On December 6, 2024, the District Court in Jelenia Góra sentenced 40-year-old Bartłomiej S. and 36-year-old Paweł G. to 25 years in prison. On March 12, 2023, in Zgorzelec, acting jointly and in concert, they murdered Jacek F.
– The investigation was conducted by the District Prosecutor’s Office in Zgorzelec, which also included in its proceedings the offense committed by the defendants at the same place and time in order to destroy evidence of the murder—namely, starting a fire in the victim’s apartment and destroying it – reports prosecutor Ewa Węglarowicz-Makowska, press spokesperson for the District Prosecutor’s Office in Jelenia Góra.
She adds:
It was established that on March 11, 2023, the defendants were drinking alcohol in the apartment of a friend whose home was adjacent to the apartment occupied by the victim. During the drinking session, they developed the imaginary belief that Jacek F., who had been living alone next door for about a month, had unspecified pedophilic tendencies. Therefore, late in the evening, they went to his apartment to “administer justice.”
There, both perpetrators knocked the victim to the floor and then kicked and beat him on the head, face and entire body. The spokesperson said: – The victim initially tried to defend himself and call for help. The defendants then began stabbing him in the neck area. When they were certain that they had successfully taken their victim’s life, they covered him with a quilt and other fabrics in order to destroy evidence of the crime, poured flammable liquids over him, and then set him on fire.
They threw the knife with which they had stabbed their victim into the toilet. The autopsy results showed that the victim was still alive when the fire was started and spread, but as a result of his injuries he was already in an agonal state.
The suspects did not admit to committing the crimes with which they were charged. They confirmed that they had been in the victim’s apartment and beaten him, but denied that they had intended to kill him.
What did the experts say?
The psychiatrists who examined the defendants ruled that they were neither mentally ill nor intellectually disabled, and that they were accountable at the time of the alleged offenses. Both defendants were found to be dependent on psychoactive substances and alcohol.
Investigators’ conclusions
The prosecutor said: – The aforementioned men had previously been convicted by the courts multiple times, including for offenses against life and health, and committed the crimes with which they were charged while in recidivism. The judgment issued in this case is not final.
What about the verdict?
The judgment—25 years in prison—is not final. The investigators requested the written grounds for the judgment in order to file an appeal with the Court of Appeal in Wrocław. (At the hearing, the prosecutor had requested life imprisonment for the perpetrators and that the crime be classified as having been committed with particular cruelty.)
More about the case in the article They killed a 51-year-old man. They set fire to his home to destroy the evidence. Two suspects face life imprisonment.