We wrote about the balcony burglar as early as September last year, in the article Fleeing from police, he climbed to the 9th floor of a high-rise building. Via the balconies.
Arkadiusz W. knew he would be arrested because he had a criminal record and had recently also committed robbery and aggravated extortion. Despite his young age, W. has already been indicted by a prosecutor 10 times since 2007. The man, operating mainly in Lubin’s Przylesie district, committed minor property and so-called drug-related offences. He served prison sentences several times. Recently, his actions had become increasingly brazen, and his crimes were no longer directed solely against property, but also against life and health.
On 30 May 2014, the accused broke into an apartment on Jastrzębia Street and stole a PS3 console together with a game worth more than PLN 1,000. When the owner tried to recover it by attempting to pull it from the suspect’s hands, he brutally and forcefully pushed the woman away and then fled the apartment.
On 4 August 2014, he committed an even more serious offence by robbing an employee of a gaming salon. Without the consent of the victim working there, he entered the staff room and then, using force against her, took money from the day’s takings from a desk drawer (almost PLN 5,600).
Proceedings concerning both of the above offences were ongoing. But this did not prevent Arkadiusz W. from entering the balcony of one of the blocks in September and committing another theft. When he noticed police officers alerted by one of the residents, the suspect began climbing onto increasingly higher balconies, trying to get into one of the apartments.
He succeeded only on the 9th floor. Once inside, he also robbed the host, who was asleep at the time, taking his phone worth PLN 1,500, cigarettes and PLN 20.
The police located the apartment the suspect had entered very quickly. They immediately ordered him to open the door, which he initially refused to do, nearly leading to the door being forced open.
After his latest feat, Arkadiusz W. was charged with attempted burglary and making threats and using violence (while climbing the balconies, he threw various objects at the police officers).
The suspect admitted to the two most recent offences, but denied committing the robbery at the casino and aggravated extortion. At the prosecutor’s request, the court remanded W. in custody for three months.
The case will be heard by the District Court in Lubin. W. faces up to 15 years in prison.
District Prosecutor’s Office in Legnica/ii