UK Jails Polish Couple over Brutal Death of 4-Years Old Son
A Polish mother and her boyfriend who systematically starved her four-year-old son before savagely beating him to death were jailed for a minimum of 30 years by a judge on Friday in a case that has horrified Britain.
Magdelena Luczak and Mariusz Krezolek subjected Daniel Pelka to a six-month ordeal in which he was held underwater, locked in a room and force-fed salt before suffering fatal head injuries in a vicious assault.
The case has raised questions about why Daniel's stepfather Krezolek was not deported to Poland despite having been jailed three times in Britain, and about the failure to act by Daniel's school and social services in Coventry, central England.
The case was "deeply shocking and disturbing" and involved "unimaginable acts of cruelty and brutality," said judge Laura Cox as she sentenced the pair at Birmingham Crown Court.
Cox gave both Luczak and Krezolek life sentences and said the couple, who were found guilty by a jury on Wednesday, must serve a minimum of 30 years in prison before they can be considered for release.
The pair, both alcohol and drug abusers, arrived in Britain from Poland in 2006. They blamed each other for Daniel's death.
A juror wiped away tears as the sentences were read out. Luczak and Krezolek, who are both originally from Poland, stared straight ahead and listened to their interpreters.
"Over the nine weeks of acutely distressing evidence I have not observed a single sign of genuine remorse at any stage from either of you," the judge said.
Daniel was described as a healthy little boy when he started school in the industrial city of Coventry in September 2011. Pictures showed a smiling blond-haired boy in a red uniform.
But the time he died in March 2012 experts "likened his appearance to those who failed to survive concentration camps, and the comparison was not made lightly," the judge said.
His mother, 27, and her partner, 34, subjected him to multiple beatings and repeated punishments.
They repeatedly poured neat salt from a container into his mouth, causing him to vomit.
Daniel was also subjected to a "cold water punishment" in which he was held under water to the point of unconsciousness, the judge said, adding that the boy's six-year-old sister had witnessed it.
The couple regularly locked the little boy inside a bare box room with no toys, removing the inner door handle so he could not escape and making him to go the toilet on his bed.
"The small hand and finger marks on the inside of that door provided a poignant image of his desperate attempts to escape," the judge said.
But the judge said the "particularly grave aggravating feature" of the case was the "chronic and systematic starvation" that they subjected him to.
Daniel's sister smuggled him food because he was so hungry, while the little boy was forced to scavenge for food from other children's lunch boxes or from rubbish bins at school.
Teachers believed his mother's claims that he had an eating disorder and learning difficulties, and she ordered the school not to give him any more food than the small packed lunches he was given.
"His starvation was so chronic that his bones ceased to grow," the judge said.
Daniel died after a "brutal assault" in March 2012 by shaven-headed Krezolek, just after the child was again given salt and held beneath the water.
The pair failed to call for an ambulance for 33 hours, during which time they looked on the Internet for medical advice as he lay unconscious in his box room, and had sexual intercourse.
An autopsy found 23 injuries on Daniel's emaciated body.
The trial heard that teachers, health professionals and social services and police missed signs that Daniel was being ill-treated from the start of 2011.
After the verdict it emerged that Krezolek had been jailed three times for driving whilst disqualified and had been arrested but not charged for theft and assault.
Local lawmaker Geoffrey Robinson said Daniel had been "badly let down" by social services.
"Those who failed Daniel must examine their own consciences, and conclude whether it is appropriate for them to remain in their posts," he said.
Source: Agence France Presse
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