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Court rules Warsaw student who killed university porter unfit for trial

29.08.2026 08:00
A Polish court has discontinued criminal proceedings against a 22-year-old law student accused of killing a porter at the University of Warsaw, ruling him mentally unfit to stand trial.
Defence lawyers Maciej Zaborowski (centre left) and Jacek Potulski (centre right) speak to reporters outside Warsaws Regional Court on Friday.
Defence lawyers Maciej Zaborowski (centre left) and Jacek Potulski (centre right) speak to reporters outside Warsaw's Regional Court on Friday.Photo: PAP/Rafał Guz

He will instead be committed to a closed psychiatric facility.

Mieszko R. (full surname withheld under Polish privacy law) attacked a 53-year-old female porter with an axe in May 2025 as she was locking the doors of a lecture hall.

She died at the scene from multiple blows to the head, neck, torso and arms.

The killing shocked the university community and prompted a review of campus safety measures.

A 39-year-old security guard who came to her aid was also wounded and hospitalised in a critical condition.

Mieszko R., a law student at the university, had been charged with murder committed with particular cruelty, desecrating a corpse and attempting to kill the other employee.

Prosecutors had asked the court to discontinue the case after psychiatric assessments, carried out during weeks of observation at a closed facility, concluded he was insane at the time of the attack.

On Friday, the court granted that request in full.

The student's lawyer, Maciej Zaborowski, told reporters the ruling required weighing both what had happened and how to protect public safety going forward.

A second defence attorney, Jacek Potulski, said the psychiatric placement was indefinite, with a court review every six months to assess whether continued treatment, or alternative measures, remained necessary.

Given the severity of the case and his client's illness, Potulski added, treatment was unlikely to be short.

The defence said the court had found the case file complete and consistent, and that a decision on which facility would take him was expected within a week.

(ał)

Source: PAP