Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek said on Wednesday that he would consult prosecutors after the Częstochowa Regional Court sentenced Dawid B., the boy’s stepfather, to 25 years in prison and Kamil’s mother, Magdalena B., to 16 years.
The verdict is not final, meaning it can still be appealed to a higher court.
Photo: PAP/Waldemar Deska
Żurek said any decision on an appeal would come after officials examine the court’s written justification.
“I will read the justification of the verdict and talk to the prosecutors who filed the indictment,” Żurek said during a meeting with residents in Zakopane, southern Poland. “If prosecutors decide that the sentence is too lenient, there will be an appeal and we will seek life imprisonment, but I am not prejudging that today.”
The Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Gdańsk had accused Dawid B. of murdering his 8-year-old stepson with particular cruelty. The court changed the legal classification of the main charge, convicting him of abuse with particular cruelty that led to the child’s death.
The court also sentenced him to five years for abusing Kamil and other children in the family, but imposed a combined sentence of 25 years. Magdalena B. was convicted of assisting her husband and abusing the children.
The case shocked Poland and prompted changes to child protection rules after investigators found that Kamil had been subjected to prolonged violence.
On March 29, 2023, in Częstochowa, southern Poland, Dawid B. poured boiling water over the boy, beat him, and threw him onto a hot coal stove.
Kamil suffered extensive burns over about one-quarter of his body, as well as fractures. He died on May 8, 2023, after 35 days in hospital.
Investigators also found that the stepfather had previously abused the child, including by burning him with cigarettes, and that other children in the household had also been victims of violence.
Two relatives of Kamil’s mother were also convicted. Aneta J. was sentenced to 10 months in prison and Wojciech J. to six months for failing to help the boy, though both sentences were conditionally suspended for three years.
The trial was held behind closed doors, and the court’s oral justification was not made public.
Monika Horna-Cieślak, Poland’s Ombudsman for Children, said after the ruling that Kamil’s siblings would appeal.
Kamil’s sister, Magdalena Mazurek, who acted as an auxiliary prosecutor, said the punishment was not adequate. She argued that Dawid B. should have received life imprisonment, Magdalena B. 25 years, and the two relatives three years each.
Żurek said the sentence for the main perpetrator was severe, but noted that prosecutors had sought life imprisonment. He also said the mother bore responsibility because she failed to respond to violence against the child.
The minister said the case showed that legal changes alone were not enough.
“The biggest problem in such cases is human indifference,” Żurek said. “Even the strictest regulations will not be enough without broad social mobilization.”
He appealed for people to react to signs of violence against children.
“If you see harm, if you hear a child screaming, react,” he said. “Even if an intervention turns out to have been excessive, it is better than no reaction. Dramas often happen behind the wall, and they must not be ignored.”
Horna-Cieślak said Poland’s child protection system still needed reform. She has proposed changes to the child protection law introduced after Kamil’s death, often referred to as Kamil’s Law, including a legal duty for officials to speak with and see a child who may be experiencing violence.
The proposed changes would also create regional expert teams to analyze cases in which children die, suffer serious injury, or attempt suicide as a result of violence by parents or guardians.
They would also expand the Blue Card procedure, Poland’s formal system for responding to suspected domestic violence, by widening the group of professionals who can take part in local support teams.
A separate investigation is continuing into whether public officials and institutions failed in their duties in Kamil’s case and in the case of another boy in the family.
No one has been charged in that investigation.
(rt)
Source: IAR, PAP