N. struck the 42-year-old woman in the head more than a dozen times with his fist, causing extensive brain hematomas that led to her death. The man is being held in temporary detention.

The victim and Andrzej N. had been a couple for a short time in the past. In May 2013, when the accused finished serving a lengthy prison sentence, they got back together. They supported themselves with social assistance. They abused alcohol.

Around Easter, Andrzej N. went on an alcoholic binge. He most often drank with the victim.

The beating took place on May 1, 2014, during a party at friends’ home. During the gathering, N. had complaints about the woman, including that she was not jealous enough of him, which, in his view, supposedly showed that she was with him only for his money.

At one point, Andrzej N. followed the woman to the bathroom and started an argument there. He struck her in the head several times. Then he continued drinking. After some time, when the attacked woman was in the kitchen, crying and bleeding from the nose, the accused attacked her brutally again. With great force, he struck her at least several times with his fist around the temples and the back of the head. After the blows, the victim felt unwell and lay down on a sofa.

She died during the night.

The autopsy showed that the woman had suffered massive intracerebral hematomas resulting in extensive subdural bleeding, which led to her death during the night of May 1–2. An expert stated that, from a medical point of view, after so many blows to the head, the victim had virtually no chance of survival, even if she had received immediate professional medical care.

The prosecutor charged Andrzej N. with murder with conditional intent. The prosecutor determined that the blows had been delivered deliberately. The accused held the victim by the neck to enable himself to strike accurately at the temple and the back of the head.

N. pleaded not guilty. He claimed that his partner had arrived at the party with signs of having been beaten.

Psychological and psychiatric assessments found that the accused was mentally competent. N. is a repeat offender and spent most of his adult life in prison; when he was 15, he was sent to a juvenile correctional facility.

The man had previously been convicted, among other offenses, of robbery involving a firearm and a knife, beatings, theft, and driving while intoxicated. In November 2005, he was sentenced to 8.5 years in prison; he served the sentence in full.

In September this year, proceedings before the Legnica court concluded in a case concerning the abuse of the daughter and granddaughter of another partner of his, with whom he lived in 2012, during a break in serving his sentence. N. was then sentenced to eight months in prison. He now faces up to life imprisonment.

The case will be heard by the Regional Court in Legnica.

Legnica Regional Prosecutor’s Office/ii