On December 11, acting on the instructions of the deputy district prosecutor in Jelenia Góra, police officers detained Magdalena K., the mother of the minor children who died in a house fire in Piechowice on the night of December 2–3, 2017.

On December 12, K. was brought to the District Prosecutor’s Office in Jelenia Góra, where she was charged with two offenses:

  • unintentionally causing a fire that endangered the lives and health of many people—17 residents of the building on Przemysłowa Street in Piechowice
  • repeatedly exposing her minor children, aged 8, 6 and 4, to the direct danger of loss of life or serious injury between January and December 2017. (This included, among other things, allegedly repeatedly leaving the children either alone in the apartment or in the company of their alcohol-dependent grandfather.)

The woman did not plead guilty but gave an explanation. The court granted the prosecutor’s request and remanded the detainee in temporary custody for three months.

Magdalena K. faces up to eight years in prison.