On February 13, 2025, the Regional Court in Jelenia Góra sentenced a 75-year-old resident of Jelenia Góra, accused of attempting to defraud her 89-year-old neighbor, to a prison term suspended conditionally. The investigation was conducted by the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Jelenia Góra.

– It was established that, between July 13, 2021, and October 10, 2021, acting with the aim of obtaining a financial benefit, the accused caused her 89-year-old neighbor to make an unfavorable disposition of property totaling PLN 660,145.00 – prosecutor Ewa Węglarowicz-Makowska, press spokesperson for the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Jelenia Góra, reports. – The above-mentioned woman, maintaining a neighborly relationship with the victim, determined what assets her neighbor possessed and also learned about her family situation. She knew that the woman had no children. She also knew that, due to the mental state she was in at the time, the victim was helpless and susceptible to influence, and that she was unable to fully understand the significance of a legal act such as drawing up a will.

Therefore, the 75-year-old dictated the contents of the document to the victim, under which the neighbor appointed the accused the sole heir to an estate comprising an apartment in Jelenia Góra and funds in a bank account amounting to more than PLN 300,000.

The will was found and secured during a search of the accused’s apartment.

The suspect did not confess to committing the alleged offense. The spokesperson said: – She explained that her neighbor had bequeathed the assets to her “out of the goodness of her heart.” She also did not notice that, when the will was drawn up, the neighbor “did not know what she was doing.”

However, the psychiatrists who examined the victim concluded that during this period the accused, even without medical training, was able to notice that her neighbor exhibited serious cognitive deficits.

The 75-year-old had no criminal record. The judgment is not final. Importantly, the Regional Prosecutor in Jelenia Góra took appropriate civil-law steps to invalidate the will drawn up by the victim.