When police officers and paramedics arrived at the scene, they saw a man's body lying in blood. Resuscitation was unsuccessful; the 36-year-old was already dead. His seriously injured mother was taken to hospital. She survived. We do not know what she will testify in court. There are no certainties in this story about who is the victim and who is the perpetrator.
Dominik
The family says that Dominik could no longer endure what was happening in his home. He was an ordinary child; in primary school he achieved average results, but at vocational school he received good and very good grades. He studied, worked and cared for his alcoholic mother. If it had not been for his shopping, there would have been only alcohol in the house. His mother would have drunk herself to death. In a way, he watched over her. When his mother received men, Dominik slept in the attic or cellar, where he kept most of his belongings. They lived in a single room with a kitchen, from which his mother will now be evicted because no one will pay the bills anymore.
Recently, just before the tragedy, he was already looking for a place of his own. He had reached the limit of his endurance, but did not have time to leave. His mother and her occasional partner crossed that final line. Dominik was expected to go and buy vodka; that was all he was there for. Spat on, insulted, despised, without any support. He detested drinking. When asked whether he had ever drunk alcohol, he replied that he had tried it but it had put him off. He had seen enough of vodka and of people under its influence.
The boy was withdrawn and told his loved ones nothing. After work, he liked playing games. His belongings were regularly sold at a pawnshop so there would be money for vodka. New items, games, every piece of equipment, even sunglasses. The tragedy occurred on the day when his mother and her friend sold his games at the pawnshop and, when an argument broke out, threatened to destroy the television he had received from his grandmother.
Mother
Agnieszka, 39, came from an alcoholic home. Her father drank; her mother worked both to support the household and to pay for her husband's alcohol. The family says that Agnieszka was a good, hardworking girl and that at first she tried very hard. She went to work regularly and worked long hours, but alcohol was always present. She fell out with her colleagues and came to work drunk. When she neglected her job and was dismissed, she took seasonal work. She went to the forest to pick mushrooms and berries. But she lost her way, her relatives say. She really lost her way badly.
Dominik's father was involved in only a brief relationship. The man has shown no interest in his son to this day. Later, Agnieszka had a second son, Dawid, with another man. Her younger son was taken away from her and cared for by his grandmother, his father's mother. Dominik stayed with his mother. It was as if all the social institutions had failed to notice the second child who needed help. Quiet, calm and withdrawn, he did not know how to stand up for himself. More and more new men passed through the apartment, but they did not support the mother and son. They used them, paid and left. Then there was drinking. Men who cared about nothing and no one, without hope, chances or support. Now there is one chance to stand on the child's side. Will Agnieszka say what exactly happened on Friday, October 6, on Spokojna Street?
People
Friends and loved ones cannot imagine Dominik in prison. They do not believe that this quiet, calm boy would survive there. They take everything to heart, deeply and personally, and forgive him everything. Even the fact that he killed. They repeat that, until the trial, we truly do not know what the circumstances were. This despite the fact that the boy himself confessed to killing his mother's cohabiting partner.
Dominik's friend's mother wanted to go to the detention center immediately. Even if only to hold his hand and spend a little time with him, so that the boy would know they had not abandoned him and did not blame him for anything. She was not granted permission. She tore up and threw in the bin the refusals she received by mail from the prosecutor's office. She was that angry. That was how powerless she felt. The woman keeps blaming herself for not making room for him in her home. Yet Dominik himself never complained about anything and never asked for anything. Once he said that his mother and her friends had sold his new clothes, so his friend's mother took him shopping. But she also kept that hidden from him until the last moment, because he might have refused and declined the gifts. She treated him like a son and was very pleased that Dominik, such a nice, decent boy, was friends with her child; her opinion of the boy has not changed.
She did not know the scale of the violence the boy was experiencing. As she says, she was misled by the fact that he was always well-groomed and wore clean clothes; he was conscientious and went to school and work. He was also respected at work and considered an exceptionally good employee. His employer was said to have declared that when Dominik gets out of prison, he would have a job there, regardless of the sentence.
Friend's mother: “Yes, sometimes my son would tell me what Dominik's home was like. One room, which he shared with his mother, and a small kitchen where there was filth everywhere. There was no food, while bottles of alcohol, tobacco and rolling papers were always scattered on the table. There was also always one of his mother's drinking buddies there, in various states of intoxication.”
Signatures are being collected to support Dominik during this difficult period. Dominik's defense attorney, Wojciech Kasprzyk, informed us that he was receiving calls supporting Dominik from all over Poland and that many people wanted to offer help and support. He also has objections to the use of a gag placed over Dominik's face while he was being brought to court. “These are not standards set out in human rights,” the attorney emphasized.
Prosecutor
Below we present a statement by prosecutor Sebastian Woźniak
The proceedings have been conducted only since October 6, 2017. The subject of these proceedings is a serious charge, one of the most serious offenses classified in the Criminal Code. The suspect is being held in pretrial detention, and certain restrictions have therefore been introduced. I decide who may visit Dominik and under what conditions. The proceedings are ongoing, and the fact that we are conducting them does not mean that we are pursuing only one direction. The prosecutor acts in accordance with the principle of objectivity. I am fully aware of the suspect's situation. For my part, regardless of the various evidentiary motions submitted by the defense attorney, I also examine ex officio the circumstances that speak both for and against him. That is all I can say. All my decisions may be appealed, so people may challenge them before the prosecutor general or the court.