On Tuesday (October 12), we reported that the body of a 54-year-old priest had been found after 7:00 a.m., in front of a building on the parish premises in Pomocne, Jawor County. Proceedings involving a prosecutor and investigators continued at the scene throughout the previous day to establish the circumstances of the incident.
What has the prosecutor's office established in this case?
Lidia Tkaczyszyn – Press Spokesperson for the District Prosecutor's Office in Legnica:
Yesterday, after 7:00 a.m., a person who was near the parish house in Pomocne, Jawor County, discovered the priest's body. It was established that the body was located beneath the parish house. Procedural activities continued at the scene throughout yesterday, carried out by the prosecutor together with police officers and specialists called in for this purpose. After a detailed examination of the scene, securing traces and interviewing witnesses, the most probable version of events has currently been established. It is that an unfortunate accident occurred: the priest from the local parish, who lived in the parish house, went onto the roof to carry out work, probably involving cleaning the chimney, and fell from the roof.
To confirm this version, we collected a number of traces and pieces of evidence yesterday. I will mention only the most important ones. A witness testified in the proceedings that, on the day before the priest's death was discovered, the priest was seen by that witness on the roof. A surveillance camera on a building next to the parish house also recorded the priest on the roof the previous day—that is, the day before yesterday—at around 6:00 p.m., while there was still fairly good daylight visibility. We will clarify these circumstances in detail. Traces of soot were found on the deceased man's hands. There is a small window in the roof through which, everything indicates, the priest entered the roof from the attic. A ladder was also found there, along with various objects beside it—in general terms, items used to clean a chimney. Therefore, at present, also taking into account that signs of a person slipping were visible on the roof of the parish house, everything supports the theory that an unfortunate accident occurred. At present, we do not know the direct cause of the priest's death. An autopsy will be carried out tomorrow at the forensic medicine institute, and based on it we will know more.