The Warsaw-Śródmieście District Court also banned Łukasz Żak from driving for life.
Photo: PAP/Leszek Szymański
He will be eligible to apply for parole after serving 15 years. "This sentence protects society from you," Judge Maciej Mitera told Żak as he delivered the verdict.
The crash occurred on September 15, 2024, on Trasa Łazienkowska, one of Warsaw’s main thoroughfares. Żak was driving a Volkswagen Arteon that struck a Ford carrying a family.
A 37-year-old passenger in the Ford was killed. His 37-year-old wife, who was driving, and their children, aged four and eight, were taken to a hospital. A woman traveling in Żak’s car was also injured.
Experts found that Żak was drunk and had been driving at about 226 kilometers per hour, or 140 mph, in an area with an 80-kilometer-per-hour speed limit. He was holding a cellphone and recording his reckless driving at the time.
"What must someone be thinking to accelerate an Arteon, a 'small tank,' to 200 kilometers per hour?" Mitera said. "At that speed, there is no chance to react."
Judge Maciej Mitera. Photo: PAP/Leszek Szymański
The judge said Żak’s conduct had been deliberate and that the defendant had shown "zero self-reflection" during the trial.
Photo: PAP/Leszek Szymański
Żak fled Poland after the crash with help from friends and was later detained in Lübeck, Germany, under a European arrest warrant.
Five co-defendants were given prison sentences ranging from two to five years for helping Żak avoid prosecution.
The court found that they had helped him leave the country, concealed evidence and failed to assist the victims at the scene.
The case against another co-defendants, Kacper D., will be heard in a separate trial.
Żak was ordered to pay a total of PLN 900,000 (about EUR 210,000, USD 250,000) to the dead man’s family and PLN 150,000 to the injured woman who had been traveling in his car.
He must also pay PLN 10,000 to the Fund for Victim Support and Post-Penitentiary Assistance, also called the Justice Fund.
Traffic safety expert Wojciech Pasieczny said the ruling was the first sentence of this severity for causing a fatal road crash since Poland increased the maximum penalty from 12 to 20 years.
Prosecutor Katarzyna Niemiec-Rudnicka of the Warsaw-Śródmieście District Prosecutor’s Office said there had been no mitigating circumstances. "Żak never showed remorse and never offered a sincere apology," she said.
Żak's defense lawyer, Izabela Ławińska, said she would appeal the verdict.
Defense lawyer Izabela Ławińska. Photo: PAP/Leszek Szymański
Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek said people who knowingly violate traffic laws must expect the most severe criminal penalties.
(rt/gs)
Source: IAR, PAP