Murder by Mother

March 3rd 2012, first responders in Coventry, England would receive a call that would be ever scorched into their memories. At 03:07 am 27-year-old Magdalena Łuczak phoned 999 and told the operator that her 4-year-old son, Daniel, wasn’t breathing. Sadly it was extremely late for little Daniel and at 03:50 am he was pronounced dead. 

As with any uncertain demise of a child, the Police came to be involved and began an inquiry. Daniels autopsy indicated that he had 22 individual injuries. His reason for death was inferred to be a huge brain injury. Poor Daniel had been suffering at the hands of his mother and her boyfriend, 33-year-old Mariusz Kręzołek for months. 

At the time of his demise, he weighed just 1.6 stone/23lb/10.4kg. Teachers frequently saw him digging through containers for food and said he looked liked a walking skeleton. He had also been shut in his bedroom for days at a time and forced to sleep on a dirty, soiled mattress. 

During the prosecution, it transpired that Daniels mother, Magdelena had Googled “care for a patient in a coma” in the days leading up to his loss. Daniel had perished as a result of an injury he had sustained 2 days earlier. He had been hit within an inch of his life for damping himself. 

Daniel was hit regularly but this substantiated to be the lethal blow. For two days Daniel stayed locked away, clenching to life before his mother called 999. 

Magdelena and Mariusz admitted to child brutality but not to killing. The horrible pair were both given a life verdict with a minimum of 30 years before they could be deemed for parole. Neither Magdelena nor Mariusz would eternally truly pay for what they did. 

Magdelena hung herself in her prison on July 14th 2015, one day before what would have been Daniels 8th birthday. 7 months later, her partner in humiliation, Mariusz would follow suit. He was discovered dead after enduring from a heart attack.