The father of a murdered 15-year-old who was viciously beaten and whipped has called his convicted mother “the greatest evil that walks this Earth.”
Sebastian Kalinowski died of an infection caused by “untreated complications of multiple rib fractures”.
Prosecutors said he suffered weeks of “cruel assaults and abuse” at the hands of his mother Agnieszka Kalinowska, 35, and her long-term partner Andrzej Latoszewski, 38.
In a victim impact statement read to Leeds Crown Court this week, Sebastian’s father Jacek Kalinowski addressed Ms Kalinowska, saying: “In a cruel and heartless way you have taken the life of my son. You turned every day of Sebastian’s life into a nightmare.
“Why did you hate him to that degree when you allowed that psychopath to treat Sebastian like that, and then you readily participated in the whole thing.
“You inflicted so much pain and humiliation on him,” he continued. “You made my son a punchbag for yourself, you committed a terrifying act and you were merciless.
“I made many mistakes as a parent. Perhaps I was not able to be a perfect father, but I loved Sebastian. However, I could not protect him from evil, evil which was inflicted on him by his own mother.”
The jury heard how Sebastian had been beaten with a bed slat, whipped with an extension cable and stabbed with a needle at a home in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.
The court was told how, between the start of the school holidays in July and Sebastian’s death in August 2021, there was “scarcely a day that went by that Sebastian was not subjected to some form of physical abuse.”
Sebastian had been in the UK for less than a year before his death and had moved from Poland to live with his mother.
Jurors heard that, on the morning of Sebastian‘s final day, August 13 2021, he went through “the routine of being assaulted by both defendants”.
The court heard CCTV showed Latoszewski taking Sebastian out of the bedroom at 8.25am, before carrying him back around 15 minutes later, “naked, clearly wet and unconscious”.
Mr Pitter said emergency services were called to the defendants’ house by Latoszewski after Sebastian had been unconscious for around two and a half hours.
Sentencing the pair, Ms Justice Lambert said: “Sebastian was a young teenage boy who spoke little if any English, had neither friends nor allies in this country and was wholly dependent on you both for his wellbeing.
“You, Latoszewski, are a bully. Like all bullies, you sought to intimidate and frighten Sebastian, who was weaker than you.
“In Sebastian you found an easy prey. There were times when viewing the footage I was sure you had lost awareness of the fact that you were hitting a human being and not a punching bag.
“As for you, Kalinowska, the explanation is simple - you just didn’t care about Sebastian. You were only interested in yourself.”
The couple had denied murder but were found guilty in July after a six-week trial.
Kalinowska and her partner were both sentenced to life with a minimum term of 39 years on Thursday, for murder, neglect and causing or allowing the death of a child.
Speaking after the sentencing, West Yorkshire Police senior investigating officer Detective Chief Inspector Tony Nicholson said: “I’ve been a police officer for 29 years and I can fairly safely say this case has been the most harrowing and tragic, the most heartbreaking, that I’ve investigated.
“Latoszewski and Kalinowska abused this boy in a manner which was wicked and evil, and we may never know why they chose to act in this inhuman way.”
