The prosecutor charged Rafał B. with exposing the child to a direct risk of loss of life and failing to fulfill his childcare duties. Rafał B. is answering the charges while free. He admitted that on that fateful day he drank half a beer and took amphetamine with a friend (one line). He also admitted that he failed to look after the child and drove a car under the influence of intoxicating substances. He denied giving drugs to the child and leaving them in a place accessible to the child.
We wrote extensively about what happened at the allotment on April 27, 2020, in the article “I loved him more than life,” says Kacperek’s grieving father. What was the boy’s last day with his dad like?
The first witness was the man who gave the boy a plastic excavator. The man collected wood from Rafał and his acquaintance, which they had prepared for sale. He spent about 40 minutes at the allotment before Kacperek left with his father for lunch—that is, before the child disappeared. The man learned about Kacperek’s disappearance the following day.
“I gave Kacperek the excavator, then I played films for him on my phone. To this day, I remember the image of Kacperek wiping sand from the excavator’s wheel with a white cloth. Kacperek’s father and his friend were cutting wood at the time. Rafał looked normal,” the man explained, saying that Kacperek’s father appeared sober.
The man also testified that the child had a small plastic toy screwdriver and pretended to unscrew bolts near his father’s car trunk. According to the witness, Rafał looked after his son and behaved normally. The witness also confirmed that the father took the child by the hand when they went together to the Kwisa to get water.
Rafał’s sister testified that her brother has changed since his son’s death and has become more withdrawn. She also emphasized that he loved his son and looked after him.
Another witness at the February 15 hearing was a neighbor from the allotment adjoining the plot where Kacperek was playing on the day he drowned. The man noted that in spring there were large “water releases” on the Kwisa, particularly after 5 p.m. The water level rose cyclically by as much as 30 centimeters in spring. When water was released, it became murky and the current grew stronger.
“I saw nothing wrong. The child certainly did not go near the water,” the witness said. “The child was sitting in the Renault in the driver’s seat while the men drank beer and worked with the saw. My wife spoke to the child and engaged him. I saw that the accused was holding the child’s hand when they walked toward the river. Then he played on the grass, between the cars. The child did not go near the river. I walked past the child at a distance of two or three meters. The men had the child in their field of vision; they were keeping an eye on him. I did not hear any bad language or notice any inappropriate behavior. They behaved normally, as people do with a child at an allotment,” the witness confirmed.
Another witness testified that the father looked after his son properly. “It seems to me that it was just a moment,” the witness added, referring to the child falling into the water. “It slipped Rafał’s notice.”
Attorney Luiza Słychan asked the witnesses about the site plan and the exact locations where the child, father and father’s friend had been, in order to present the scene of the incident to the court as clearly as possible.
The friend of Rafał’s who had been summoned to the hearing did not appear today. He is the owner of the van who cut wood with Kacperek’s father at the allotment and took drugs with him on the day the child disappeared.