits of tissue" and a "collection of blood with fragmented bits of muscle" that represented "severe blunt force" from an angle, meaning the skin is torn from the underlying muscle. 20 horizontal scabs, overlapping in places, could also be seen.
Dr Rahman said some of the symptoms Sebastian would have suffered as the sepsis took hold would be high temperature, difficulty breathing, eventually unconsciousness. He said the infection could have been managed had Sebastian been given medical treatment.
Arrest and testimonials
After Kalinowska and Latoszewski were arrested, they were taken to separate police stations to be interviewed. During his interview, Latoszewski claimed Sebastian had been in the bath and he had actually seen him the day before his death. He said on August 13, he woke up and was aware Sebastian had gone for a bath and after 40 minutes Kalinowska had gone into the bathroom and screamed. Latoszewski told police he ran to the bathroom and saw Sebastian under the water in the bath and unconscious. He said he had tried to lift Sebastian out of the bath and he laid Sebastian on a duvet and began performing CPR. He said while doing so he described he could hear water coming from Sebastian.
Latoszewski also told officers he had been hit by a friend's father, which Sebastian had told him after he had noticed bruising to his bottom a few weeks before. He also said he may have fallen out of a tree a week or so before his death after he had noticed bruising to his sides, upper body and back.
In her first interview, Kalinowska told police she had been downstairs with Sebastian and he went for a bath. She said that after he had not returned she went to check on him and found him laying naked in the bath. She answered "no comment" during her second interview. She said she knew of one occasion a couple of weeks before when he had been hit by Latoszewski.
The trial
The trial opened on Monday, June 13 after jurors were paneled the week before. The trial was heard by The Honourable Mrs Justice Lambert in court 4 at Leeds Crown Court. The prosecutor, Jason Pitter QC told the jury that Sebastian's last day alive was Friday 13th August 2021. He said: "We say day but in reality, he was not to make it past the morning. He was captured on CCTV footage in his bedroom, a place where he perhaps should have been safe. Obviously depleted, obviously struggling and obviously in need of urgent care and attention from those around him. Those who were responsible for providing him with those basic needs. Responsible because he was just a boy who was not long since 15 years of age."
The court has heard that although Sebastian "did receive attention" it was "not as you might have expected."
Mr Pitter said: "The attention he was to receive was to be beaten up, throttled, and ultimately bundled from his bedroom. He was bundled back in 10 minutes later. His body lifeless having succumbed to, what the Prosecution say, was weeks, if not months of terrible and cruel systematic assaults, ill-treatment, neglect and abuse."
After six weeks of evidence from medical professionals, police officers, a pathologist, teachers and staff at Sebastian's school, friends of the defendants and Kalinowska and Latoszewski themselves, the jury returned verdicts of guilty for murder for both. Jurors were discharged from jury service for life by The Honourable Mrs Justice Lambert who told them: "You have had to endure horrifying footage of SK in great pain and then in death. You have discharged your duty as jurors in a truly commendable way. May I thank you for all of your dedication and patience. May I also thank you on behalf of the justice system.
"Your involvement in this case has truly been beyond the call of duty and I take this step of discharging you all of jury service in the future."
Kalinowska sobbed as she clung to the wall of the dock before being led away by an officer. Latoszewski kept his head down throughout. Both will be sentenced in October, at the earliest, the judge told the court.
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