Sebastian Kalinowski: Yorkshire mother and partner guilty of murdering son who died after weeks of torture

Sebastian Kalinowski died of an infection caused by “untreated complications of multiple rib fractures”, after weeks of what prosecutors described as “cruel assaults and abuse” at the hands of his mother Agnieszka Kalinowska, 35, and her long-term partner Andrzej Latoszewski, 38.

Leeds Crown Court heard that Sebastian was beaten with a bed slat, whipped with an extension cable and stabbed with a needle by his mother and her partner.

Jurors heard that from January 2021, “the disciplining of Sebastian became progressively harsh” and that he was “kept deliberately out of the way of others, either as part of the system of punishment or to hide the abuse.”

Jason Pitter QC, prosecuting, said emergency services were called to the defendants’ house by Latoszewski on August 13 “after Sebastian had been unconscious for some two and a half hours”.

He told jurors Latoszewski said he had found Sebastian in the bath with his head under water, “suggesting perhaps that he had drowned”.

The court heard that an examination of Sebastian revealed injuries including bruising to his buttocks, forehead, jaw, abdomen, arms and legs, and multiple rib fractures.

After the couple were arrested in connection with Sebastian’s death, police seized CCTV cameras from their house in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, which prosecutors said had been installed partly to “monitor and exert control over Sebastian remotely”.

Escalating abuse

Mr Pitter said: “[The defendants’] telephones were seized and that installed CCTV system was interrogated. Together, their contents document the catalogue of abuse that Sebastian had endured before his death.

“A broad description is one of Sebastian being attacked, principally and most severely by Latoszewski, but with his mother being involved at various times.

“It included messages and recordings of conversations which have the defendants speaking of and to Sebastian in the most derogatory and inhuman ways, in the context of a perceived need to punish him.

“That included forcing him to undertake physical and humiliating drills, even when he was too weak to really do so.”

Footage played to jurors included Latoszewski beating Sebastian’s buttocks with what, Mr Pitter said, appears to have been a slat from a bed.

Further clips included Latoszewski making Sebastian do exercises and whipping him with an extension cable to “spur him on”.

Mr Pitter said video from Latoszewski’s phone also contained clips of him “verbally abusing” a “visibly upset” Sebastian.

On August 10 last year, Mr Pitter said, CCTV showed violence towards Sebastian starting at 8.15am and continuing until “at least” 4.10pm.

He could be seen “frequently struggling to stand but [being] picked or held up in order that the assault could continue,” jurors heard.

Mr Pitter said on the day before Sebastian’s death, Latoszewski was seen on the CCTV “forcing food and drink into Sebastian’s mouth” and “stabbing him a number of times” with a needle in the groin and thigh, “apparently laughing whilst he did so”.

He added that Kalinowska at one point “took over stabbing Sebastian with the needle”.

Jurors heard that on the morning of Sebastian’s final day, he went through “the routine of being assaulted by both defendants”.

Mr Pitter said 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”.

He said: “Whilst some limited efforts were made by Latoszewski to perform CPR, the reality is it may have been too late as Sebastian showed no sign of life once he was brought back into the bedroom.

“At 9.24am, Latoszewski appeared to be trying to pour water into Sebastian’s mouth before then blowing into it. Was that the beginnings of an attempt to give the impression that Sebastian had drowned by trying to force water into his airways?”

Sebastian had been in the UK for less than a year after moving from Poland.

Kalinowska and Latoszewski denied murdering Sebastian but were found guilty at Leeds Crown Court on Friday.

The judge, Mrs Justice Lambert, said the pair will not be sentenced until October at the earliest.