On 9 March, following intensified and intensive police efforts, a 49-year-old man suspected of raping a 19-year-old woman from Ukraine, whom he had taken into his home, was arrested in Wrocław. “Initial findings indicate that the man used force to make the woman engage in sexual intercourse against her will,” explains asp. szt. Łukasz Dutkowiak of the press team of the Provincial Police Headquarters in Wrocław. “He had met the girl earlier, offering his assistance through an internet portal. He took her to his apartment and committed this brutal crime.”
The suspect was arrested less than an hour and a half after the crime was reported. The 49-year-old could now face up to 12 years in prison. Investigators were to apply for temporary detention.
Wrocław Regional Court did not remand the man in custody
The prosecution applied for temporary detention for the resident of the Lower Silesian capital who had been arrested. However, the court found that police supervision would be sufficient. According to a spokesperson for the Wrocław court, the evidence points instead to another offense: sexual exploitation of a relationship of dependence or a critical situation. (This offense is punishable by up to three years in prison, while rape can result in a prison sentence of up to 12 years.)
Minister of Justice and Prosecutor General Zbigniew Ziobro intervened in the case
As reported by RMF.FM:
The court of first instance rejected the application for detention, placed the suspect under police supervision and ordered him to report to a police station once a week. As a consequence of this decision, Minister of Justice and Prosecutor General Zbigniew Ziobro announced that he had ordered an appeal against the court’s refusal to impose temporary detention on the man suspected of raping a young Ukrainian woman.
The Wrocław prosecutor’s office filed such an appeal, and today the second-instance court upheld it and remanded the 49-year-old in custody for three months. The man faces up to 12 years in prison.