He Molested His Nieces for 8 Years. And Earlier... His Own Sister

The girls’ mother filed a crime report in March of the previous year after learning from her eldest daughter, now 18, that her uncle had sexually molested her from 2004 to 2008, when she was in grades one through four.

It turned out that the woman who filed the report had also been molested by her brother between the ages of 12 and 16 (from 1988 to 1991). However, she had not previously told anyone about it or reported the matter to law enforcement authorities. At the time, her brother convinced her that such behavior between siblings was normal, and when she wanted to complain to their mother, he threatened to commit suicide.

The woman decided to file the report only after it emerged that the accused had also harmed her eldest daughter. During the proceedings, it was established that the injured woman’s sisters had likewise been victims of the accused between 2006 and 2012, and therefore before they had turned 15. One was victimized at the age of 7–9 (from 2006 to 2008), and the other in 2012, when she was 10. In their cases, these were isolated incidents.

The man engaged in other sexual acts with the girls, and in the case of the eldest, also had sexual intercourse with her.

The man was charged with molesting his three nieces between 2004 and 2012, when they were under 15 years of age.

Questioned as a suspect, the man denied committing the crime. He claimed that no such incidents had taken place and that his sister was taking revenge on him because of a conflict over another matter.

Because the accused had committed the last criminal acts in 2012, the investigation applied non-custodial preventive measures: police supervision, a ban on approaching the victims, and a ban on contacting them.

Regarding the molestation of the woman who reported the crime, committed between 1988 and 1991, the prosecutor refused to open an investigation because the criminal liability had become time-barred. Under the applicable regulations, the limitation period for this type of offense expires after 10 years, which in this case occurred in 2001. Although the Criminal Code provides that when the victim is a minor, criminal liability may not become time-barred before she reaches the age of 30, that rule did not apply in this case because, when she filed the report, the victim was not 30 but 40 years old.

The man faces up to 12 years in prison. The case will be decided by the District Court in Legnica.

Liliana Łukasiewicz, press spokesperson for the Legnica Regional Prosecutor’s Office/ii